- von Leah
We started the day with breakfast at the Munich A&O Hostel. At 9:10 am we departed the hostel to head to the tram which would take us to Hauptbahnhof Nord train station in order to begin our journey to Stuttgart. We missed the original tram but had time to spare and made it to the destination in time. The train departed Munchen Hbf at 9:47am and would arrive in Stuttgart Hbf at 11:59 am. While at the station Frau Berka has all of us learn where would be the best place to wait for the train as well as find which car we were to go in. Once all luggage was placed in the above head rack, we all sat down and settled into our seats for the zwei Stunden ride.
From Munich to Stuttgart there were a lot of fields and cute little houses. The architecture of
these houses or small businesses is so different from the United States. It’s older, less modern which fits the aesthetic that I picture for the typical European country. Off in the distance you could see more congested areas such as cities or towns as we would call them. There was also a multitude of satellite fields. One things I have learned while being here is that they are a lot more energy-efficient then New York. As we entered Stuttgart there were a lot of what would be vineyards. Once we reached Stuttgart Hbf we traveled by tram to a stop closest to the hostel.
While walking up the hill to the hostel I noticed the city kind of looks like San Francisco. We
reached the hostel and had to take a lift or the stairs down four flights to the reception. The view from the hostel was stunning, the city skyline. You could see all the houses built on the hill as well as how the city was built in a valley.
Later in the day we traveled to the Daimler Museum which showed the history of
Mercedes-Benz where only 7 of the exhibits were replicas of the original. Once the tour finished we had the freedom to explore until heading back to the hostel for dinner. Dinner was back at the hostel where we were accompanied by 26 German Computer Science students. We spread out and had some conversations with them and got an insight into the city. Once dinner was finished, a few of us decided to explore the city with some of the German students and let’s just say it was an experience.
Overall the day was enjoyable. We got to see how the city is different from the suburbs while
traveling as well as how different the two cities are from each other.
- von Maggie
On January 9th, we left Munich and traveled to Stuttgart. We left our first hostel early in the morning in order to catch the 9.45 train there, and I noticed that all of the commuters who were either on the tram to the train station or on the train itself were very quiet and respectful of other people’s personal space. For the tram, it is a very popular way of travelling and commuting through the city. So even when people were rushing to catch it
and squeezing in, they never got on when there wasn’t enough room for those already on the tram to maintain their personal space. At home, people taking public transportation will be a lot more willing to continue loud conversations or listen to loud music, or even force themselves onto a bus or train to save time rather than be considerate of others’ space.
After a quiet 2 hour train ride, we arrived in Stuttgart and rushed to the hostel in order to have time to eat lunch before we went to the Mercedes-Benz (Daimler) Museum. It was really interesting, and I could tell the Germany takes pride in their cars and engineering history. As the tour guide talked about what the company did during the World Wars, he showed how they took their engineering in a new directions from planes to cars. Germany’s pride about their engineering history surprised me because it is so universal across all the cities unlike in America, where science (beyond the moon landing) isn’t such a point of pride for us.
Finally, we ended the night with German students who are currently in an internship/study program in Stuttgart. We all mingled and talked about not just the differences in school, but cultures, life, and opinions. Here, the students were a little more reserved when it came to their own thoughts and opinions than we were, and at the beginning only answered direct
questions. In America, people are much more willing to be outspoken and share their own thoughts and opinions. So that was a different type of social interaction than I’m used to.
It was a very fun and busy day, with a lot of different experiences. I’m looking forward to going back to Stuttgart when I can.
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