Today was my last day in Germany, and I hit the ground running. Literally. Because I nearly missed my train. While most of the other students are returning to the United States, my friend Katie and I are embarking on our backpacking trip across Europe. Our first step was a train from Augsburg to Munich,…

Today marked our much awaited free day, and we embarked on a visit to Munich with a lot of enthusiasm and not much information. Thank goodness Matthias decided to tag along today, otherwise we definitely would have gotten lost (again). Matthias (our impromptu tour guide) took on a scenic walk through Munich and the English…

Today we did some more exploring of Bavaria – this time, with a day trip to Ulm. Ulm is most famous for its church, the Münster, which is currently ranked as the tallest church in the world. And of course, it wouldn’t be enough to just look at a tall tower. We have to climb it….

Today served the culmination of our company analysis project, with each team giving presentations on our company’s business model, strengths and weaknesses, and role in the automotive supply chain. But first, we had to write them. With the craziness of the past week, we haven’t really had much time to finish our presentations, so today…

Today was the day I was most looking forward to since we got our syllabus: visiting Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle is located near the Alps, and it was built in the mid 1800s by an arguably insane Bavarian King. Up to no argument is how unbelievably beautiful the castle is, nestled between mountains and above a…

Today marked our last company visit, and we were definitely saving the best for last. Our tour of BMW headquarters began with the BMW Welt, which features all of BMW’s latest cars and motorcycles. We were given twenty minutes to look and take pictures, and we definitely made good use of our time. Afterwards, we…

Not much to say today. At least, I’m not entirely sure what to say. Today we visited Dachau, which served as a concentration camp during World War II. Not much of the original camp is still there, but the Bavarian government has helped to create a memorial and tribute site for the tragedy that took…

Today started off with a visit to SGL Group: the Carbon Company. This is the company I’ve been assigned to analyze, and I had learned from my prior research that SGL has actually been operating at a loss for the past few years. They’ve been struggling ever since the collapse of the steel industry, so…

Today started off slightly differently than usual. We got to sleep in a little, and then instead of a company visit, we were off to a tiny rural town an hour away for brunch. Why an hour drive just for brunch? Famous breakfast sausages, apparently. Or, more accurately, weisswurst. Weisswurst is white sausage, made from…

The weather was gorgeous today! There couldn’t have been a better day for it too. Our first stop today was a company visit of Hirschvogel, which is a forging and machining company that supplies the first tier automotive industry. An advanced engineer gave us a presentation on how they make their products and their business…

So it stopped raining, but it also got colder. I’ll take what I can get. Today we started bright and early with a visit to Faurecia, an automotive supply company. They make car seats, interiors and displays, and exhaust systems, but the plant we visited today focuses specifically on clean mobility. We started off with a…

Today brought another rainy day, but we didn’t let that keep us inside. Our first stop today was the University of Augsburg, where we met the German students we will be partnering with for our company project. Johannes, Matthias, and Kirena were very friendly and really knew their stuff. I’m looking forward to working with…

As we drove to the Pittsburgh airport at three in the morning last Friday, I was equal parts nervous and excited. What if my bag got lost? What if I forgot my passport? What if I love it there and want to stay forever? We proceeded to stand in a variety of lines for the…

Hello! My name is Kate Rohde, and I am a biomedical engineering major at the Swanson School of Engineering. I’m also pursuing minors in Neuroscience and Computer Science. I’m originally from Chicago, Illinois (and I’ve been told I have the accent), and I am super excited to be going to Germany! I’ve never left the…