Day 4 - May 6th, 2008

Today was a much better day than I thought it would be. First, we went to the University to listen to a lecture held by John on what we would be doing for our company presentations, which was interesting to experience. He would make some jokes now and then and we would all be laughing, but the Germans didn't really break too many smiles. Not that they didn't get them, I guess it's just not appropriate for them. (It's ok John, they were good jokes)

After the lecture we went and got lunch at their cafeteria, the Mensa, which is a German word for Cafeteria. I got Pasta with meat sauce, Pommes Frites (French Fries), a pudding type thing, and a Mezzo Mix. The pasta and sauce was alright, but the sauce tasted a little different from normal... different enough for me to notice and dislike it a little more. The French Fries had a potato chip like taste to them, and I found out later they double fry them, which would give them that taste. The pudding was just horrible. The whipped cream was the most bitter thing ever, and it tasted almost like it had basil in it. It was just... bad. Mezzo Mix is a type of soda here that is Coke with a hint of orange basically. It's not too bad, but I'm not a huge soda guy. All in all it was pretty good though.

Later in the day (after an hour nap that I did not want to actually take), we met back to have our first company visit. It was to Augsburg's own Riegele brewery, founded in the late 1300s. It was a very interesting tour actually, and there were some pretty big temperature extremes to say the least (started out in rooms that were almost 100 degrees and ended in a room that was 30). The head of the company (I guess the Brewmaster?) gave us the tour, and he was a very fun and well prepared gentleman (32rd generation brewer, as well). Afterwards they invited us into a room for dinner. Pretzels, beer, and their very own, homecooked Beer Sausage as far as the eye could see. It was a great dinner, and the cook/head of the dinner was a great host (also one of the most jacked guys I've seen as of late). He also kept me hooked up with Spezi drinks, since I didn't drink the beer. Spezi was a drink that mixed Coke and Orange soda as well, but Riegele holds the trademark... I think Mezzo Mix and Spezi are competitors, I believe.

The dinner was great, and we talked with Jens for a while too, mostly about America. He's coming over to Pitt next semester, which will be really cool. He was interested in knowing about American beers (He thought most everyone drank Budweiser), and more about Pittsburgh. The company visit was really informative. I thought it would stink, since I had no interest in beer and don't drink the stuff, but it was still a great time, and I enjoyed myself during the trip.

Afterwards most everyone went out. A bunch of us made our way to Motown club, where we had to get carded by a big bouncer who spoke little to no English. After we got in, there was almost no one there, so we hung at the bar (I paid wayyy to much for a little stinking Coke), but at 11pm, the flood gates kind of opened, and everyone started dancing. We tried to talk to some people there, but apparantly the Germans don't like to dance with strangers, which defeats the point in my opinion. They also don't grind here... Most everyone was back around 1 or 2, and slept tight, because we had the biggest event ever in the morning - soccer with the Germans.