Oxford Day 1

Today consisted mainly of travel for the first half, and then of getting to know the Exeter college campus and other students for the second. Joanna, Blake, Alexis and I started off with an early breakfast at the apartment’s café, and then bid farewell to the Great Dover Street apartments for the last time. We headed off to the Tube, where we split up with Alexis as she headed off to Cambridge to, as we are all sure, have a wonderful time.

Blake, Joanna and I got on a train for Oxford and settled in, waiting for it to get moving. Right before it did, I noticed the sign outside listing its destinations, Oxford very noticeably not being one of them. We rushed off the train just as it took off and asked around to find out where our correct ride was, and then got settled in on it. That was a close call which could have made out day much longer.

We met our friend Brian who we got to know at the ESU welcome party in London on the train ride, which was only about an hour. When we got to Oxford, we moved our suitcases and luggage through the beautiful city until we got to Exeter College. I couldn’t be happier with it so far. Registration consisted of me meeting the two student aides in the college with us, Ben and Andy, as well as the summer school program advisor. I got my room key and headed over to Staircase 9 to check out what they gave me.

My room has plenty of space (not to mention an awesome view from the window), and I have a pass to the world famous Bodleian Library to study, which I have a feeling I will use quite a bit. After I got settled in my room and having a minor panic attack because my suit was wrinkled, I took a brief nap and then headed down to orientation, drinks in Fellows Garden and a welcome dinner.

The orientation was a great experience because I sat in a small lecture room with all the summer school students. Everyone is either in the English/Literature program or the History, Politics, and Society. We listened to the director of the two programs (Dr. Tom Buchanan is the head of mine, and also my lecturer for one of my courses on British Politics) as well as a speaker on optional events such as a political philosophy reading group (awesome) and tours of Oxford (awesome). Then we headed out to have champaign with the lecturers and other students in the garden of the campus. I talked with a girl named Nan from China who said I don’t sound like a southerner. I appreciated that. I also met a man named Frederico from Madrid who is in my European Union course. We briefly chatted before heading in for dinner.

The dining hall looks pretty much like the one in Harry Potter, which I will be honest, I can live with. It has old portraits of former Exeter professors and a huge ceiling. We were served a 4 course dinner with two glasses of wine and coffee afterwards. I spoke with Joanna, a girl named Judith from the Netherlands, Brian who I met in London, and a few people from the U.S. during dinner. We talked about what we are all studying back home and our careers, as well as how awesome the dining hall is. They began and ended dinner with a loud gavel sort of thumping on a table, and had speakers up at the Professors table at the end extend a final welcome. Underneath the dining hall is a pub (endlessly fascinating to American students), where we all went afterwards to talk. It made me very happy to discuss world politics and the Eurozone in a pub, as I’m used to bar talk being about sports or bad movies. If this is what the three weeks of Oxford will be like, I can already say I’m going to have a wonderful time.

After talking and meeting new people in the Exeter pub, we walked to a place called ‘The King’s Arms’ down the road (I swear this is all very classy pub visiting, it sounds like that’s all I’m doing here). We had drinks and laughed over different words we use for the same things since the majority of us were American, Australian, or English. One example: pants are underwear here, I have to get used to calling them trousers. We joked about all the stereotypes about where we came from and our accents. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to have more nights like this when the classes start.

I met people from Australia, the Netherlands, England, the U.S., Spain, and China over the course of the evening who I’ll be studying with. I have one lecture to attend every day and two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’m excited to start the lectures tomorrow and also to try and see more of the city.