High ambitions attracted Michael to Umeå

Today, Michael Baumgärtner lives in Grenoble in France, where he often takes part of the outdoor life.

ImageDavid Smeele

Michael is originally from Hamburg in Germany. When it was time to study at the university, he wanted to study abroad. He had a set of criteria’s, including wanting to study in Europa and that the university needed to have a good education system, since he had high ambitions. After sifting through different countries, it came down to two options: Finland or Sweden.

– At the end, my choice was random. I had a half Swedish friend that I went to school with, who told me to choose Sweden. And I haven’t regretted it, Michael says.

Michael was interested in studying a programme in chemistry, but he also wanted to study something more. At Umeå university, he found the right education: The Bachelor's Programme in Life Science.

Practical moments and lab work

– It seemed good because it was both chemistry and molecular biology, and both relates to systems. What interests me is how a system, a process, a mechanism works, Michael says.

Something Michael appreciated with the programme was the many practical moments. He recounts how they sometimes could spend a week or two in the laboratory.

– It was a great way to learn. If you only study theoretically, it’s a lot harder to learn, Michael says.

Michael didn’t speak Swedish and knew very little about Sweden before he moved to Umeå. He quickly took a liking to Umeå, and it didn’t take long before he felt integrated in the town and the country.

– The first year, I had a lot of contact with international students. They were a little bit easier to connect with. But after the first year, I had acquired more basic knowledge in Swedish. The second year, I started to get into the Swedish life, speaking Swedish every day and made many Swedish friends, Michael says.

Work directly after graduation

During his thesis project, Michael was offered a job as a lab assistant for his former supervisor. After graduation, he worked at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, where he worked with organizing bacterial colonies. One of the projects he worked with was an astrobiological project.

– We had many bacterial samples that were sent to the international space station and back again. We verified what happened with the bacterial DNA and if any of them survived the trip, Michael says.

Michael found his work to be very exciting. He had a large freedom in how he organized his work during the days, and when he looks back at his study time, he sees a large similarity between his work and his education.

– We worked a lot with different projects. We were given a lab work that we would perform, and we were given time to read articles about the subject, prepare our protocols, check which elements we would use, what our results with mean and so on. Then we performed the work and wrote a report. It’s a lot similar to my work, Michael says.

From Sweden to France

Two and a half years after graduation, many of Michael’s friends had moved from Umeå, and Michael felt that it was time for him to do the same. Since he wanted to study again, he looked at cities around Europe where he could continue his studies in the natural science field. This time, his choice ended up being Grenoble in France.

In Grenoble, Michael studied a master’s programme in neuroscience. Having studied in two different countries as given him a broader perspective and a new view of the Bachelor’s programme in Life Science.

– Now that I’ve studied in a different country, I’ve realized that it’s well organized in Umeå. In Sweden, there is a lot of focus on students organizing their own study time, and during the lectures, the teachers mostly check that the students have learned the right things. You have less lectures and more interaction with the teachers, Michael says.

Michael has just graduated and at the moment, he is looking for work as a research engineer. He thrives in Grenoble, but he hasn’t completely separated himself from Umeå yet. Every year, he spends a few weeks in Sweden, and he also takes the chance to visit the town where he studied.

– I still have a strong bond to Sweden and Umeå even now when I’ve moved away, Michael says.

Read more about the Bachelor's programme in Life Science

Interview: Frida Endertorp