"I can make a difference, especially in Görlitz."
That Görlitz would one day become her home, her true homeland, complete with the right feeling, her own apartment, her boyfriend – none of this was on Aileen Baumgärtner's radar back in 2019 when she began her Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Management at the Görlitz campus. Now she has just finished the first semester of the corresponding Master's program. "I've somehow settled in. I didn't plan to pursue the Master's degree; it just evolved over the years," the 23-year-old explains. Originally from Bautzen, Aileen Baumgärtner's life is centered in Görlitz, and she intends to keep it that way.
Perhaps one reason for her advanced studies is that Aileen Baumgärtner feels a bit cheated out of her bachelor's degree. "My entire bachelor's program was basically online because of Covid," she says. And she, in particular, who loves being around people, thrives on interaction and groups, didn't enjoy sitting alone at home in front of the computer. "I didn't experience that normal student life everyone always talks about!" Now she's studying for a master's degree in healthcare management and is experiencing university life in a completely new way. "Interacting, being present, being there," that's what she loves, says Aileen Baumgärtner.
Aileen tells how Görlitz became her new home and why she likes living here so much in the full interview with the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.
Text: Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences / Sophie Herwig
Photo: Sophie Herwig
