The city of Pittsburgh can have one of two effects on a person: it can make them want to move far, FAR away or stay forever. Emily Wells, a junior Decision Science major, has lived in Pittsburgh her entire life, and she seems to be leaning towards the former. When I asked her where she wanted to be in two years:
“Alaska, Oregon, Washington State, Colorado, Montana, Canada or Switzerland. Or Chile. Wait, get rid of Switzerland, it’s too expensive.”
Considering that none of those places are remotely close to Pittsburgh, it sounds like Wells has had enough of the steel city, or at least her fair share of it.
Along with being a sister of Kappa Alpha Theta, Wells is a member of the Global Public Health Brigades, a member of Psi Chi honors society and an employee on and off campus. As if that wasn’t enough, she overloaded this semester by taking on a research assistant position in the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management.
“It’s drug policy analysis. Looking at the relationship between marijuana, alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs.”
She lists her hobbies as Bob’s Burgers, Reddit, foodporn on Reddit, going to concerts and exploring the wilderness. When she isn’t doing those things, she’s Googling images of snowy mountains and large dogs, dreaming of the day she’ll have her own Caucasian Shepherd dog. No, German Shepherd Golden Retriever mix.
“Can you add wolf dog? I also want a pet mountain lion. They’re my favorite.”
She shows me pictures of Mountain lion cubs (SO precious) and then suddenly we’re typing “moose” into the search bar.
Emily Wells loves to think about the future; her job, her dog (or mountain lion), her environment (some sort of mountainous landscape), her travels. But she doesn’t throw away the present. She makes the most of her education and time in Pittsburgh, citing her favorite things at CMU as the people, the ultimate brownies and the Professors. She’ll be ready to go in just a few years, to visit the images in her internet history, but for now she’s content in her city, comforted by the fact that she’ll someday depart from it.