Oxford

I recently had the chance to visit the collegiate town of Oxford and was shown around by some friends who study there. When thinking of Oxford from an American perspective one might conjure up images from Harry Potter or of grand historical buildings with hard working students locked away in corners studying. Oxford is a must see for anyone visiting the UK and I was lucky enough to visit during St Giles Fair, which happens every year on the Monday and Tuesday after St Giles Day. We only spent a a day and a half in Oxford which was not enough time to see all the sites but we did get a good feel of the town. I plan on going back and being a bit more thorough next time!

We started off the day by heading to the University Church of St Mary's where we climbed the stairs to the top of the spire, which had gorgeous views overlooking Oxford, and was an ideal spot to take pictures (see below). From there our very knowledgeable friend pointed out some of the various colleges including those of famous Oxford graduates such as David Cameron and the Clintons. Before visiting Oxford I had no idea about the university's college system in which each college is a separate entity in itself. Each college has its own dining hall, accommodation, library, traditions, and funding. During the application process you not only have to get accepted into the University, but you also have to get accepted into the college. Furthermore, there is a lot of rivalry between the various colleges and certain colleges have more benefits than others such as Michelin star meals, cheaper accommodation, and stationary allowances.

              

From there we headed off to take a quick look at Exeter College which had a beautiful courtyard and chapel before we started our tour at the famous Bodleian library. The Bodleian library was used as Hogwarts Library in the Harry Potter films! The library tour is a must see not only for Harry Potter fans but for anyone who is interested in history. Our tour guide was very informative and I learned some very quirky facts such as: for security the books were kept on the second floor, the books used to be chained to the shelves to prevent theft, and the library was one of the first archives in the UK. Furthermore, the library used to accept every book published in the United Kingdom and now houses around eleven million printed items.

By the time we got done with our tour we were getting a bit hungry so we decided to stop by the Grand Cafe for some afternoon tea which I am quite partial to! Our friends basically planned our whole tour around Oxford which was pretty awesome because they knew the best places around town, and all the must see sights! Anyways, they picked a really great place for afternoon tea called the Grand Cafe which is the site of the first coffee house in the UK.  All the food was really delicious and I would have taken a lot more pictures but we were all pretty hungry.

Our last stop on our tour was Magdalen College, because we wanted to see the deer in the college grounds. Apparently, for every new faculty member the college purchases a deer, and for every faculty member that leaves a deer is killed, and served up for supper! At the college we were able to look around the dining hall, chapel, and the courtyard before we headed to the magnificent grounds filled with deer and beautiful flowers. It was the perfect way to end our tour of Oxford.