Today we had 2 lectures at Charles University about czech history and czech engineering, and a tour of Podoli H2O works!
Lecture 1: Czech History
The lecture about history was more interesting than I thought it would be. Its hard to fit hundreds of years of history in a 90 min lecture! From what I learned today I felt more empathetic to the Czech people than my original perspective. When the german nazis basically kicked czech people out of Prague I couldnt imagine how hard that was for the country. Even though Czech has been owned by many rulers and parties they have still managed to advance technology and engineering! I was sitting by this window for the lecture and I though it was so cute and sunny!
Lecture 2: Czech Engineering
The lecture about czech engineering was so cool! Learning how the country went from silver mining to airplanes and all of the technology in between was a cool story to hear. If the czech republic never had the silver mining on medieveal times they wouold not of progressed as quickly as they did. SKODA was a leading company for automobile and airplan engineering, and I am even more excited to visit the company now!
Podoli H2O Works
We toured the company’s museam and got to see part of the treatment plant! Some of my favorite facts I learned was that pine trees were hollowed out and used as pipes in medieval times, trout fish were used as a bioindicator of the quality of raw water, and that sand is used to filter the water naturally! It is the same sand that has been used since 1980, but it is washed every 2 days. These small innovations for water treatment are huge feats of engineering!
Today was a long and busy day, but very informative! I am still getting used to the city and the culture but I am loving it so far. Being with the group makes it much easier, I can’t wait for another day in Prague!
Swanson School of Engineering 