A big hobby of mine is photography. I don't consider myself a professional but I really enjoy the moment when I am taking photos. Sometimes I like to play with colours editing them. I really like nature; one thing I enjoy the most is hiking in natural landscapes, my favourite ones being the hills of Córdoba. Although it is not my birthplace, Villa del Dique is surely where I belong. I have my best memories there, it reminds me of my childhood and my family. The house of my grandparents is charming and in summer you can do a lot of activities like water-skiing, fishing, and swimming in the lake. 

Furthermore, I am really passionate about music to the point it can totally change my mood with only one song. Here's an example of one song that makes me feel confident and gives me a boost of energy every time I need it (click to listen "Mary Poppins y el Deshollinador").

Since I was a child I’ve had this huge passion for space and stars. For my 20th birthday, my parents surprised me with the best gift I’ve ever had: a reflector telescope. Because of that gift, one of my favourite hobbies is to star-gaze on summer nights; and the peak of my joy starts when I can mix two of my passions by doing astrophotography!

Why do I study Physics? Well, it is something a lot of people wonder when they ask me what my major is. I study this because, since an early age, I wasn’t satisfied with short answers. I always wanted more and more, and I think a big part of the job of a physicist is not being satisfied with stuff we know and always digging deeper and going beyond. What I love about Physics is that it gives you a way of thinking, more than facts or formulas to deduce things. With the same language and mindset that you learn in this discipline, you can figure out from the dynamics of a black hole to how particles interact.

When I finished High School I was interested in a lot of things. I definitely used those years of my life to get a taste of everything. I often felt bored in normal class so I took the opportunity to join every extracurricular activity that was presented to me; I was part of a research group in Social Sciences, the Olympics in History, Ecology, and Math. By this means, I could learn a little bit of different disciplines, but by my last year of secondary school my head was a mess: which discipline would I dedicate my life to, without getting bored in the middle? I followed my instinct to pursue something related to Astronomy, so Physics gave me a lot of that diversity that I needed to fulfill my need for change.

So, in 2020 (a triggering year) I started to study Physics in the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. The pandemic was a whole challenge for me. My first year of university was a mess, however I figured it out to make friends and pass all of my exams. It was not easy, though. I remember having a lot of stress and the feeling of missing valuable experiences and knowledge haunted me every day. Sometimes I felt so overwhelmed and tired, but my passion for my field kept me going. What only seemed to be one year of virtual university soon turned out to be two. But finally, in 2022, I could have the whole experience when things started to normalize. Nowadays, I really love my career and I enjoy my lab practices a lot. I found out that experimental Physics is my favourite part of the job of a physicist!

Winning this scholarship for me was something that I could only imagine a few months ago. I wanted it with my whole heart and put a lot of effort on obtaining it. But effort also means sacrifice. I gave a lot to be who I am now and to be where I am now. On the other hand, I know that I am privileged to have received education from a very young age, and to have the goal to pursue a University degree in my country. That's why I like to remind myself that I'm very proud but also very thankful of the person I am today.

However, we are also built of failures. As an example in my life, I applied two times to this scholarship. The first one I was so close to winning but in the end it didn't happen. Instead of giving up, I used that failure to build on top. I took my old application and tried to improve it, and I put as a relevant fact in my description that I had already been so close to winning the previous year. I think that failure and retrying are very important skills to value in a person. It is silly to think that we will get everything we want at the first attempt. You are lucky or weirdly talented if you do so, but the process of recognizing one’s failures and weak points is key for self development, so at some point I am glad that Fulbright rejected me in 2021. It has only made me gain experience and build a stronger and more introspective personality!

Nowadays, I occupy some places of leadership. One example is that I am the departmental representative for the voice of the students in the Physics Council of my University. I take my role very seriously, and try to speak and defend the ideas of all of the students. Furthermore, being a woman in STEM has made me reflect a lot on the role I play in my community. I am one of the few women studying Physics at my University and I use every opportunity I have to encourage more women to pursue a degree in science, especially in my field. 

To me, leadership is the attitude of being inspiring to someone, but in the sense of being able to help others access new places in their lives. A leader has a strong personality but leaves room for constructive criticism and for feedback on their job. In addition, a leader has strong convictions and does their job with passion. I consider myself a leader in progress; even though I occupy places of leadership and I try to do my best at them, I will always work on getting better and developing more of these important attitudes.