I have been procrastinating writing this last blog post because, in a way, it means the trip is truly over. Looking back on the entire trip, the experience I keep returning to in my mind is our visit to Dachau. We visited incredible companies, saw beautiful castles, explored historic cities, and made unforgettable memories, but…
Tag: Taylor Onsted
Day 15: Heading Back to Reality
As I sit here getting ready to head home, I feel a mix of emotions. First and foremost, I am tired. The last two weeks have been packed with early mornings, long bus rides, company visits, presentations, tours, and exploring new cities. Looking back at everything we have done, it is honestly crazy how much…
Day 14: The Best Day Ever!
Going into the trip, the girls in our group had decided that we wanted to spend our free day somewhere in Austria. Most of them really wanted to visit the locations where The Sound of Music was filmed. Honestly, I did not have a strong preference about where we went. I just hoped we would…
Day 13: Presentation Day
Today is the day the entire trip has been leading up to: presentation day. The American students have been so busy with company visits and other activities that it has been somewhat difficult to find time to meet with our groups. We met up a few times throughout the trip, but most of the work…
Day 12: Aiming for Perfection
Today was our first day this week where we did not have to wake up at a time starting with 5. Even though we still had to leave at 8:30, it was a nice change of pace. The day felt a little bittersweet since it was our last company visit. We did not have a…
Day 11: Walking on Sunshine
Today was an early wake-up call for everyone. The bus pulled out of the hotel at 6 in the morning. My plan was to sleep on the way there since we had to get up so early, and it was a long ride. That is exactly what I did. As soon as we started getting…
Day 10: MAN!
This was one of our first early days in a while, and it hit me like a train. I have never been a morning person, so getting up at 5:30 a.m. has always been hard for me. You would think waking up that early every morning for swim practice throughout high school would have helped,…
Day 9: A Day of Rememberence
The tour of Dachau today changed my perspective on the living conditions these innocent people were forced to endure. You learn about how awful it was in school, but it does not truly do it justice. Walking through the rebuilt barracks, you can really see how little space the prisoners had. On top of that,…
Day 8: Welcome to New York (Munich)
We switched out our bus for a train today. Usually, our bus driver, Karl, takes us wherever we need to go throughout the day. However, today we had tickets for the train instead. I have taken a train a couple of times in the United States and a few times while abroad in London and…
Day 7: Frolicking Around Augsburg
Friday was our first extremely chill day. All week, we had been constantly on the go with so many events planned and things to do. It was also the first day we were able to sleep in since we did not need to be at the university until 1:30. I use the term “sleeping in”…
Day 6: Once Upon a Fairytale
A castle up in the mountains has always been my vision of a classic fairytale life. The prince saves the trapped princess, and they live happily ever after. That is exactly how it felt being there in person. We drove about an hour and a half to make it to the tiny town where the…
Day 5: Orange is the New Human
Today, we took the streetcar all the way to KUKA. I think this will probably be the most interesting company we visit because of how different it is. They are really the backbone behind many of the large car manufacturing companies we are touring. However, they do not just build robots for the automotive industry….
Day 4: Old Cars = Cool Cars
Visiting the BMW facility was like something out of a movie. These big car companies are always talking about how they are transitioning from human employees to robots when it comes to building cars. I have always pictured what that would look like, but seeing it in person did not compare to the pictures in…
Day 3: Cultural Crossover
Today we went and met with the German students at the University. I had expected the University to be integrated into the city, similar to how Pitt is. We didn’t really get to walk around and see what was outside of central campus. Some of the German students mentioned that you could see the professional…
Day 2: New and Improved
The first thing I noticed about Germany was how clean and quiet it was. Coming off the plane, I was unsure if the atmosphere was due to getting off an eight-hour flight at 7:30 in the morning or if it was like that everywhere. Spending time in the city today showed me that it is…
Day 1: Wish I Had the Bed Seats on the Plane
This trip has been pretty similar to other travel experiences I have had, but also different at the same time. Recently, I have been traveling on planes by myself, so it was a nice refresher to be traveling as a group again. We all got to play cards together while waiting to board the plane…
Introduction: Taylor Onsted
Hi everyone! My name is Taylor Onsted, and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in Supply Chain Management and Business Information Systems with a Business AI certificate. I live in Dexter, Michigan, which is less than 15 minutes from the University of Michigan. Outside of academics, I work…