5/9

Today we had class with the German students at the University of Augsburg. The University is relatively knew and was founded in 1970. The design of the campus is very open and the buildings are all very open also. After a short lecture we met with our company groups. My company group is SGL. SGL is a company that specializes in the steel and carbon fiber industry. For this trip, in particular, we are looking at this company since they are second tier suppliers of BMW's brakes and car bodies. It was fascinating to work with the German students and understand their views and overall business mindset. The Augsburg students were extremely knowledgeable about SGL. I envy the Augsburg students as they have free tuition at public universities as German citizens. After our presentations we toured the University. The University is different than Pitt but similar to most other Universities with enough land to be able to spread out the buildings. A key difference is the idea of dorming and having a roommate as a freshman is something very American and does not take place in Germany. However, today was a very warm day and I saw all the students laying out on the lawn and it reminded me of Schenley Park. After the tour, we were sent on a sort of scavenger hunt across Augsburg. At one point the scavenger hunt took us to a crypt in the bottom of the Dom. I felt as if I was in the Da Vinci Code.  By the end of the scavenger hunt we were fairly exhausted and decided to stop and get ice cream. The ice cream was like a mixture of gelato and american ice cream. It was delicious to say the least. After the scavenger hunt we went to a fantastic Italian restaurant where I ordered the most delicious Hawaiian pizza.