Today, we had the opportunity of visiting Prague Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral was probably the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It fascinates me even more that this cathedral took more than half a century to come into complete existence. Construction began in the early 1300’s and the building was finished in the early 1900’s. This significant span of time is due to the lack of sufficient funds, the Hessite Wars, and major shifts in power in the Czech Republic throughout the years. This engineering marvel along with the perfect cityscape populated with countless clay tile roofs, from my perspective, capture the pride that Czechs have in their city and display the importance of engineering in society.
I am a believer that engineering is not only a job for people who make things work properly, but it is also an art. The engineers that were in charge of any projects that would be visible to the people in Prague were not only responsible for the structural integrity of their creations, but they were also responsible for the aesthetic appearance of their projects. The Czech people did not and do not want a city that looks held together by strings. They desire a city that represents their pride for their nation, and there is no better way to do such a thing than through the beauties of meticulous, thorough engineering.
Furthermore, today, we had the chance to express our artistic side of engineering through a Czech cooking class, where I got to work with the G.O.A.T. Jake Martino. One dish we especially enjoyed created was the Lokše, a dessert that consisted of Semolina flour, shredded potatoes, brown sugar (our special ingredient), a plum jam filling, butter, and powdered sugar. When we finished our dish, we veered off the head chef’s recipe and decided to roll our Lokše’s into cannoli-shaped desserts, which were very delicious and presentable. When looking up this dessert later on, we realized that other chef’s did the exact same thing, so instead of considering ourselves innovators, we can consider ourselves professional chefs.
Thank you again to Jana, Dr. Sacre, and Chris for another amazing day 🙂
Swanson School of Engineering 