Michaelmas Term (which is named after the feast of St. Michael the Archangel - if you were wondering) started last week on October 10th. You might be really jealous because school in the states starts about a month and a half before that, but I can assure you that we don't have it easy. On the first day of term, I was required to give a presentation to my tutor and a 4th year student, and on the second day of term I had an essay due, which I had to read aloud to my tutor. It was intense. Also, weekends don't exist at Oxford. I didn't believe them when they first told us that, but it's true - I have essays due every Saturday and Monday this term, so weekends are actually the busiest part of the week.
Wednesday, after finishing my tutorials for the week, some of my friends and I decided to go to the law society meet-and-greet downtown. We all had signed up for their email list at the Fresher's Fair, and it sounded like a good way to meet British students. We dressed up in really fancy clothes and walked downtown about half an hour early to make sure we wouldn't be turned away. When we got close, we noticed lots of people dressed up walking in the wrong direction. As it turned out, they reached their maximum capacity of five hundred people two hours before the party even started. It was a really funny scene - hundreds of very well-dressed students were roaming the streets of Oxford, not sure where to go or what to do with themselves.
On Saturday was the matriculation ceremony, which is a big deal here. The whole University emphasizes exclusivity, so to them the process of being initiated as students is just as important as graduating. Since we are visiting students we didn't officially matriculate, but we did dress up in our subfusc and take part in all the St. Anne's festivities! Subfusc is their official dress that is required for all exams. For guys it is a black suit with a white shirt and white bow tie. We also have a robe that goes over our suit that has tails - it's hard to describe. Anyway, it was a lot of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment