Trip Reflection

As I return home during my 16 hours of flying, I thought I could write my reflection blog post on the experience that was Plus 3 Germany. Honestly, this was such a great opportunity for me for a few reasons.

Firstly, I really enjoyed the different site visits. It was so awesome to see real business in motion instead of just hearing about it in a classroom. By listening to presentations and visiting places of business, we were able to see what the business world in Germany actually looks like. Even more than this, we were able to see techniques that help make companies successful. I especially felt this when we toured Audi. The presentation we heard was so engaging because it got down into details of what the company did. Additionally, the tour of the car factory where robots were in action and cars were being churned out was very exciting. I really enjoyed this part of the trip.

Another part of the trip I really liked was the many opportunities I had to encounter German history and culture. I have always been a guy that loved history (I have often said that if it was possible to get a job with a history major, I would be studying history). When we were inside the gold room in Augsburg, visited Ulm and saw the old wall that separated the city from the river, visited Munich with it’s old city hall and cathedrals, see the horrors of Dachau, or toured an old Bavarian castle, I was really enthralled. To be able to go to so many places where history happened, to walk where people walked a thousand years ago, this was a great aspect of my experience.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to work with the German students. Each of them was extremely nice and friendly. They always were able to help us read menus when we had group dinners or give us advice about anything we needed. I also really liked the fact that they were further along in their studies than we were. I felt like it benefitted me to work with people who had more experience than I did and learn from them and observe their thought processes.

The final thing I think I’ll mention was how great the other students were on this trip. I think I made some pretty good friends on my trip that I’ll hope to keep in touch with and see this fall. If it wasn’t for the other students being fun and always willing to joke around and have a good time, I don’t think this trip could have been nearly as great of an experience.

I think that, although many of us (myself included) wished that we had more free time while we were in Augsburg, when we look back we will not remember how we were busy. We will remember the places we went, the sights we saw, and the fun we had. I know I will look back at these last two weeks as two of the best weeks of my life.