Today was a really interesting day. Not only did I get to learn more about this incredible university, but I also discovered a lot about how things work here, and how different it all is from the US.
My day started at 8:30 a.m. I got up, freshened up, and headed over to Exeter College’s dining hall for breakfast at 9 sharp. The hall was absolutely stunning, like something pulled straight from Harry Potter. Breakfast was a full spread: an egg, sausages, beans, mushrooms, British bacon, hash browns, and an orange, plus a glass of milk. Everything was delicious, especially the egg, which was smoother and richer than most eggs I’ve ever had. The sausages had a nice snap thanks to their casing, and the bacon was totally unlike American bacon: meatier, saltier, and really satisfying.
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| Exeter College Dining Hall (with Connor chowing down) |
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| Breakfast |
After breakfast, I went to the Jesus College chapel for my orientation. This was essentially an information session where I was given important details on things like class attendance and class materials. We also had a formal introduction to our professors for the semester. After that, we went to the Exeter College gardens to have a meet-and-greet with all the people participating in our program.
Once we wrapped up there, I met a guy named Alex, who’s currently working on his PhD in Sociology at Oxford. He took me on an extensive tour of the city and the college grounds, sharing loads of interesting facts—including which buildings were used as Harry Potter filming locations. Fun fact: one of the buildings in the Exeter gardens was used for the infirmary scenes and the dance lessons in Goblet of Fire. I also learned that Oxford is so old (established in 1096!) that it actually doesn’t know some things about its own history because they didn’t start keeping records until much later.
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| Jesus Chapel |
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| Exeter Gardens |
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| One of the town squares |
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| Behind the Sheldonian Theatre (Harry Potter was filmed in that building in the photo) |
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| Back of Sheldonian Theatre |
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| Inside the Sheldonian Theatre |
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| The plaza connecting us back to the road (with Alex in the corner) |
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| Bridge of Sighs |
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| Outside "the best kept secret" of Oxford: The Turf Tavern |
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| Edmond Halley House (is that him in the window??) |
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| Bodleian Library |
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| Christchurch Chapel |
After the tour with Alex, I walked around with our program director, Heather. She brought us to some other places around Oxford, like the Christchurch Meadow and the River Thames.
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| Christchurch Gardens |
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| River Thames |
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| River Thames (other side) |
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| Part of the meadow |
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| Cows (another part of the meadow) |
Later on, we returned to the Jesus College dining hall for a late lunch/early dinner. This meal was a bit more formal than our last. It featured venison stew, roasted potatoes, cauliflower, peas with corn, vanilla and rose panna cotta, and fizzy water. The meal was hearty and delicious. The venison wasn’t gamey at all, and the panna cotta was smooth, creamy, and incredibly refreshing.
After dinner, Connor and I wandered around the city, grabbed some rich Italian gelato from a little shop near Christchurch, and headed over to South Park to take in the rolling hills. They even had a zipline on the far side of the park, along with some pull-up bars and other outdoor equipment—so of course, we had to try the zipline. From there, we made our way all the way over to Headington to explore the Oxford campuses there, then hopped on a double-decker bus back to the city center. I had no idea just how sophisticated, easy, and affordable public transportation is in England. The trip only cost £2.80 (about $3.80)!
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| South Park |
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| South Park (other way) |
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| Riding on top of the double-decker bus! |
And that's pretty much it for today! See you in my next post!
