Next destination on the agenda? Neuschwanstein. The days are counting down as today is virtually the last day on the schedule besides the final presentations. I am so not ready for this trip to be over. We hopped on our last bus ride to Neuschwanstein and after some driving through the countryside we made it…
Tag: Summer 2022
Tag 12: From one country to the next!
For our final day in Germany, and our first completely free day, the group made a decision to stick together, and we took a train to Salzburg, Austria. Arriving at the train station, a couple of us were especially worried about our train being late, and to no surprise, our train was delayed a whole…
Are there women in this country? – Day 6
Phoebe Katz, May 13 This morning, they had bacon at the hotel breakfast. It was not fabulous but it was very exciting. We left the hotel at 7 for our final company tour, with Grob. Our tour guide, George, was awesome and we learned about a huge variety of things, from the different types of…
Do you have water without bubbles? – Day 5
Phoebe Katz, May 12 I had a nice chamomile tea with sugar this morning before boarding the bus to breakfast. It was quite sunny, but I was still a little chilly because I did not bring a sweatshirt. The bus took us about 45 minutes away, to the countryside. There were pretty rolling hills with…
Can we have more merch? – Day 4
Phoebe Katz, May 11 Today was a big day, as we had two company visits. We began with a very early morning wake-up and then drove to the Munich metropolitan area to visit Webasto, the company I will be presenting about. On the way there, I wrote a series of questions to ask. The lobby…
Why are we stopping in midair? – Day 3
Phoebe Katz – May 10 This morning we woke up early for our first company visit of the trip. There were some baby croissants at breakfast, which I very much enjoyed. Our company visit was at Hoerbiger. First stop was their valve and actuator production facility, where we got to see how their office space…
Where’s my pizza? – Day 2
Phoebe Katz, May 9 Today was my first day waking up in Germany, which is very exciting. I tried the hotel breakfast for the first time. It was much better than I expected. The baguette had a nice flaky exterior, which I appreciated. Also, the eggs were light and fluffy. We headed to the University…
Why is the plane landing? – Day 1
Phoebe Katz, May 7-8 I woke up in Nordenberg and then headed to the Pittsburgh airport. I ate half a bagel, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel that I purchased the previous day from Bagel Emporium in New York. We all checked our bags (mine was 35 lbs, which leaves plenty of weight for…
..And 27 Hours Later, We Arrived at the McDonald’s
Where to start. Luckily, our first flight was not until a little after noon so we left Pitt around 9 am. I was a little worried about overpacking and being over the 50 pound weight limit on my checked bag. We were instructed to pack for all season as it could be 70 and sunny…
Back in Pennsylvania, thinking of Augsburg
I can’t believe it’s already been almost two weeks since I left Germany. I have been catching up on sleep and starting my summer internship with PennDOT back home. Returning to the suburbs of Pennsylvania feels very weird after traveling so far across the ocean to Germany and Austria. As I reflect on this trip,…
The Final Days (May 18th / May 19th)
Wednesday, May 18th was the day that each group would present their final projects. The morning before we presented, my group met up with another group in order to practice and get feedback. Everyone was nervous and on edge that morning. When it was time for everyone to finally present, we were assigned a random…
Churches and Castles (May 16th / May 17th)
On the morning of Monday, May 16th, we hopped on a bus and made our way to the city of Ulm. A city that is much less touristy than Munich, and a little more touristy than Augsburg. The main purpose of our visit was to climb all the way up the Ulm Minster, the tallest…
Irish Free State of Mind
Technology has reversed centuries of emigration for the island. Consider the Silicon Docks, a reflective row of progress down the river Liffey. To paraphrase what Jane McDaid of Thinkhouse said in her AdWorld interview, perhaps Ireland was just at the right place (the European Union) at the right time (the Information Age). The country’s ability…
Final Reflection: A Week Back Home
I have been back home from Germany for over a week now. After catching up on much needed sleep that I lost out on over the jam-packed two-week trip and jet lag, I am on my normal sleep schedule again. Now that I am back to my way of life before traveling, I can make…
Thanks to Ireland :)…
Wow, it seems like just yesterday I was writing my evening blog post on the couch in my StayCity Apartment after one of our site visits or guest speaker lectures at Griffith college. I spent my spring semester preparing and telling people that “ I’ll be attending a two week study abroad experience in Dublin,…
Munich and Dachau (May 14th/ May 15th)
To close out the first week of our trip, we spent our first weekend in Germany visiting Munich and Dachau. We woke up Saturday morning to take the train to Munich. This was our first time riding the train as a group, and it was a chaotic experience. We were able to catch our train…
Irish I Could Still be Abroad
Looking back on the two weeks I spent in Dublin, I definitely gained a more holistic view as Ireland that I would have never gained if I hadn’t participated in the Plus3 program. Before, I had almost no knowledge of Ireland’s history, culture, and economy, but after the several site visits, walking tours, and guest cultures,…
Back to Reality :/
Wow. It’s quite hard to believe that we’ve been back in the good ole’ U.S. of A for over a week now. It truly feels like I just left Ireland. Even harder to believe I’ve been surviving with barely any clothing for that long! To make a very, very long story short, after attempting to…
DUB → PIT
This Plus3 Ireland trip was quite an incredible experience (10/10 would recommend it). Sure, I did research on what the country is like before departure but getting to observe it myself was something else. Although I didn’t see it the first day we arrived (granted, I was sleep-deprived from travel), further exploration of the city of Dublin…
Irish Goodbye
Once I return from a trip, it’s hard to believe the experiences I gained actually happened. Plus3 Ireland was nothing short of an event-filled, successful trip. Going into it, I genuinely did not know what to expect, which could be explained by my poor packing choices. The moment we stepped into the Microsoft headquarters, I…