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Great holidays in a beautiful country!
Viktor Sliva
I am Alban de Rugy and I come from the French Military Academy of Saint Cyr. I have just spent three months in Brno to write and work on my final thesis to graduate my engineering degree.
Why did you decide to spend Your Erasmus just in Brno? I wanted to go to Europe because it is possible to travel easily to see a lot of capitals and different countries. I did not know a lot of things about Czech Republic and I wanted to discover the different and new culture for me. There is a partnership between Saint Cyr and the University of Defence in Brno so it was perfect for me. Did you know anything about Brno before coming here? The only thing I knew before was Brno is the second city of the Czech Republic and I had found on the internet that the cathedral looked very beautiful. What is the main difference between your home school and the University of Defence? The main difference between what I live in France and what I have lived in Brno is in the context of the project. I have been here to write a thesis in an office in civilian outfit without military constraints. I think these three months would be very similar to a civilian university. Have you learnt more about Brno? I have been very happy to discover Brno. Notably the cathedral, which is very beautiful. I have been also very delighted to discover the city surroundings with, for example, Austerlitz visit in the occasion of the 214th anniversary of Napoléon´s vic-
tory, which is an important celebration at Saint Cyr. Indeed, Napoléon founded our school and the students play a reconstitution of the battle every year. What is the goal of your stay in Brno? The goal of my stay is obviously firstly to write my thesis to graduate my degree. The choice to make it in a different country is to exchange with French allies and finally improve our English. It is very interesting to see a bit how another army works! What is your specialisation? I study mechanics and especially structures. What is your thesis topic? My work is an analysis of the basic design concept of tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle with a focus on the current combat requirements. It is a very large field for what scientific skills in general are better required than specific mechanics ones. How do you cooperate with your tutor? It is very simple. I send him what I have done during the week and I ask him all questions that might appear during the week or ask for information, if needed, on Fridays. We have meetings every Monday where he corrects me if necessary, give me data and we target at the objectives for the week.
