Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Day 1- Sunday, May 8th

Day 1: The Start of Something New

I started off my journey with having complications with my flight from New York back to Pittsburgh on Friday, and having to drive last minute 8 hours all the way to Pitt. (Shout-out to my awesome dad, if it wasn’t for you I literally wouldn’t have made it to Germany!) Then we had an entire day and then all night of traveling to Munich, when we finally arrived oh boy it felt good and I could tell everything to come was going to be miraculous.
We arrived in Munich at around 7:45, flying into the Munich airport we were able to see the Alps outside the airplane window, it finally hit me… we were across the Atlantic Ocean and I was in my first country other than America. My first impression of the Munich Airport was how quite it was along with very few people. We then waited till our coach bus arrived in the airport and I made my first German purchase of a buttered soft pretzel and juice. Let me tell you, it was my first time ever using Euros and I was beyond confused when I handed her a five-dollar bill and only got back 2 coins, but now it all makes sense. It was also shocking to notice that everyone mostly uses cash and not credit cards like Americans.
We then arrived at the hotel (B&B Hotel) which is located directly across from a Mercedes dealership, diagonal from a gas station, right in front of a Norma (grocery store) and a five second walk from the tram station. The convenience is awesome, and allows you to basically get anything you need within walking distance. After we dropped all of our luggage in our room, which are pretty similar to hotel rooms in America. My first struggle was learning how to work the shower and of course I was burnt by the hot water a few times before figuring it out. (Thanks to my roommates Erin and Lindsey for there help).
We then met up with Sonia (the University of Augsburg coordinator) and she brought us lunch and began introducing us to the program here in Augsburg. We were given our daily pocket size schedules, tram tickets, food vouchers. Coming from Long Island every time you took the Long Island Railroad into NYC it costs $20 and your ticket is collected every time. It was shocking to see how rarely your tram tickets are ever checked in Augsburg. The trams are very clean, easy to use and run extremely smoothly.
Next we all took our first tram into Augsburg, where we met up with some of the German students and spent a few hours taking a tour of the city of Augsburg. Since it was a Sunday, most of the shopping stores were closed but all the restaurants were alive. It wasn’t overly crowded since Sunday’s are mostly spent with families. We then toured the Fuggerei House which was beautiful architecture.
After that we went to a German restaurant with all the German students. Only knowing the German students for a few hours everyone was so friendly and became so close so soon. Out of the whole day I can say the coolest part was the connections that we made with them in such a short time. They were so willing to answer our questions and tell us about what they do/ all about their culture while still engaging with us about the United States. (Which they knew a lot about). For dinner we went to a traditional Bavarian restaurant and had a 3 course meal consisting of soups with croutons and a meatball, then pork with red cabbage and dumplings and then finally apple strudel with vanilla sauce.

Lastly after dinner the German students took us all out and were able to show us around Augsburg. At the end of day 1, I was awake for about 32 hours straight. Honestly, I enjoyed every second and the laughter and excitement overrode the jetlag and tiredness. It was my first day in a different country and I don’t think a smile ever left my face, I realized this was the start of a new cultural experience that was going to last a lifetime.





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