Norway - Hans 

The Erasmus programme introduced me to Europe and then the world, which inspired me to go beyond my own country in my professional life and directly affected my personal life. I not only spoke other languages every day and experienced new cultures and traditions, but above all I met people from different backgrounds with very interesting experiences.

My Erasmus year, as a student at the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence, gave me a chance to develop in a cosmopolitan environment, where I was fortunate enough to meet my wife. She is French and also did an Erasmus year, but in Norway. And while I was doing my Masters in Belgium, she was studying in England. We got married in 1998 and now have two little girls.

I enjoyed the Erasmus experience so much that I applied for a place at the College of Europe. Its very European environment, in terms of both students and teachers, increased my determination to work in an international environment. So when I finished my Masters, I was given the chance, thanks to my education and experience, to join the Norsk Hydro group in Paris, which offered me the job of managing a project in Abidjan for 15 months. I then became director of a chemical fertiliser factory in Cotonou, Benin.

After five years in Africa, we are returning to Paris this summer for a few years before, we hope, leaving once again for new horizons. As a result of the multicultural and international environment in which we are evolving every day, we have developed an ability to adapt quickly and our curiosity for all things new has increased, and this is something which we want to pass on to our children….