Magdalena Lederbauer had only one wish during her school days at Sir Karl Popper Gymnasium in Vienna: “To study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, or ETH for short”.
Because the Kaltenleutgebnerin is already a luminary when it comes to chemistry during her school days, the NÖN reported.
She wins the Austrian Chemistry Olympiad several times and she succeeds in getting a bronze medal at the international Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad in St. Petersburg in 2019. And that with an international field of participants, “from students from countries where natural sciences are valued and promoted much higher than in Austria,” says Magdalena.
All these victories brought her closer to her dream of studying at ETH in Switzerland. After her Matura in 2019, the time had come: Magdalena moved to Zurich to study computer science, physics, mathematics and various disciplines of chemistry on the Höngerberg campus. In the meantime she has got used to it and describes her impressions: “Studying at ETH is similar to what I saw from some of the students before and can now experience it for myself: excellent, intensive, academic, tough, but – or perhaps because of it – very high quality. “
Studies require all resources
The chemistry department at Camous is very modern and impressive in terms of technical equipment. In order to keep up with the demanding material, it is sometimes necessary to work from morning to night and to focus on learning techniques as well as time-outs.
Magdalena says: “It is very special to live and study at a ‘source of research’. I am very happy that I got a place and can now enjoy this training. “
The only downer: “We first-semester students hardly got any face-to-face events this year. Since November 2nd, the entire university has switched to distance learning. We only had the analytical-inorganic and physical-chemical internship three times a week for five to six hours each as a face-to-face event in the laboratory, ”reports Magdalena.
A lockdown was not considered in Switzerland to date, but there were and are restrictions in public life, especially in the field of education.
“You need an extremely high level of self-discipline and time planning to keep up with the material, the exercises, the lectures via zoom and, in parallel, with the time-consuming and exhausting laboratory,” says Magdalena.
In any case, she longs for face-to-face lessons, and a bit of longing for home remains.
Because as much as Magdalena is passionate about her subject chemistry, and as well as she has already arrived in Switzerland in her student life: “Austria, Lower Austria and Kaltenleutgabe are unique for me,” says Magdalena.
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