My 12 days in Germany was such an amazing experience. I got to explore so many cities, delve deep into how automobiles are made, and eat delicious food. The German (and Austrian!) cities are all so different than American cities. Let me go on a tangent about transportation because this stuff interests me. I grew…

This is Austria! Why? Because for our free day in the Plus3 program, I and 11 others decided to take a 3 hour train to Salzburg, Austria. Nestled in the Alps quite close to the German border, Salzburg is a small city with a lot of history. Salzburg is similar to the German cities, but…

It was raining yesterday? lol. The weather forecast displayed in the open-source app “Tiny Weather Forecast Germany” (https://f-droid.org/packages/de.kaffeemitkoffein.tinyweatherforecastgermany/) was “extremely heavy rain showers.” So confidence inspiring, I know. Anyways, today was all about possibly the most famous castle ever built: Neuschwanstein Castle, designed by the Bavarian King Ludwig II in the late 19th century. Ludwig…

It is that day again. Time to remember what happened not so very long ago. Last year, I visited the Holocaust memorial in Israel, a museum designed to encapsulate the horrors of what happened to so many people. This time, it’s up-close and personal with the conditions Nazi prisoners really faced. Also it’s a Sunday,…

We generally spent the last few days in Augsburg. Why not switch it up a bit and explore a new city? Today was (mostly) about the city of Munich. The day had one of the latest starts to any day, only starting at 9:40AM. We walked over to the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station of…

The halfway point in my Germany trip is marked with one main topic, the culmination of a week of company visits: Audi. As one of the German luxury car brands, Audi has a worldwide presence and a mightily impressive factory producing mightily impressive cars. Audi has a storied history dating back over a century, but…

This day felt like the shortest yet! Probably because it was. With the latest start and one of the earliest ends on the program stuff, I had considerable free time this afternoon. The weather was consistently horrible, with endless rain and cold temperatures. To start, during the trip to the Grob factory, I challenged Ryan…

Another adventurous day! This time, we visited our first company, Hoerbiger, a supplier for parts for automobiles along with other things. Hoerbiger is a privately owned company operating around the globe consisting of almost 6,000 employees and making over a billion dollars in revenue every year. The company emphasizes open offices to encourage cooperation. I…

Day 2 flew by so fast! After getting decent but not spectacular sleep last night, I was ready to start the day fresh. Breakfast included a bunch of foods I did not like, but the Croissants were better than I expected. We took the public transport to the Universitat Augsburg to talk about the Plus3…

It was basically one day, all the way from Nordenberg Hall to Hotel Ibis in Augsburg. It started bright and early to get bagels for breakfast (something I will sorely miss in Germany) and then getting on a quick flight to Charlotte, and then getting a red-eye on the flight to Munich. After taking all…

Hi! I am Noah Kochavi, a current freshman in the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. I am majoring in computer engineering with a minor in mathematics. Due to my headstart through several AP classes, I am taking sophomore-level classes such as Linear Circuits and Systems, and Intro to Theoretical Mathematics. I have experience…