Your Stories
Three former Erasmus Students on their experiences of this EU programme
ERASMUS Students
Alice Ryan, Maria Swan & Peter Hession, former Erasmus Students tell us about their experiences of this EU programme.
Alice Ryan is a final year Business and French student and last year she spent her Erasmus in Paris, studying at École Supérieure de Commerce. She found this a very rewarding experience not only academically but also personally and socially. Spending the year studying through French at such a well known and prestigious school increased the appeal of her CV to EU and this was an influential factor in securing an internship in the International Trade Centre in Geneva last summer.
Peter Hession has just finished his last year of the History and Political Science degree in Trinity. Last year he studied at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and enjoyed the experience very much. He had the opportunity to study through French, Spanish, and German as well as taking classes given by the University in Polish for five hours a week. Warsaw is a large university, over 60,000 students in total, but his departments were located along the historic Krakowskie Przedmieście, near the old town. Overall, he took a huge amount from his Erasmus experience. He is passionate about polish history, and plans to write his thesis on aspects of inter-war polish society for his masters next year in Cambridge University.
Maria Swan has just completed a four year course in Trinity in Sociology and Social Policy. She spent her third year in college (2007-2008) in Lille University, France. She was born in Belgium which has greatly influenced her love and aptitude for languages. Having just finished her degree she is still considering her career options. She is interested in Development Aid and has applied to Master courses in DCU and University of Edinburgh. The main benefit from her year on Erasmus, apart from gaining a greater fluency in French, is that she says she now can go to almost any country in Europe and have friends to stay with and visit. Her group of friends has expanded and diversified greatly.