In the evening before my Mathematics “Matura” I got a completely unexpected email: Amidst the stress of writing my final exams during a pandemic I had entirely forgotten about the application I sent to OeWF the winter before. Now I was asked to complete a four-week internship there. Assured that at least some dreams still get fulfilled and with my head already in Innsbruck I went on to write my math exam the next day (don’t worry, it went just fine).

But one thing after the other: My name is Mia Nußbaumer, I am eighteen years old and I graduated from high school in my hometown Linz this year. In October I am going to begin studying Biochemistry in Linz and Budweis. I wrote my VWA (pre-scientific paper) about the effects of long-term space travel on the human body. As part of this paper I was looking for somebody to conduct an interview with, found out about the OeWF and got to experience how incredibly helpful and passionate the people working there are.

And that is why I am now writing this blog with my time here almost over already and I still cannot truly comprehend everything I have learned and experienced in this short time. As somebody that had no real knowledge about technical stuff and that has never really set a foot into a workshop before I was concerned, to say at least, if I was going to be able to keep up with what was expected of me. But after a few days I realized that these worries had been unnecessary. I was taught so many different things: from what all the tools are called to using computer aided design to create tiny hinges for a model satellite.

Since it is impossible to talk about everything on here, I am going to pick out the most interesting event: going to (and working in!) the lab.

My main task was to help in a project that is trying to find out how microorganisms can survive on certain fabrics that might one day be used in space suits. As part of this project several experiments have been conducted. For one test the microorganisms were put into petri dishes containing only the fabrics and nothing else… and I got to help! For two days I got to come along to the microbiological laboratory at the University of Innsbruck. The microorganism had been living on the fabrics without additional nutritional sources for two weeks and were now put into a complete medium to see how many had survived. The results were stunning: Several kinds of bacteria and fungi were happily growing the next day. For me it was an amazing experience to actually do work in a lab and learn about the work process of conducting this kind of study.

Apart from all that I also got to experience living on my own for a month for the first time. While this was, of course, challenging at first, I quickly got used to it – mainly because I never felt like I was actually alone. At work I was welcomed as a part of the team immediately and it turned out that Innsbruck is a really friendly and hospitable city in general.

So, my verdict after three exhausting but very rewarding weeks: I would definitely recommend the internship here even if you do not attend a school with a technical focus, even if you are questioning your abilities. Yes, it might be a little tough at first but the experience and knowledge you will ultimately gain is certainly worth it.

Author: Mia Nußbaumer