Inspired by the EPU newsletters andbecause I have some time to spare since it'svacation, anEnglish version can be found below.

Nu ik over minder dan 3 weken al vertrek, leek het me wel eens tijd worden voor een reisblog.
Voor degenen die het nog niet weten, van 19 augustus tot 19 december zal ik in Chapel Hill, North Carolina wonen, om daar een semester aan de universiteit te studeren.

Na maanden van voorbereidingen komt het nu echt heel dichtbij. Ik heb eindelijk ook mijn vakkenpakket aardig rond. Ik wil alleen nog proberen 1 geschiedenisvak erbij te doen, maar dat zit momenteel vol. Maar als er een plaatsje vrijkomt laat ik AMST 290 vallen, aangezien dat op exact dezelfde tijd gegeven wordt. Dit zijn mijn huidige vakken:

AMST 290: Girl Talk: Women's Voices in American Literature, Art, and Popular Culture
AMST 387: Race and Empire in Twentieth- Century U.S. Intellectual History
ENGL 288: Literary Modernism
ENGL 345: Literature 1900-2000, The West
ENGL 347: History of the American Novel

En dit is dan mijn residence hall, Spencer. Ik zit in kamer 322 en heb het bovenste stapelbed toegewezen gekregen. Mijn roommate heet Flannery, zeis 19, studeert kunstgeschiedenis, enkomt oorspronkelijk uit het nabijgelegen Durham.

Ik heb ook een mentor toegewezen gekregen, Katy. Ook zij komt uit North Carolina, is 22, en zit in haar master Public Relations. Iedereen die ik tot nu toe heb leren kennen lijkt heel aardig, Katy heeft zelfs aangeboden me te komen ophalen van het vliegveld :) En aangezien ze ook een echte basketbalfreak is, zal ik ongetwijfeld ook mijn hart op kunnen halen aan ontzettend goed college basketball. Go Tar Heels! Vorig jaar zijn ze kampioen geworden, dus dat belooft wat ;)

Tot slot, voor iedereen die me post wil sturen (graag!), hier mijn adres:
100 Raleigh Street
Spencer, Room 322
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
USA

Mijn volgende update zal vanuit de US zijn, dus tot dan!


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Welcome everyone!
I hope this English version will be much appreciated by all in need of it, but I can't promise I will continue both throughout the semester or to put exactly the same info in both, since that would be kind of mind-numbing for me.

Anyways, as most of you will know, I'm going to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I'm honored to be given the chance to go there, since it's an amazing university and quite hard to get into. It was my first choice, and ever since I heard I was selected for UNC in January (or was it February?) I've been busy preparing ánd daydreaming.

I will be at UNC from the 19th of August until the 19th of December. But before everyone gets excited about having me back for New Years, I will stay in the US until January 13. In those lastthree weeks I will travel through the Northeast with my partner in crime Constantijn, who will be spending the semester in Charleston. We plan to visit Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York (Times Square for New Years Eve), Providence, and Boston before we return to Atlanta to catch our flight home. Providence might seem like the odd one out, but I'm actually looking forward to it most. Not only is it the home of Brown University, a place I'm honestly dying to explore, it's also in Rhode Island, a state I've been very interested in since quite some time now. As my high school peers might remember, I even gave a presentation about the state once.

But first up is North Carolina, Tar Heel State. I selected five courses I would like to take:

AMST 290: Girl Talk: Women's Voices in American Literature, Art, and Popular Culture
AMST 387: Race and Empire in Twentieth- Century U.S. Intellectual History
ENGL 288: Literary Modernism
ENGL 345: Literature 1900-2000, The West
ENGL 347: History of the American Novel

Race and Empire was recommended by one of my professors at the RuG, and when I saw the course description I was immediately convinced I should take it. I dropped out of another American Studies course, Visual Culture, in order to make it fit in my schedule. Another course, History of Sexuality (offered by the History/Gender Studies Department) is full for now, but if a seat opens I will try to get in, which means I will have to drop Girl Talk. However, since the course accomodates 30 people and there is a waitlist of 16 people, chances are slim.

Just as Judith, I was placed in Spencer Residence Hall (picture see above). It's the most northern point of the campus and on Franklin Street (which is the place to be according to the UNC people I've spoken with so far). However, all of my classes are in the south. So with a little bit of luck, I will still get to ride my bike every single day! I'm on the third floor in a room with airconditioning, which will be much needed since it's about 36 degrees Celcius every day, and well over 30 at least for the first few months. I will share the room with Flannery, 19, from Durham. I've spoken to her via Facebook a couple of times now , and I think we will get along perfectly. Which is kind of necessary by the way, since our room is rather small. There's a bunkbed in it, and for those of you who would like to know, I've been assigned the top bunk
I've also been assigned a mentor: Katy is 22, is in her Public Relations master, and worked in DC for the summer. She's a huge basketball fan and so far we seem to have quite a bit in common, so again, I'm excited to meet her.

Besides watching basketball, I'm also thinking about joining the Outing Club and I would love tosomehow become involved in the Daily Tar Heel-- it's the number 1 College Newspaper in the US and (no offenseto the ASH) a lot more professional than university magazines/ newspapers here.

Finally, please do send me letters, cards, and/orfun stuff! I will need something to decorate my room with in case my posters/pictures fall into the Atlantic Ocean somewhere midway or in case my suitcasesare misplacedin Atlanta ;)

100 Raleigh Street
Spencer, Room 322
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
USA