Undergraduate Prospectus 2013 - University of Winchester

Focus on
American Exchange
The American Exchange is a
University-wide programme, but
it is especially useful for American
Studies students because you get
the chance to live in America and
study on an American campus for
an entire semester.
Winchester has American Exchange
programmes with four American
universities – Alfred University in
upper New York State, the University
of Southern Maine, in Portland
Maine, the University of Wisconsin
Eau Claire and Southern Oregon
University in Ashland Oregon.
While at the American university,
you take classes with American
students and you are thoroughly
integrated into the campus
community. Students often make
good friends who they then stay in
touch with and visit again and again.
All the universities are a great
way to study America ‘24/7’ and
your experiences outside the
classroom are just as valuable for the
improvement of your understanding
of the United States. Everyone thinks
they know America because we see
it in the movies and on TV and as an
American Studies student you would
have studied it in the classroom,
but the experience of actually living
there will bring it alive.
Focus on
Field Trip module
American Studies has been running a
Field Trip module to the United States
for over 10 years. Each year during the
Easter vacation around a dozen Year
2 American Studies students visit
America for two weeks in order to
experience the country up close and
personal.
Learning is better if students get the
chance to see, taste, smell, hike, and
even eat America. Some American
Studies students do this via our
Exchange programme, but those who
do not wish to go for a full semester
or want to experience America twice
during their studies do the Field Trip
module.
Time is spent in the city and on the
road – so much of America is lived on
the road, and the distances always
surprise students. Students visit sites
of historic interest and National
Parks like the Grand Canyon, where
wilderness exists in a pristine state
that it is almost impossible to find
in the UK, and visit Native American
reservations like Monument Valley
and discover a way of life that is very
different from that normally thought
of as American.
There are assignments to do and
marks to be earned but, above all,
students study by doing. For instance,
the hike down Marble Canyon to the
Colorado River (above right) is as
valuable for understanding America
as anything that you might read in a
book or see on a screen.
Undergraduate Prospectus 2013 55