Overall, this was a fantastic experience for me. I’m so glad that I was given the opportunity to visit Germany and work with students from both Pitt and the Universität Augsburg. When asked what my favorite part of the trip is, I continuously answer, “All of it.” There wasn’t a moment on this trip that…
Tag: Joshua Young
The Sound of Music (May 18)
Today was the last day of the trip, and it was our free day. Stephen had the idea to go to Salzburg, Austria for the day, so yesterday we planned out our transportation. We got train tickets at the station and hopped on a train bound for Munich. It departed at 8:39, and we got…
The Farewell Dinner (May 17)
Today was the last day with planned activities for the trip. Liv and Anna slept through their alarm, so they awoke to pounding on their door. They quickly changed, and we only lost about 5 minutes. I was impressed by how quickly they got ready. After driving a short way, we reached a small village,…
The Presentation (May 16)
We didn’t really have any requirements this morning, so I rolled out of bed at 9:00 and showed up at breakfast around 10. Eric, Kayla, Grant, and I played cards in the morning before we all got dressed up and left for the university around noon. Lunch at the Mensa actually wasn’t a huge problem…
The Language Barrier (May 15)
We had our last site visit today. At around 9:15, we left the hotel to walk across the street and board a streetcar. A few stops and a short walk later, we found ourselves at Hörauf and Kohler. This site visit was very strange because nobody in the high ranks of the company spoke English,…
Robots and Politics (May 14)
We had another easy start this morning, leaving the hotel at about 9:00 to go to the university. Once we were there, we gathered for a lecture about German politics (specifically Bavarian politics) given to us by one of the professors at the university. I was surprised at how much he knew about American politics,…
The First Camp (May 13)
Today was a very different day because our sightseeing wasn’t of the jolly sort. We left the hotel around 9:00 to go visit Dachau, the first concentration camp ever built. Dr. Feick booked with a specific tour guide because he knew one guide in particular who was fantastic. I’m glad he did that because it…
The Great Train Caper (May 12)
Today was quite an adventure. We all left the hotel at about 9:15 to catch a 9:30 train to Munich. It was very full, so about two stops in, we tried to spread out by having the group move to a different car. Unfortunately, a bunch of people got stuck outside the train while Dr….
The Münster Climb (May 11)
At about 7:30 this morning, we left to go catch a train at Augsburg Hbf (the train station). Our train was delayed by about 25 minutes, but that just meant I got to observe the passing trains for longer. I was very excited to find out that we would be riding an ICE train today,…
Alpine Adventure (May 10)
Today, we had a much earlier departure from the hotel. We left at about 7:30 to embark on a sightseeing day at Neuschwanstein, a castle built by King Ludwig II. I sat with Stephen on the bus, and we had lots of stimulating conversation throughout the day. We spent a lot of time talking about…
Riddle Me This (May 9)
We didn’t have to leave until 9:30 today, which was a major blessing. During the ~2-hour bus ride, Eric, Grant, Kayla, and I played 500 Rummy. I had 490 by the time we pulled into the parking lot of Continental for the meeting and the tour. I learned that Continental sells a lot more than…
The Carbon Company (May 8)
We left the hotel at about 8:15 this morning to travel to SGL, a company specializing in graphite materials and carbon fiber. Despite the fact that this is not the group we were assigned to, Kayla and I found this company especially interesting because we are both ChemEs, and the lecture was very chemistry-focused. I…
The Hunt (May 7)
Today was a pretty exciting day. I got up at about 7 am to get ready for the day, which means I got about 9 1/2 hours of sleep. The breakfast today was delicious. German hotel breakfasts are much better than American ones because they have some cold cuts along with the traditional eggs and…
The Arrival (May 6)
Okay, so today actually started at about 6 am on May 5 in Towers back on Pitt’s campus. The Plus3 Germany group met up in Towers lobby at 6:55 am and traveled to the Pittsburgh airport to begin our quest to Germany. We arrived about four hours before our flight, which gave us plenty of…
Josh Young – Introduction
My name is Josh Young, and I am a freshman student at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. I graduated from Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, PA, which is about 20-30 minutes west of the state capital, Harrisburg. I have taken several introductory engineering, mathematics, and science classes during my first year…