I was so excited to go to Vienna to see the city, but not so much to do robotics. I thought I was going to hate robotics, and I did. Seriously. I’m never doing it again.
The first few days where so much fun. We split into four groups. My group was Daniela, Maddie, Leo, and me. The first thing we did was invent a robot and create a prototype. We made a dog sled. It sounds boring but it was so cool to make. Our first idea was a hot air balloon but it wouldn’t work out so we brainstormed other ideas. We did the dogs sled with paper, straws, and balloons. We would blow up two balloons, one by one, hold them tight so the air wouldn’t come out, and then we let them go at the same time. It was actually really fun doing this and everyone in my group got really involved. It was a good start to the week and it got me excited to do robotics, but that excitement didn’t last much. We also learned how to use the 3D printer! We used a software in the computer to design what we wanted and then they printed our designs. I made a name tag for my brother. (I hope you like it Jose.) We also saw a 3D printer in action, it was amazing. I’ve seen so many of them in video but had never seen them in real life. It was cool. One of the guys that worked there said he has a small 3D printer at home which is crazy, I didn’t know people had 3D printers in their house.
The last few days where the hard ones. We had to build a robot and program it to follow a black line and pick up and obstacle. The robot was made out of LEGOs so it wasn’t hard to assemble it, it was actually fun. I love building LEGOs. The programing part was the hardest and I hated it. They didn’t even show us how to use the software. They said each group would have a teacher to help us and answer our questions but that was a lie. I asked everyone and no one helped me. Apparently there are so many ways to program it to do the same thing so I guess each teacher showed me different stuff that I did not understand. I finally gave up on the robot and Leo took over. She finished programing it. It was not that bad. We had a robot competition and ours came in second to last. (Better than last I guess? Jaja).
During our time learning about robots I did not learn how to program one, but I know now that it is something that I don’t have interest in. I won’t be doing it again.
After those painful days of trying to figure out the programing thing, we finally arrived in Prague! It was such a beautiful city. There was so much to do and see. I absolutely loved our time there. The partner there was the Diplomatic School and we spent two days with them. We worked with a different person both days and they were both super interesting. The first guy we worked with used to be the Private Secretary of the Prime Minster. He talked to us about the etiquette used in diplomatic events. For example, how to dress properly and knowing what the dress codes mean, how to greet and introduce people properly, how to address certain people, how to invite people to certain events and how to respond to the invitation, etc. The second day we worked with a politician that held many ministerial positions like the deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He talked to us about the history of Czech Republic and we talked about Czech and US politics. Talking with both of this men was really interesting and it felt like such an honor. It did feel like school at times because we sat in a room all day listening to someone talk, but I actually liked it.
We also had so much time in Prague to explore the city. It’s such a great city, there’s so much to see! I really loved our time there. It was one of my favorite cities in Europe.
