Hey, welcome to another blog post!
Today was the first day of classes. I got up at 7:30 to give myself plenty of time before my first class at 8:30. Breakfast was a chocolate croissant, yogurt with strawberries stirred in, an apple, and some orange juice.
The first class of the day was my technical communications course. We got the rubric did some exercises where we practiced writing paragraphs on a technical subject to different audiences.
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| My technical communications class |
Once class wrapped up, I had a pretty big gap before my next one at 1:05, so I used the time to explore some of the colleges. Turns out we arrived in Oxford at the perfect moment: the university is hosting a series of open days where prospective students (and the public) can tour the colleges and learn about various programs. It’s rare for these open days to line up with the study abroad program (it only happens about once every five years) so I’m making the most of it.
I visited the Hertford College chapel, Lincoln College, Trinity College, Wadham College, Exeter College chapel, University College, and Magdalen College. I also accidentally stumbled into the Norrington Room inside Blackwell’s Bookshop. It's considered the largest bookselling room in the world, with nearly three miles of shelves. That was a nice surprise.
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| The Norrington Room |
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| Lincoln College |
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| Hertford College chapel |
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| University College |
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| This is the stairwell I take to get to my room. Both are from the 17th century. |
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| Exeter College chapel |
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| Wadham College |
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| Trinity College |
Magdalen College was probably the highlight of the day. The place is enormous and stunning. Plus, they raise deer right there on the grounds.
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| Magdalen College (lodgings) |
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| Deer |
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| Magdalen College (field next to the entrance plaza) |
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| Magdalen College (next to the gardens entrance) |
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| Magdalen College (main courtyard) |
After Magdalen, I ate some lunch at a sandwich shop next door. Lunch today was a giant lamb samosa. Very tasty!
Once I finished, I went to my world religions class where we talked about what religion is and why it exists. Then, I walked the full loop of Christ Church Meadow.
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| Some cows I found while I was walking |
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| A view of the meadow |
Dinner tonight was a tomato, vegetable, and mozzarella pasta bake with roasted potatoes, carrots, and (I think) plantains. I paired it with some couscous and finished off with a slice of Black Forest cake.
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| Dinner |
After that, I watched Casablanca with the WWII in Film class— because why not?
See you tomorrow!
