After spending time studying at Southwestern through an exchange program, Wouter graduated from the University of Minnesota law school as a criminal lawyer, and worked for the Public Prosecution Service in his home country of the Netherlands for some time. As of September 2011, however, he is back in the U.S., and attending graduate school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst toward a Ph.D. in political science, more specifically in the subfield of American politics. As a non-citizen, he am especially interested in the notion of “American exceptionalism,” and the effects this phenomenon has on the national identity of both individual citizens as well as the country as a whole. Outside of school, Wouter tries to spend as much time as possible reading fiction, cooking delicious food, and exploring everything beautiful New England has to offer, varying from seasons (October snow storms!) to apple cider donuts.