About

Hello, my name is Carys! I'm a second-year student of American Studies at Northumbria University, and I'm currently away on a semester abroad in the US. I'm at Montclair State University in New Jersey from January until June. This is literally the biggest adventure of my life as I've never lived away from home before, but while it is scary I am so excited about it! I'll be posting here as regularly as I can about what I've been up to. 

To get some of the basic questions out of the way, American Studies is an inter-disciplinary degree course where I get to study all different aspects of American society, such as history, literature, culture and politics. I've always been interested in American culture as my mum is American and I have a lot of family living in Washington state. What really sparked my interest though was the musical Hamilton; I first listened to the soundtrack in June 2016 and have been hooked ever since! It inspired me to write my A-Level History coursework on the American Revolution, which led me to realise that I love American history and want to pursue it further. So here I am, doing a degree in American Studies, which I absolutely love!

Photo from when I saw Hamilton in London in March 2018!

I chose to come to Montclair State University for my semester abroad mainly because of its close proximity to New York City. It's only 15 miles away, and has good public transport links to get there. Although I grew up in the countryside, I really love exploring cities so I think that's what drew me to New York (as well as the Broadway shows!) I'm also looking forward to experiencing the range of weather in this part of America as I love both snowy winters and hot summers. Plus, Montclair is just a really beautiful campus, with some really great modules!

Please let me know if you have any questions, or any suggestions of where I should visit while I'm here. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy reading about my adventure!