5/21

Today was my last morning in Augsburg before leaving to fly home. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the airport. Of course the weather was 80 degrees and sunny. Considering it had rained for the majority of the trip I would have loved to stay and enjoy one 80 degree day. Security at the airport was really high. We went through a pre-screening and then security and then two more passport checks. Also if you want to buy food anywhere the people have to scan your passport. After finally making it through all the security we only had to wait about thirty minutes before boarding started.  The flight was from Munich to D.C. and took around nine hours. The flight seemed very long but at least I had time to watch Deadpool and X-Men. After we landed I had to go through customs and that took an hour and a half. Then I still had a small connector flight back to Philadelphia. It was nice to fly over the Union stadium and see Philly. By the time I got to Philly it was almost 7. Today was an extremely long day of travel but I am glad to be home.

5/20

Today was our last full day on the trip. We had a free day in Augsburg so most of us slept in after a long night out. At 11 a large group of us went and got weisswurst. Weisswurst is a  white Bavarian breakfast sausage that is eaten with mustard and a pretzel. The weisswurst was okay but at this point in the trip I am looking froward to a nice big American breakfast when I get home. After breakfast I walked around and looked at some stores for a couple of hours. We went to a gelato place which was really good. Later in the afternoon a bunch of us met up with some German students and had a barbecue in a local park. The parks in Germany are really nice and well maintained. Prior to this trip I never knew how environmentally friendly the Germans truly are. They all recycle and the government gives 25 cent for every plastic bottle. Plus many of the students we were with all ride bikes and few of them have cars. In Pittsburgh the opposite is true as more kids drive cars than ride bikes. The barbecue was a lot of fun and the German students showed us a German delicacy called bread on a stick (I forgot what the Germans call it).  You take dough and wrap it around a stick and then put garlic butter and cheese on it and then cook it over a fire. I was hesitant at first but the bread tasted amazing.  Overall, I had a nice relaxing last day in Germany. I truly cannot believe how fast the two weeks went by. I am thankful for having the opportunity to come on this trip. I feel as if I learned a lot.  Not only did I learn about the automotive industry, but I also learned a lot about German culture as whole. Although the trip is a bit expensive it was  definitely worth it. For anyone reading this post and considering going on the trip, do the trip. The trip is great because allows freshman business students to apply some of the stuff they learn in classes such as MCE to the real world.

5/19

Today we went to visit a different city named Ulm. In order to get to Ulm we took a high speed train called the ICE. During our tour of Ulm it rained like crazy so that was not fun at all. Also I thought our tour guide was kind of boring. Then we went and got lunch at this place that serves pancakes. Pancakes for lunch? Yes, I had a pancake that had bacon and cheese in it. Mine did not actually taste very good. However, another student on my trip, Jack, got one with shrimp inside and it looked delicious. Since the food was taking a while to be served to everyone. I also decided to get a dessert pancake and it was amazing. After lunch we went to climb 768 steps to the top of the worlds highest church tower, Ulm's minster. The minster is massive and the inside was beautiful. At first I was excited to climb the minster until we started to get pretty high up. As we climbed up step by step the spiral stair case began to get very narrow. Near the top the staircase turns into only one way for going up and down. Also, the wind began to pickup and the structure is very open so you can feel the full breeze. I began to get a bit scared as the structure felt less stable and the wind kept picking up. That being said, the view at the top was amazing.

5/18

Today was the day of our final presentations, and we also had a free day until 5 pm when we had to give our presentations. Therefore, I was able to sleep in for the first time all trip. I truly felt refreshed for the first time in days. At around 10 am our group met up and practiced our presentations until lunchtime around 12. For lunch we got vouchers so a bunch of us went and ate at the University's mensa. The University of Augsburg's mensa is extremely nice and the food is delicious. The mensa makes me never want to go back to market again. To make matters worse for Pitt, the mensa is not only better but also twice as cheap. Pitt rips its students off and gives them crap food so good work Pitt. Also since we had a food voucher, I simply grabbed as much food as I could fit on one plate. Once lunch was over, I had some down time so I walked around the University and checked out its school store. While walking around later I saw some kids with lacrosse sticks so I went up to them and started talking to them. I had no idea kids even played lacrosse in Germany. After talking to them I learned that there is a lacrosse league in Germany with three different levels. The Augsburg team is in the second division and had a championship game coming up soon. When I told them I played for the University of Pittsburgh they immediately responded "that is MCLA right". I was amazed to learn that they follow American lacrosse as closely as they do. I then proceeded to have a quick fifteen minute toss with them in a field near the center of campus. However, my fun was short lived as I had to get back to work on my project. Of course my group was selected to go last for the presentations. When our time finally did come around to present I thought we did a decent job, but I definitely think there was room for improvement... oh well. I guess we will have to wait and see what grade we get. That being said, it is nice to have the project out of the way and have the freedom to be a tourist for the next few days.

5/17

Today was our very last company visit. The visit also just so happened to be the longest. We left the hotel at around 8:15 A.M. and headed to Ingersheim for our company visit to PPG.  The bus ride was about two and a half hours to three hours due to traffic. Today, I am also convinced I ate the most carbs I have ever eaten in my life. First, I ate toast and a baguette for breakfast. Then, we ate croissants and pretzels on the bus thinking we would not get served lunch at PPG. We were wrong. PPG provided us with a great lunch and fed us sandwiches and more pretzels. Since I am from Philly, I thought I ate a lot of pretzels growing up but man do they eat a a lot of pretzels in Germany; I am going to have to take a break from eating them when I get home. Overall, I thought the company visit was very interesting. For starters, I enjoyed how the presentation was more Q and A throughout as oppose to us just sitting there and listening to the presenters. I never really realized how big PPG actually is. PPG does coatings and sealants for cars. This trip really has opened my eyes up too all the different aspects that go into producing a car. Who knew painting cars was such a huge industry. The actual building site we saw was a research facility, and it was neat to see their paint testing lab where they spray the cars. Another interesting fact about PPG is that PPG stands for Pittsburgh Paint and Glass and their headquarters are actually in Pittsburgh. So before we left we had a  PPG speaker named Marcus come in, he runs their european supply chain. He came in and talked to us. When we arrived at PPG we saw Marcus again. It was really nice of him to fly out just to meet with us when we visited the site. After our visit at PPG we headed back to the hotel. I was exhausted but there was work to be done on our project so I had to power through. After finishing and practicing for the presentations I got a good nights sleep. 

5/16

Today we got up early and headed to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. The bus ride was not too long as it was only about an hour and a half. The castle was packed with tourists from all over the world. The view was incredible. Behind the castle the Alps snowy tips reached into the clouds. The castle itself was interesting to see because only about fifteen of the eighty rooms were actually finished. The finished rooms are beautiful. The tour guide said one piece of woodwork above King Ludwig II's bed took fourteen woodworkers over four years to finish working every day on it. After the castle our group went to the famous church called the Fussen. The Fussen is a massive church and since we were there on a holiday there was a celebration taking place right next to it. The celebration was cool to see because many of the older men were dressed in traditional Bavarian garb. The men had on lederhosen and the hats with feathers sticking out of one side. After getting back to the hotel, I took a short nap and then went and got dinner. For dinner a few of us went to Salsalitos. Yes, Salsalitos serves Mexican food. Honestly the food was not bad at all, but yes I can now officially say I had Mexican food in Germany.

5/15

Today we visited the very first concentration camp which is located in Dachau. As we entered the building the words "work will set you free" were in German on the gate. Seeing that phrase truly drove home the pain as words truly cannot describe the way I felt during the visit. Clearly the Germans had no intention of ever letting the prisoners leave the camp. Growing up we learn about the camps and the Nazi party but when you actually set foot on the grounds you can feel the suffering in the air. All the actual barracks where they kept the prisoners had been destroyed since the mid nineties. However, the torture cells still remained in tact. As we walked down the halls I began to envision prisoners suffering in the cells as Nazi troops patrolled the hallway. The whole time I could not believe how humans could do something so horrible to other humans. The most tragic part of the visit was walking through the gas chamber and the crematorium. It was almost as if I could feel something in the air, a feeling of death remained in the air. As we were leaving the camp, Jan remarked to me, ""It is hard visiting these sites with Americans because we Germans feel ashamed, we feel like you guys look at us as if to say "how could you let this happen"". For some reason what Jan said to me stuck with me. Part of what he said was right, sadly and wrongfully sometimes I do ask myself, "how could Germans let this happen?" However, after visiting Dachau I realized it is the worlds fault for letting this happen. Humans never learn from their mistakes. People say WWII was the war to end all wars, and as I write these words, world tensions are rising and America is closer and closer to another global war. So to respond to Jan's comments, he should not be ashamed of his history but instead humanity as a whole should be ashamed because we all let something like this happen. After we got back from Dachau my SGL group and I worked on our presentations due in a couple days.

5/14

Today was our free day in Munich. We took a train into the city and it only took about about thirty minutes. Upon arrival, we had a tour for a couple of hours which I thought was a bit boring. I understand why its nice to have a tour but overall I felt as though it dragged on way to long. Knowing myself, I wanted to explore and figure the city out on my own. However, one fun part of the tour was walking through the famous Hofbrau House. The place was packed with people and tourists from all around. Originally I thought it was only packed due to the Bayern Munich game but the German students said the place is always crowded. Throughout the day the rain came and went like it did the day before. Hopefully the weather will clear up the rest of the week. After the tour I went and got lunch with some of the other guys on the trip but as we quickly learned Munich is a very expensive city. We also learned Munich is a crowded city with hoards of people. At times it became a little hard to navigate all of the foot traffic. For most of our time a few of us walked around and checked out stores. That being said, I was able to see the English Garden. The English Garden was cool because in it there is a small river where you can actually surf due to a manmade structure put in under a bridge. Unfortunately, shortly after watching the surfers for a bit it started to rain again. Later in the evening we met up as a full group and went to dinner together. For dinner we ate at a famous Munich burger joint. The burgers in Germany taste slightly different than back home, but I didn't think they tasted bad only the meat had a bit of a different texture to it. After arriving back at the hotel, a few of us headed out to a bar called Peaches. Peaches was hilarious because we saw all the drunk FC Augsburg fans celebrating their teams win from earlier in the evening and it was interesting to say the least.

5/13

Today we got up around 10 am and headed to Munich.  While in Munich we saw the BMW headquarters, BMW museum , and BMW World. The BMW museum was fascinating because when I think of BMW I tend to think of high end cars, but the company actually began by making airplanes. The museum does a great job highlighting BMW's emphasis on performance vehicles and performance engines in particular. Throughout the museum there are numerous race-track cars and race motorcycles that have all won trophies. BMW world was neat because I could see all the models BMW has to offer currently including some really high end cars like the new I8, Rolls-Royce, and M3. I enjoyed seeing the I8 up close due to how impressive the design of the car is. Not only is the i8 an electric car but it also performs as if it were a Lamborghini or Ferrari. After the museum and BMW World, we began our tour of the factory as a group. The factory was truly incredible to see. Everything is made by robots with the exception of the engines.  What was even cooler is that the majority of the robots are KUKA robots, one of the companies we visited earlier in the week. The production line is essentially all automated. Start to finish the tour took a little over an hour; during that time we saw a piece of scrap metal become a vehicle ready to be driven off the lot. BMW's production line is state of the art. One example of this is in the painting section of the process. BMW has running water beneath the cars so they never waste a single drop of paint because they can separate it from the water and reuse it.  After getting back we all hung out for a bit and then a group of us went out to dinner. At dinner I had a delicious Italian pasta dish called cannelloni.  After dinner a few of us went and played cards at a small cafe.

5/12

Today we had to get up and leave for the company LEER at around 6:50. Needless to say I was very tired as I haven't woken up that early all year. The ride to LEER was over three hours long but thankfully I was able to get some sleep on the bus. LEER is a pretty interesting company. They make electronic components and seats and seat belts for companies like BMW, Ford, and Daimler. The companies presentation was really nice and they fed us as well as gave a lot of in depth information about their company and their company outlook for the future. After the LEER visit we drove to Nuremberg. Touring the city of Nuremberg was definitely my favorite part of the day. The city is beautiful and has a lot of history even though roughly ninety percent of it was destroyed during the war. At dinner, we had all different types of Nuremberg sausage which was delicious. Then later that night, the Germany students took us out to club YUM. The club was a lot of fun and the time flew by as the next thing I knew it was 4 am. Before heading back to the hotel I asked my one German friend Yan if we could get Doner (sort of like a Gyro). When we got to the Doner place it was packed with people. I guess Doner is to Augsburg students what Sorrentos is to Pitt students. It was at this moment that I realized I will never have Doner again because it tasted terrible.

5/11

Today we went to company visits at BMW and KUKA. BMW did not have as good of a presentation as some of the other companies such as SGL. In fact, I was a bit disappointed with the BMW speaker. I did not think he really went into very much detail about the company itself. Instead, I felt as if I was inside of a BMW commercial. On the other hand, KUKA was very cool because of the nature of their business. KUKA makes robots and their production line was interesting because it is essentially robots making robots. I was amazed at the sheer size of the production line as well. KUKA is a fascinating company because currently they supply robots to car manufacturers but they explained how their robots are now used in different types of production lines. One of their newest innovations is a robotic arm where the hand of it can stay fixed in a position while the rest of the arms seven axis can move. Similar to holding something steady in your hand but moving your wrist and elbow. I see this new innovation as the future of their company. I believe the company has a huge potential for growth in almost every aspect of daily life and in the future. They explained how they tailor each robot to the buyers specific needs which is a business model that will allow them to venture into many different fields. After KUKA, we had some down time and went and got dinner. i had the most delicious spetzle which is like a more noodlie version of mac and cheese.  Later in the night we went to a fun bar on top of a parking garage. The bar had sand all over the floor and it was as if we were on a beach but on top of a parking garage. I did not stay out very late as I have to get up at 5:30 AM tomorrow.