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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