Hello! My name is Maya Reid and I am a Canadian international exchange student who will be coming to the University of Stirling in September. The University of Stirling and my home school, Carleton University, have a partnership, meaning that students from one school can attend the other for a term, or a year, and have the courses they take and the credits they complete transfer back as a part of their degree. I chose to come to Stirling because it had the most courses that would transfer back in a country I am very interested in; Scotland!
At Carleton University, I am a Bachelor or Journalism student with a minor in Film Studies. This program is a four-year degree program, with a lot of hands on learning by top people in the industry. The Journalism program at Carleton is one of the top programs in Canada in its field, and it was the first one ever created in Canada. The University of Stirling offers many journalism courses, which are very similar to the ones Carleton offers, which is one of the reasons I chose Stirling. One of the differences between the programs is Carleton focuses on discussing Canadian journalism, and reporting on Canada. While this interests me, I have always wanted to live and work overseas in Europe, so coming to study journalism for a year at a European institution will teach me more about reporting and journalism in Europe.
Living and studying overseas has always been something I’ve been interested in. From a young age I had a fascination with the UK, and Europe, and over the years I’ve gotten the opportunity to see some of it. Having traveled to Iceland, Italy, Greece and Scotland. Though I never made it to Stirling, I fell in love with Scotland, the culture and the history surrounding it. In the past few years I have really started to love history and learning about Scotland’s rich history is something I am really looking forward to in my year at Stirling.
Apart from travel, which I plan on doing a lot of this year, I enjoy anything active or fitness related. Growing up I was an athlete, playing volleyball, field hockey, basketball, tennis, rugby and doing dance. Something I’m looking forward to is watching rugby, field hockey and football games (your football… my soccer).
The biggest thing I am looking forward to this upcoming school year is everyone I will meet. I am really looking forward to all of the connections and friendships I will make during my year in Scotland, and in my time at Stirling. Having connections and friends all over the world is something that I truly value and I think are incredibly important long term.
Coming and studying in Scotland is a lifelong dream of mine, and I’m ready for it to finally be a reality.
