Exchange student becomes first from his University to study at GCU

Following a recent partnership between Glasgow Caledonian University and University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, third year Computer Science student Ethan Walker has joined GCU on a semester abroad.

Ethan arrived in Glasgow in September and will be living and studying here until mid-December before heading home for the festive season.

Ethan is the first student from University of Windsor to come to GCU on exchange, with some of his friends and classmates being a short flight away in countries such as Sweden and France. On hearing about the potential to study abroad, Ethan said: “I didn’t even realise it was a thing until I took a Spanish class because I had to take a language course but then my teacher brought in her son who travelled all over the world with a Spanish band before he went to school in Spain and that blew my mind because I had no idea that people would go to different places around the world to study.”

Ethan said that his motivation for choosing GCU “was more a combination of things, last year I took a trip to Colorado with my girlfriend to visit my aunt and we spent multiple days hiking in the mountains and I discovered my love for hiking. My home town is the flattest place ever, there’s no elevation anywhere so it was really amazing to be in the mountains.

Also, growing up I’d go to my grandma’s house after school and she was very passionate about her Scottish heritage and she would talk to me all the time about this country and how beautiful it was so when Windsor made the agreement with GCU I just knew I had to come here.”

Upon his arrival in Glasgow, Ethan didn’t have much of a plan of what he wanted to do and instead thought he would see what his fellow students were doing and go from there. Since arriving, Ethan has already made the most of the mild and bright autumn weather by travelling around the country to explore by hiking some of our famous hills and mountains.

“I’ve been to Edinburgh to Arthur’s Seat and the Royal Mile. I’ve also recently visited the Isle of Skye for the weekend where we stayed in a hostel and did some fun hikes. I think the first hike with the mountaineering club up Ben Vrackie has been my highlight so far. Also getting to visit the highlands and being up in the clouds, it’s been quite surreal.”

In order to fully immerse himself in the student experience and see as much of Scotland as he can during his stay, Ethan has joined the Mountaineering Club. He said: “On my first hike with the mountaineering club it was misty but then we got to the top and you could see above the clouds and it was really nice. I like to think that the country is trying to welcome me with the good weather you’ve been having!”

“I have a lot more free time during the semester than I thought, I was thinking I’d spend my week trying to get all my work done and maybe go do something fun at the weekends if I had time but it’s so nice to be able to have the free time to explore and really take it all in.”

Ethan’s University back home is very different to GCU as it has a much larger and older campus, so by doing an exchange he is getting to experience an entirely different type of university life. “I also love how modern the University is and that the class sizes are smaller, so the teaching feels a lot more personal. I feel like everyone here takes a completely different approach to education than back home which I really like, for example the Fit to Sit policy and things like that.”

Travelling over 3,000 miles to move to a new university in a new city where you don’t know anyone is definitely a daunting thought, but Ethan highlighted that the friendly atmosphere in Glasgow has helped him settle in. He said: “I would say Scottish people are just as friendly as Canadians, they’re very easy to talk to in terms of having a conversation with them, but I’m still trying to work out the whole accent thing though.

“I spend a lot of time with my flatmates who are also on exchange, we take a lot of walks around the City and the West End, which is really nice. I just think it’s such a privilege that I can just walk outside my accommodation and go and experience new things”

Ethan mentioned that his entire academic career has been based in Windsor, so having somewhere new on his CV is an excellent message to potential future employers that he can put himself out there and adjust to a new way of life outside his comfort zone.

He also said: “I think there’s only a few times in your life where you can give yourself fully to something and be fully committed and accept that you’re going to change as a person, and for me I welcome the change. I think as a person if you have the opportunity to do something like that then you should.

If I could tell people to do one thing with their day it would be go and try something new and experience something different so I would push that idea to anyone out there who’s even considering doing exchange.”

Find out more about exchange at GCU.

By Derry Wyllie

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