Ollie Ollie Oxford Free - The Oxford Students Return

Oxford students have descended on the city. They’ve been slowly arriving over the course of this past weekend. We see them unpacking and moving into their halls, scouring the shelves of Blackwell’s bookshop for their term assignments, and greeting old friends in the cafes after a long summer apart.  Myself having already been here for a full month before the term even started, it’s very strange now to see the city streets so crowded…so, so, unbelievably crowded.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m very excited to finally be meeting other ‘Uni’ students, but Oxford and I were just getting to know each other, and this past month of bliss has been suddenly, rudely interrupted. I’m surprised by how territorial I feel, but I keep asking myself, ‘who are these other students, and what are they doing at my school?’ (Though I’m sure they are wondering the same thing about me).

Term officially started this Monday, 3 October. The week began with a quick start and it hasn’t slowed down since. Monday, I met my academic advisor, Francis Leneghan. Let me tell you – Dr. Leneghan is the man. He assigned me the perfect tutors for this term. Leneghan was so helpful, and genuinely caring. I’m very grateful to have him as an advisor.

Tuesday I had scheduled a meeting with my first tutor, Maria, to discuss our potential syllabus. On my way to meet her, I bumped into Emma Watson (aka Hermione Granger from Harry Potter). *Ultimate celebrity spotting!* She’s studying abroad here this year, too, and taking time off from Brown – though she’s actually from around the Oxford area originally, so it’s really like being back at home for her, I suppose. I completely freaked out when I saw her! All I could do was follow behind her for a few steps (alas, I forgot my camera that day, but I swear I saw her!). She was with a group of several other girls, and they’d all just been shopping at Primark (where I shop! We’re like fashion twins!)  I was so tempted to beg for an autograph, but she seemed all too happy blending in with a group, I hated to bother her – she looked just as happy to be at Oxford as the rest of us are. But, that’s probably because it reminded her of Hogwarts…

That same afternoon, all of the OPUS exchange students were scheduled to be inducted to the Bodleian library. A word about the Bodleian – it is one of the largest and oldest research universities in the world. The have approximately 9 million volumes, which are actually stored offsite in a nearby town. If you need a book, you must first request it through the online catalog, and then wait for it to be driven to the Bodleian, and can pick it up the next day. You can only read the books in the Bodleian (the ‘Bod’ for short) itself. You may NOT check out books from the Bod, or you risk decapitation (no, seriously). But you can check out books from your individual college library, from any club or society of which you are a member, or purchase books from either Blackwell’s or Waterstone’s. We actually had to swear an oath that we would not steal, borrow, mark, deface, or damage the books in any way, nor light an open flame (ya know, since the library’s all wood and stone) before we were issued our cards. Our Bod cards are sort of like our official university keys – they grant us access to everything (so in other words, we can’t lose them).

Later that night, we got a tour of the Union Debating Society, Oxford’s oldest and largest club. They say the Union is the ‘playground for politics’ – it’s the place where many future politicians get their start (and where several have, including five former prime ministers). There are formal debates, guest speakers, balls, and socials. This term’s guest list includes Nigel Lawson (former Cabinet member of Margaret Thatcher), Deborah Meadsen (panelist on the hit UK show ‘Dragon’s Den’) and other more popular icons – Johnny Depp is scheduled to appear, as well as Elle Macpherson (the Victoria’s Secret model) and Snow Patrol (a Grammy-nominated pop band). While certain aspects of the Union are a little off-putting, and frankly elitist (they make a very big deal about functions being for ‘Members Only’) the perks it offers are entirely tempting – including access to its fabulous library and society bar. I’m definitely going to join.

Wednesday was probably the most rigorous day I’ve had in Oxford to date. Wednesday afternoon was ‘Fresher’s Fair.’ It was I.N.S.A.N.E. The Fair is a showcase of student life at Oxford. All of the University’s clubs, societies, and sports teams rent booths and set up in the exam school. Room after room is filled with upperclassmen begging you to join their club. Quite literally, the second you established eye contact with a student volunteer, they shove a flier in your hand and force you to sign their registration list. I signed up for way too many activities, but I had no other choice! Some of them I’m quite excited about – I already plan to join the Union (see above), as well as the Media Society, the Magdalen Film Society, the Wine Tasting Club, and the Catholic Society. Somehow, I also managed to sign up for basketball, American football, and I think ravine repelling as well. I will definitely not have time for all of these activities, and will only be able to pick one, maybe two at most, so choosing will be very difficult! But Fresher’s Fair was very exciting – it was great to see other first years there, and to get an idea of student life at Oxford.

The madness that was Freshers Fair

And finally, the best part of the week – our black tie ‘welcome’ dinner. Deepah Mukhi, our program director, arranged for us to all have dinner together in St Catherine’s College. It was a strictly black tie affair, and entirely elegant. After a brief round of cocktails, we were asked to join Deepak in the private dining hall. We sat at high table (where the professors and fellows sit during term) as the general students sat below us (and probably wondered who we were) and were served a fabulous five course dinner. I actually sat next to Deepak during dinner, and it was great to speak with him so closely – he is quite the conversationalist! At the end of the night, as is custom, Deepak offered a toast to the Queen, and then opened the floor to the rest of us. You are permitted to toast anything – a specific person (present at table or not), a concept, a memory, whatever moves you. As you can imagine, this creative freedom leads to multiple rounds of toasting (and a rather tipsy cohort by the night’s end). My advice to future Oxford students – do not gulp, but SIP, SIP, SIP the Port!!! But of course, my Emma Watson sighting was the first celebration toasted that evening. It was beyond cool to have an entire room raise their glasses of port and toast to me! (Can’t say that’s ever happened to me before). Protocol is that once a person is toasted, they must sit down for the actual toast, then get up themselves and offer another toast to continue the rounds of toasting. I thanked immigration for finally letting me through customs, despite their disbelief that I was actually an Oxford student (I believe the Jersey girl accent probably fooled them), and I toasted my travel companions – Torey, Kathryn, Mike and Clair, for patiently waiting at the other side of the gate, and to everyone in the program who had been so kind and welcoming. The sentiment was shared around the room, and oft repeated with several cheers of ‘here, here!!’ We kept going around the room, toasting each other, our colleges, and our favorite memories of Oxford, until we eventually started toasting British accents, double decker busses, and the infamous kebab stands. We kept toasting until we finally (thankfully) ran out of port. It was a marathon four hour dinner, but I swear it went by in four minutes. What a night!



Lovely flatmates and neighbors, classin it up

Thursday (today) is spent between Blackwell’s and the Bod. I have a lot of reading to catch up on, as my activities from the beginning of the week took up much of my time. Sitting in the Bod, looking out the second story window of the Literature library, I can see the tops of the spires of the surrounding buildings – the ‘dreaming spires’ as they call them. Indeed it is very hard not to daydream staring out the window at such a beautiful sight! But, there is work to be done. To post another day, then.