Trent Alumni Hannah St. Louis
Hannah St. Louis completed her bachelors degree in Environmental Resource Science at Trent University and then went on to obtain her masters in Geoscience and Oceanography at the University of Malta. During her time at Trent Hannah participated in an exchange at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in Sogndal, Norway. There she completed two semesters, the first being a program called "From Mountains to Fjords" and the second being "Geohazards and Climate Change." Now, a couple years later we had the chance to catch up with Hannah. To see what she's been up to and how, if at all her exchange impacted her life.
When asked about the influence her exchange had on her life Hannah replied by saying, "Absolutely my study abroad influenced the rest of my life." Her exchange is the main reason why she wanted to obtain her masters abroad instead of staying closer to home. Like many students, when Hannah graduated with her bachelors degree she didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life. The only thing she did know was she wanted to travel and meet new people, maybe even pursue further education. "Studying abroad is also a great way to obtain a Visa to live in another country," which is how she decided upon the University of Malta, the Oceanography program was also a key factor. Hannah lived in Malta for a year while completing her masters and in October of 2022 upon completion she moved back home. Since then she has travelled back to Malta on numerous occasions to visit all the amazing people she met there. If that wasn't incredible enough as we were sending emails back and forth Hannah was in the process of moving to New Zealand full time to pursue her career in oceanography. So if you were to ask her if her exchange was beneficial you would recieve an astounding yes.
Moving to an entirely new country, not once but three times is quite a feat, especially if you're doing it on your own. But it's an amazing way to completely remove yourself from your comfort zone. During her exchange Hannah was able to grow as a person and gain more confidence in herself. Some advice she would give someone thinking about studying abroad is to try everything at least once. There are so many different classes and ways to push yourself. One of Hannahs favourite experiences was her first overnight trip in her program which was a trip to Boverbrean Glacier. She got the chance to hike on top of a stunning glacier while learning about the landscape. To this day it is still one of the most beautiful places she has ever visited.
Hannah wouldn't change anything about her experience. The only thing she might have considered was saying "yes" more a little bit sooner.