I’m preparing for my last month here at MTU in Munich! The end of my internship seems to be the exact opposite of the beginning…I’ve got so much work! Now that I pretty much know what I’m doing with UniGraphics, TeamCenter, SAP, and all the other various MTU software that I’ve had to learn I’ve been getting more projects (mostly because the other engineers don’t really have to explain much to me anymore). I’ve also been trying to help the new intern in my office, Anne-Christine, learn some of the programs but she’s been mostly working separately from me. The FAA Audit is next week! Herr Schnellbach still hasn’t mentioned if I’ll be able to sit in like I sat in on the Pratt and Whitney audit, but I think I’ll be able to. MTU is crazy insane about security. I’ve been moving from workstation to workstation this past week because an engineer from Poland has usurped my spot and apparently he’s not allowed to sit in any of the other three offices because of the military projects they work on there. Being from the US does have its perks (though I’m not sure that I’d call this particular one a perk…). The type of work is pretty much the same, edit the drawings, create the programming files, analyze this data and make a presentation with your conclusions (my excel and powerpoint skills are amazingly honed). I think that I (finally!) almost speak German as well now. Herr Schnellbach and I have meetings every other week with the engineer responsible for collecting the data about the Process Control software MTU is thinking of upgrading to (I mentioned it in my last entry) and our second meeting was last week. A representative from the software company was there, and they both were explaining everything in German…and I understood nearly all of it. I was even able to ask some questions of my own (but I spoke in English…). Getting to participate in meetings isn’t a daily thing for me, but I love it when I get the chance to give some input. It’s much better than doing just grunt work. Next week the engineer and I have arranged a meeting so he can explain some things to me in English (I’m supposed to be helping with the decision process about this software so there’s a few things I need clarified…)

I’ve also been busy outside of work. I remember when I first came here I knew no one, and spoke no German. I’d spend weekends wandering aimlessly around Munich by myself…now it’s great that I have a group of friends at MTU that I can do things with on the weekends. Unfortunately I won’t be able to go hiking with them this weekend because I’d already booked a train ticket to Köln (Cologne), Germany! It’s my first time seeing northern Germany, and I’m stopping in Frankfurt on the way back! Köln has a chocolate museum, I so can’t wait. But there’s a bunch of summer festivals here. I was last weekend with some work friends at a festival in Olympia Park, so that’s where the pictures are from this time…I’ve never before seen a real Olympic stadium before, the field (and park itself) is massive. I’m really sad Chicago (my home-town kind of) lost the 2016 Olympics, it would’ve be great having one of these by me. (We have a giant shiny bean so it’s ok though). I booked my train tickets for Prague today too! I’m going the third week in August when MTU has a vacation week. I know about three words in Czech and this is the first time I’m going there by myself so it should be interesting…It’s strange because everyone at MTU thinks it’s really neat that I get to go back to Florida in a month, and I keep telling them that Florida is nothing compared to all the things I’ve seen/done here in Europe…

This past Saturday, July 25th, was my birthday. I took a train to Kaufbeuren to visit my family here. It was so nice to see everyone again. My cousin (actually my third cousin) has her birthday the day before mine, so we got to celebrate together. She’s literally one day older since we were born in the same year. We went to a nice place to eat and I got to see the town where she lives with her husband. I was speaking German the whole time so hopefully I didn’t make too many mistakes…

In two weeks it’s actually the birthday of one of my friends in MTU (the other American girl). She’s turning 21, which means absolutely nothing here where the beer drinking age is 16 (you have to wait till 18 for the hard liquor, sorry high schoolers), but we’re going to pretend anyways that it’s just as significant as in the States. We’re mostly likely doing a massive barbeque in the park, which should be amazing. More to come on that next entry…Tschuess!