Finding a home away from home

It is every student’s nightmare: you’re about to start a new course in a new town and there is no accommodation left available at your college. To make it worse, your new course is also in a different country. This is what happened to Alexander Da Gama-Rose R’23 as he was about to head off to Hamburg in September on a year’s placement programme as part of his Philosophy & Modern Languages degree at Exeter University. Luckily Alexander reached out to Worth Society, who just happened to know someone in the network who might help.

Crispin Etherington R’67 is a Chartered Surveyor who has lived in the US for many years developing real estate - from office towers in San Francisco to residential buildings in Washington DC - he even named one of his buildings Rutherford House in tribute to his alma mater. In 2020, Crispin co-founded ULodging to help solve a persistent challenge in international education: the lack of reliable, student-focused housing. The platform connects universities, housing providers, and students - removing barriers to studying abroad and expanding access to global learning. By a stroke of luck, this summer they opened a new building in Hamburg which was the answer to Alexander’s prayers.

This a great example of the power of the OW network. Alexander is now happily settled into his beautiful new furnished one-bedroom apartment and is beginning to enjoy his studies in Germany’s exciting second-largest city. He says, ‘I’m extremely relieved and I can’t thank Crispin and the Society enough for the help that has got me out of a pickle’. Crispin responds, ‘I’m delighted everything worked out for Alexander. Also, rest assured, my precious Worth School cap and old rugby jersey are safely stored here in the US.’

https://ulodging.com/