Hi, my name is Ethan Lowe, and I am senior studying Mathematics and Japanese, and I have spent the last year studying at Tohoku University in Japan. The experience as a whole was extremely valuable in the social connections and friends I made, the challenging coursework I participated in to improve my Mathematics skills and Japanese language skills, and the traveling around the country I was able to do to expand my worldview. The classes I took for my Mathematics Major focused around doing research on various aspects of Applied Mathematics and culminated in the spring semester doing a research project on Numerical Analysis of Partial Differential Equations. In addition, the entire year I continued my study of the Japanese Language and I greatly improved as being forced to use the language in all of my daily interactions makes one improve quickly, and in addition, the coursework I took was also difficult but invaluable as it provided a different style of Japanese Language teaching that I was used to.

In addition to the coursework, I also spent a lot of time in my spring break traveling around the various parts of the country, from all the way in the north in Hokkaido, to the cultural center that is Kyoto. Because the culture of Japan is so unique compared to Western culture, it was some the best things I have ever experienced. The temples, architecture, food, people, all of it was so unique and makes me very thankful I had the opportunity to travel around Japan to expand my worldview and make myself a more informed person. I look forward to using all that I learned and experienced in the GLI program and at University of Montana to enhance my senior year.