Newly married, Wrobel and his wife, Agnieszka, make their home in Hengelo.The couple met eight years ago in a disco in Poznan where the club had organized a night to mix the engineering students with the economics students. Several years later, their friendship shifted to something more romantic. Since 2003, they have been `Mr. and Mrs.,' but, in October 2004, they married again in a full church wedding before their friends and family in Poland.
This is not Wrobel's first foray into life in the Netherlands, `When I was seventeen, my mother had a job teaching biophysics in Utrecht and I was able to join her for the summer. It is a beautiful city with an old center filled with lots of young students. I especially enjoyed the Dom tower. I remember watching lightning strike the top of it during a storm; it was really an amazing sight.'
This time, however, Wrobel came to the Netherlands for the challenge of working in an international university, a chance to improve his English, a change of scenery and new work in programming and numerics. One of his Poznan professors knew of the Schnerr's upcoming project at the UT and suggested it to Wrobel as the next step in his career. The experience has been everything he had hoped: `I really am pleased with the friendly atmosphere of the research groups here; I truly hope I can find a similar situation in the future.'
Just what will that future look like? Wrobel insists that it is still too early to make any bets. The academic world appeals to him because `there are many questions to answer in my field and the best place to answer them would be at an academic institute.' However, ever the pragmatist, he allows that he would happily snap up an attractive job offer from industry. And, where might this future be? Wrobel and his wife are in no hurry to return to Poland. Says Wrobel, `My wife has put a lot of effort into learning Dutch. If we were to leave, that time and effort would be wasted.'
Besides, unlike many international students, Wrobel has no problem with the infamous Dutch climate, explaining, `Coming from western Poland, I don't have any of the normal complaints about Dutch weather; it's mild compared to winters at home.'
Favorites:
Hometown: Poznan, Poland
Author: Umberto Eco
Film: Roman Polanski's The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
TV program: The Osbornes
Food: Beef roasted in its own juice and served with dumplings and mashed beets
Favorite place in NL: Utrecht
Miss most about home: Close friends and family
Best part about living in the NL: Almost everybody speaks English
Worst part about living in the NL: Incompetence of the IND
