Arcadia Scotland

Arcadia Scotland staffer Cameron McKay caught up with Belmont University student Gordon Carroll, who is studying with Arcadia Abroad at University of Stirling, to get his views on all things Scottish and Fall 2020. Read on to find out why Stirling may be like Las Vegas (?).

Cameron McKay: Gordon and I are both right now in a beautiful part of Scotland, though not in the same room. 

Gordon Carroll: My dad was born in Scotland, but I grew up in Tennessee. And I’m glad I got to study abroad, so if anyone is thinking about studying abroad, even if there is another pandemic, I highly suggest you do. I really love it.

CM: So what have you kind of made of the weather so far? Because that’s one of the main complaints of study abroad students.

GC: The only one time I had a problem with it was when I wanted to go hiking with some friends up to Dumyat and it just got too muddy when it was raining a little harder, so we turned around. I feel like when you go anywhere or wherever you go, there’s always going to be one or two days when you’ll have trouble with weather.

CM: How did Arcadia prepare you for study abroad?

GC: I studied abroad for a few weeks when I was in high school in Germany and everything was planned for me. Arcadia literally planned everything with me, and helped me so much that it made traveling abroad simple, and so easy. There’s always someone to contact if there’s something I need help with. I feel like Arcadia did a great job in what I needed.

CM: Is there any reason why you decided to come to Scotland, and why you’ve decided to come this semester?

GC: I always knew I was going to study abroad my junior year of college, and I knew I wanted to study in Scotland because that’s where my dad’s from. And I got to meet a lot of family members here already that I’ve never met before.  I already love them; they’re my family. But the reason I chose to study abroad, even this year, is just because it fit into my schedule. Even with COVID-19 happening, when [Arcadia] still decided to [have programming], I was super excited and still decided to take advantage. I’m ok with quarantining for two weeks, if I get this experience.

CM: So why did you decide to come through Arcadia? 

GC: Stirling was the perfect one for me. I’m not really a big city person.  I feel like it’s more of “what Scotland is,” of “a regular Scotland city,” what a “college city” would be in Scotland.

CM: What’s the most interesting thing you’re learning at the moment – in classes, or in your study abroad experience more broadly?

GC: So I’m a political science major and I took two political science classes and one philosophy.  It’s very different to see how people think about politics over here compared to America. 

One of the biggest shocks to me was these, “betting places” – I know that sounds weird, but you guys have a lot of betting places throughout Scotland. And that’s something that’s so, like, not bizarre, but so interesting. 

CM: You’re making Stirling sound like Las Vegas.

GC: I know I’m making it sound like Las Vegas, it’s really not. It’s just like a regular thing here. 

I hope to come back to Scotland after this trip. I want to come back to Scotland. I love it already. You know, I look at the glass half-full. 

CM: So what’s been the most challenging thing?

GC: The most challenging thing was the quarantine. If you’re a reader like me, I’ve read all my books … Arcadia luckily gave me a book, too, and I’ve read half of that so far. Make sure you’re on a scheduled routine, and make sure you get used to the time change, because you really can’t leave the room.   

CM: What have you made of your classes and lectures so far?

GC: Teaching here is a lot different from American colleges. Everything’s online now. In one of my classes, we read and then discussed, and what would a country do during a zombie apocalypse? That was pretty fun, it was a really cool idea, then once we do the zombie apocalypse, we do a real world idea like COVID-19 – what did countries do?.

CM: What advice would you give to students wanting to study abroad next semester, or, just more generally?

GC: I still keep in contact with friends at my university, and they still say it’s hard, getting used to COVID-19 at American schools. Here, it seems like they have the system down and they know what they’re doing and the teachers are here to help you. And I hope that’s what it’s like in American schools. 

In general, come prepared to try new things. It took me about a week to get over this hump of trying new things.

CM: So, any final words?

GC: I hope you study abroad through Arcadia! It’s one of the greatest things I’ve done, and I haven’t even finished my entire time here. So I can’t wait to finish it throughout the winter.