Mink van Gemert
About Mink van Gemert
I am Mink van Gemert, 20, a third year American Studies student. I am originally from Utrecht but moved to Groningen when I started studying. Outside of university I like to do sports, such as soccer, running, and cycling. I also love to hang out with my friends and go out.
Why American Studies?
When I was 15 I did a High School Exchange Year in Illinois, USA. It was such a great, but culture shocking experience, that I kept interest in America. After I finished high school in the Netherlands I had no idea what to do, because everything I found was too specific. History was too much history and politics was too political. Until I found American Studies, it was the perfect combination between all the different disciplines, some history, some politics, some culture.
What I think makes the programme unique is the personal connection with professors, since it is such a small study professors know everyone by name and when having some problems, whether study or personal related, you can always talk to them. Another thing is that in American Studies there is a lot of freedom in what to write about. At first this overwhelmed me, since I did not think I was creative enough to be able to do this, but after a while I came to see this as something really positive. For example, in one of the writing classes we got to totally write about something we chose ourselves, it just had to be in the ‘interwar period’. I wrote about “the ideal man” that was portrayed in the Esquire magazine, while a friend of mine wrote about the representation of the Soviet Union at the 1939 World’s Fair, in New York. The finals are mostly in individual essay form. This means that you have to do a lot of independent studying.
Why Groningen
Groningen is the only place where the programme American Studies is being taught. This made it easy for me to choose Groningen. I never really knew where I wanted to go, I just knew that I wanted to leave Utrecht to also experience another city. What I like about Groningen is that it is really a student city, a quarter of all the citizens are students. This is noticeable everywhere, at a lot of places there is a student discount and you can even go out on a Sunday.
Tip
After doing the Open Day and participating in the Student for a Day I decided to sign up for the Bachelor programme, even though I was still not sure about my level of English. I had done regular English in high school, which I graduated with a 6/10. Because you have all of the classes in English, you will learn it very fast, also professors are not allowed to grade your work on your level of English. Another thing I was doubting was my writing skills. You will learn this on the way, with a specific class called “American Studies in Practice”. You will get all the ins and outs of how to write a good essay.