Oxford

Today has been a pretty quiet day. We wandered around Oxford this morning but then it started to rain and Michelle had work to do (I should probably do some lesson planning myself - but I don't feel like it), so we've just been hanging around her dorm this afternoon. She's having a big birthday dinner/party this evening, so we'll just hang around until then. I'm pretty tired from traveling for two weeks straight, so I don't mind relaxing a little! And while I'm not looking forward to going back to Périgueux, at least I'll be able to catch my breath before I start packing and thinking about coming home!

So Oxford is much bigger than I expected. Michelle said that's a common misconception. Apparently Cambridge is much more like what you'd think Oxford is supposed to look like: I was expecting a small town and a campus feel, but instead it's a decent-sized town with lots of shopping and lots of people. And Oxford University is set up in a completely alien way in comparison to American universities. While there are 18,000 students (undergrad - plus there are a ton of grad students), the school is split into about 40 colleges; Michelle is at Oriel College. Each college has its own little campus and section in the town of Oxford. So it's all very separate. It's kind of confusing. They're all Oxford students but they really identify more with their colleges; they can go into some of the other colleges, but usually only with other students. There are some shared libraries, but most colleges have their own libraries. Even after having Michelle explain a lot of it to me, I'm confused. There's no comparison to American universities.

But the pictures are pretty straightforward.

High Street, one of the main shopping streets.

One of the many towers in Oxford!

Another view of High Street and one of the colleges on the right (with the spire). Each college has its own chapel since they were mostly formed anywhere between the 12th century and the 16th century.

It's amazing how old the buildings are in Oxford. None of the buildings from the 12th century really still exist, but tons of them are from the 15/1600s. It seems like it would be surreal to go to a school that is so old. It doesn't seem like real life! One of Michelle's friends said it's good for their friends from other schools to come visit because they remind them that they go to such a cool, interesting school! He said, "It's actually a bit ridiculous that we go here."

One of the most famous landmarks of Oxford. It's a big university library.

Another part of the main university library. It's a copyright library, so it has all the books ever published in England. Not too shabby...

What is called the "Bridge of Sighs" but is made to look like the Rialto Bridge in Venice. It connects two buildings of a college.

Michelle's college! Oriel. It has three courtyards that we wandered through and she also showed me the library.

More Oriel - see what I mean about it being a bit surreal?

Another courtyard of Oriel. The buildings are used both for housing and for classrooms. It's all kind of mixed in together onto this mini-campus within the greater city of Oxford.

The fancy campus of one of the larger colleges of Oxford, Christ Church College. It also has a big fancy church. We went inside the church which was under renovation because, as the woman who greeted us at the door told us, "Her Majesty the Queen will be paying us a visit on Maundy Thursday." She literally said, "Her Majesty the Queen."

A passage in Christ Church College which was apparently used for some filming in the Harry Potter movies. The dining hall that provided some inspiration for Harry Potter is also in Christ Church, but it was unfortunately closed when we went in.

The major courtyard in Christ Church College - which apparently used to make the royalty who attended the college "feel at home." I'd say. 

Just a pretty path we walked down!

So, as you can see, Oxford is pretty unique. It's just lots of really old buildings all over the place; lots of spires, lots of decorations, lots of old stonework. It's an enchanting little place though I really can't imagine going to school here.

It's also been fun to meet some of Michelle's friends. While they go to school in a completely different setting and learn in a different way, they seem a lot like American college students. I think there are fewer differences between American and English students compared to American and French students, simply because the cultural differences aren't as great. I've also liked Michelle's friends, so it will be fun to see them all tonight for her birthday!

Soon it's back to the real world (well, my version of the real world - which isn't very real, I guess). Tomorrow we'll spend some time in Oxford and have a pub lunch and then go back to London, but Sunday it's back to Perigueux. Maybe I'll do another post tomorrow - it will depend if I do anything interesting!