Swanson School of Engineering

Today we visited three churches and the silver mine in Kutna Hora. I was especially fascinated when walking through the bone church. I found it hard to comprehend that the bones were from real people. I cannot fathom how difficult it must have been to construct the bone church. First to be able to perfectly preserve the bones, then to fit each and every bone perfectly in its spot. Similarly, St. Barbara’s Cathedral had incredibly architecture which definitely caused some engineering challenges. I think the hardest part must have been the creating the high ribbed vaults and flying buttresses without modern day tools in 1388. Our next step was the Silver Mine. This trip was more than I ever imagined. Walking through the tunnel fully bent over, head hitting every rock, barley fitting in the small walkways. When we shut all the lights off I tried imagining having to find my way out of the cave and got nervous just thinking about it. Lastly, I think my “fish out of water” experience so far has been being at restaurants. Anytime a waiter has asked a follow up question I have frozen because I don’t want to answer it wrong or misunderstand them.