Good Morning,
My name is Maxwell Hrbek, I am a Bioengineering student within the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and a little-known fact about me is that I am going to Greece this May. Originally from Greensburg, PA, I have always been engrossed in the Pittsburgh culture, so I believe the transition into college was particularly kind to me. In the meantime between my busy work schedule, I find myself wandering Schenley Park, regardless of the time of year, and, while there isn’t exactly an open kitchen near me, I rather enjoy baking and cooking. Recently, finding the time to read a good book has been hard, so I have taken up a large anthology of short stories by various authors, which has proved to fill this habit and fit into my schedule quite nicely. I chose bioengineering for a multitude of nuanced reasons, but I don’t have the time nor the space to detail them now. In short, I wanted to be a doctor until I took a physics class in my Junior year. Specifically, I would like to go into the bioengineering signals track, though, like all things in life, this may be subject to change. Though my verbosity may allude to otherwise, my professional life is woefully underdeveloped, as my small suburban hometown offered very little in that matter. However, I shall not let my humble upbringing stand in the way of upholding the standards of Plus3 and Pitt.
It seems more than an age ago that I chose to apply to Plus3. It must have been in September that I attended a small gathering of students in the main lounge at Forbes Pavilion. The opportunity to go abroad already had me hooked on the idea. Personally, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go for Plus3. After some deliberation, I had whittled the list down to just Spain and Cyprus. I believe what settled the debate was what each program offered. I knew I was going into Bioengineering, so I will be learning all about the stuff that would have been taught in Bilboa for the rest of my college career. However, Cyprus’s course on Industrial Engineering and Logistics would be something to help broaden my horizons, per se. Now that the program has switched from Cyprus to Greece, I can safely say that I made the right decision. While I am unsure of how the aspects of supply chain and communication that this trip will touch on will apply to my career in bioengineering, I am sure that learning can only help one grow, and that it may just be my ignorance of the broader picture and bioengineering and supply chain logistics may, in fact, go hand-in-hand.
Signed, Max H
In case I don’t see ya, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Goodnight.
Sun of Apollo, by Minna Ilse Kast
The sun stretches across hand-drawn skies
in Apollo's chariot bringing the dawn
in time,
at once,
we all rise.
I did not spin a wheel of words, and the wheel landed on poetry, which is how I came up with this gimmick. I actually quite enjoy a spot of poetry from time to time. That and the endless troves of greek mythology make me excited to continue this gimmick hobby.