Have you met Sylwia, executive manager of the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies? Spend the next few minutes getting to know her a little better.
What is your first U of A memory?
Coming to campus to visit my older sister who was a student here before I was.
What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?
I’m a published poet (thankfully in a different language and under a different name) and a certified Canadian Soccer Association Youth Coach, and I absolutely love European football (or as Canadians call it, soccer). Life seems far more interesting when we embrace the paradoxes of our personalities and don’t try to fit too neatly into some Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
What’s your favourite distraction?
Cooking and baking for sure! I think the kitchen is the heart of a home and absolutely no serious life decisions should ever be made in the absence of good food, pastry and wine.
If you were enrolling in one course, program or degree right now, what would it be?
That would 100% be a BA in Native Studies. I’m sad to admit that my Canadian history re-education came so late in life but I’m making a genuine effort to learn and fill-in all of the knowledge gaps I was unaware of until quite recently.
What’s a weird pet peeve you have?
I can’t deal with loud noises very well so I tend to avoid all things which are loud – including people, I’m afraid. Also, people who mow their lawns on Sunday – I’d like to declare every Sunday a noise-free day.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
In my fantasy world I would like to have Madeleine Albright, Anne Applebaum and Olga Tokarczuk over for dinner. I mean, can you even imagine so much experience, intellect and savoir-faire in one room?!
If you could see any live performance tomorrow, what would it be?
During Covid I honestly feel like I could even enjoy a live performance of The Wiggles – but in a normal world any Italian opera from the early-Romantic to the verismo period is my weakness. Although I’ve watched many of them online and at the Cineplex here in Edmonton with their Met’s Saturday Matinee Broadcasts, I can’t wait to see one again at one of the famous European opera houses.
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Slow down, sleep a lot before you have children and don’t eat squeezed aerosol cheese – it’s not real cheese!
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
Hot water, a bathtub and a book. I assure you these are ‘one thing’.
What three words describe your U of A experience?
Dream Come True. I’m not even joking. I have the best job, amazing colleagues and unapologetically love the U of A. I totally don’t care how corny that sounds!
