Today was definitely the coolest day trip event we have done so far. We went to the Skoda museum and manufacturing plant to tour basically everything about the company. We started in the museum where they had a bunch of car models presented, in addition to the motorbikes from the early 1900s that first started the company. I noticed that a lot of the cars had excessive swirl marks and even pretty deflated tires, so I’m not really sure how much care they’re being given. The best model in the museum was probably this concept car built in 1971. It was a 2 seater coupe that kind of resembled a DeLorean and if I were to guess it was influenced by American sports cars at the time (Because we have AWESOME cars, also I beat all the other European teenagers on the racing sim they had so that’s just another win for Pitt and America). However, this particular model never made it to production but apparently it was in some weird vampire car movie which I fully intend on watching. Something I didn’t realize about Skoda is just how massive they are in the Czech Republic. If I’m not mistaken, I believe they are one of the highest private gross GDP companies in the country if not number 1. They’re a massive company in the country and employ a bunch of people. Their factory isn’t that automated but that means they can give jobs to thousands more people than companies that do have more automation. The coolest part of the trip was the visit to the rally facility. Skoda is part of VW and they are the brand that competes in the rally division. Globally, Skoda builds cars for Rally 2. They basically take one of their hatchback models and supe it up with better suspension, tighter steering, massive shocks, steel plating underneath the frame, tune the engine, and weld in a big roll bar so the driver and the guy next to him (the navigator maybe? i forget the name but it’s the dude that tells the driver where to go) don’t die when the car inevitably hits a tree or rolls off a cliff.
Going in another direction, the best thing I’ve eaten here so far is everything on the menu at this Italian place called Pizza Nuovo. I’m serious. I’ve gone there 3 days in a row so far and I’m going back tomorrow. The people that work there are starting to recognize me, not even just the host and some of the waiters but like the cleaning staff too. I have also legitimately had every item off the pizza and pasta section. I did the all you can eat deal the other day and I spent two hours just eating everything. By myself. I only stopped because they were closing the kitchen at 10 (started the mission around 8ish) and would not be able to keep making food for me. It was beautiful.
Swanson School of Engineering 