Alberie Hanse

Alberie is a major in Theatre from California State University at Fullerton

My journey to Trinity Saint David started May 2010 when I was walking down the hall at California State Fullerton University and I saw a poster advertising study abroad. I had known a couple of the students who had come from Trinity so I decided to email our Fullerton coordinator for more information. When I went to talk to her about Trinity Saint David I fell in love with the idea of spending a semester in Wales and studying acting, but to get there I would have to spend the next few months filling out paperwork, getting my passport, and raising the money to go all while getting through my fall semester of school.

All of the stress and worry that I had to go through to get to Trinity Saint David was made worth it the moment I stepped on the campus on a late January night, and it kept getting better the longer I was there. Everyone I met at Trinity Saint David was so amazing and welcoming, there wasn’t a day where I didn’t meet someone new or didn’t have a good experience with someone. I even meet students the night I arrived at Trinity.

The training I got at TSD was a brilliant experience; it was amazing to get one on one training and a new view on acting that I had not seen before. It started with Shakespeare, which was something I had not had a lot of experience with and it was a great growing experience to be involved with the Shakespeare class. Then I got a chance to work on the main house production ‘Oh What a Lovely War!’ , where I got to use different accents, sing , dance and have the opportunity to choreograph a large dance number. The show was a brilliant collaborative effort between all the students and director and it pushed me to produce some of my strongest work. I then got to work on audition techniques and make audition DVD that I am using in the states.The last module I worked on was Absurd theatre, which was a great and challenging way of looking at theatre and performing in a new light.

I loved having a three week break to travel and go to places I have always wanted to go. Everybody always told me that study abroad is an amazing experience and will change you for the better, and I believed them of course, but I never knew how brilliant a time I would have and how much it would change me. In one semester I grew so much and became a stronger person and actor. I also never knew I would grow so attached to the people at TSD, I met and worked with some many amazing people and they are now part of my family.

People told me how much fun I was going to have, but nobody told me how hard it was going to be for me to leave my new found family. I am so blessed that I got to met all these people and I cannot wait to go back and visit them. Studying at Trinity was the best thing I have ever done, it was such a rewarding experience, and I would recommend to everybody and I would do it again in a heartbeat.