“How was Germany?”

It’s currently 8:35am on Friday, and I am on the ICE Sprinter train speeding towards Berlin at 300km/h.

The fact that I will be leaving this place in a less than a day has not settled in yet. Every single meal, outing, even commute to class seems to have zoomed by, almost as fast as this train. There’s so many experiences to share, but here are just a couple.

The beginning of this journey started with high anticipation and impatience. As our flight arrived in Amsterdam, I became the first in my family to have traveled to Europe! Even the 1 hour connecting flight seemed like eternity as I could not wait to see what Germany was like.

After being awake for a brutal 40+ hours, we were given a brief tour of Berlin and ate currywurst for the very first time. It truly was a sehr lecker experience.

Soon began our classes at T.U. Berlin, where ENGR 202 was taught by Professor Plaisier and followed by Professor Nielsen during the morning, and a German language/culture course in the afternoon. Although both felt fast-paced due to the long course period, I never felt either was overwhelming thanks to the help of my new friends. For a while, each day started with a German breakfast served by the hotel, the commute to the campus with M19/M29 – 110 bus ride, ENGR 202, lunch, homework, and German class.

Our group outings began in the second week of the program, in which we traveled to cities such as Bremen, Wittenberg, Cologne, Heidelberg, and Lubeck. Every trip was full of temporarily broken friendships due to Eucher matches, which were then fully restored with eis (ice cream). Some were larger in city density, some were flashier, and others had better views. My personal favorite of the outings was Heidelberg since it retained most of its Renaissance architecture unlike other German cities.

During the last week, a couple of friends and I traveled to three different cities around Europe. Vienna, Stuttgart, and Munich. I wanted to explore Vienna as it was the birthplace of Mozart and Beethoven, but also because of the schonbrunn palace and its spectacular views. This city also had high political importance as the center of Austrian Empire, as I learned during AP European History (s/o to Mr. Sorensen).

The views of the garden and around the palace were immense and grand in scale. I struggled in the 90+ degree heat to walk around, and my friends and I were not able to explore the garden in its entirety.

The trips to Stuttgart and Munich consisted of visits to the Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW museums. We were even able to get a factory tour of the BMW plant in Munich! As a car enthusiast, took numerous pictures and read almost every single pamphlet. I’m sure I annoyed my friends because I made them wait an hour every time. Sorry boys!!

In all, I will always remember this trip for the food, the professors, the classes, and great company. I really want to thank Jack and Lija Romence for their generous scholarship, my parents for providing the opportunity to attend, and the Professor Plaisier as well as Professor Nielsen for taking time out of their summer to teach this course.

And thank you for reading if you made it this far! Genauuuu

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