Day 2: May 9th

We woke up early today and took a tram down to the University of Augsburg, where we had to give brief presentations.  This was the first time meeting the three German boys in our SGL Group, and they all seem really nice- they took us to a different building to work on our presentation, and showed us a little bit of the university on the way.  After the presentations, we had lunch at the Mensa (the university's cafeteria place).  I loved eating here because the architecture was very modern and open, not to mention the food was great!  After lunch, we went on an official tour of the University.  I really like the Augsburg campus- it is very different from the American campus' I am used to.  Augsburg's campus was very open and quiet, with several different grassy fields where students could work or relax.  As a whole, the campus felt very quiet and calm.  The student dorms and downtown Augsburg are both a tram ride away from campus, so the only people on campus were either headed to class or relaxing between classes- all together a very studious feel.

Pictures of campus

We left the Augsburg campus to start our scavenger hunt.  My team was lead by a grad student at the university, and we had a lot of fun running through the city trying to find everything.  The scavenger hunt lead us down into a few crypts of churches, and we got to climb the Perlach Tower that I talked about yesterday.  We also went to a brewery, the University's soccer stadium, and a few fountains within Augsburg.  After our tour, the grad students led us to an Italian place where we ate dinner without the German students.  The food was very good, and we ended the night early after walking through Augsburg a little bit.  

Today really made me glad that I chose to come on this study abroad trip.  The Augsburg students showed us again how nice and welcoming they are, and I got to know the American students a lot better.  I feel even more comfortable walking around the city and taking the trams to different areas- it feels very safe here.  All of the locals are very helpful and will usually switch to speaking English for us American kids.  The German kids too try their best to speak in English, although they always switch back to German when they're talking to each other.  They always ask us if we are happy, and how we are liking Augsburg so far, and it's nice to know that they're trying their hardest to make sure we are having a good time in Germany.

The view from Perlach Tower

Different fountains in Augsburg

The main street, plus a church in the background