Europe Trip: Oxford

Today is our last full day of the trip and we are having a day trip to Oxford.

I always wanted to go to Oxford! In my imagination, Oxford is a hilly green place with old stone school buildings full of romantic students.

We caught the Oxford Tube (a bus service that runs from London to Oxford and travels as frequently as every 10 mins). It so happened that the Oxford Tube stopped out the front of our hotel, so we walked across the road,  just as a bus pulled up - walked on and we were on our way. 1 effortless hour later and we were in Oxford.

Oxford is a truly pretty place that seems to exude its own charm and spirit from every tree, building and street. Compared with some of the other places I have been to, Oxford is definitely unique because of the beautiful old buildings and the residents. When we were walking along the streets we saw young students carrying books out of the libraries or reading books at the bus stop while waiting for their buses, we even saw some students celebrating their graduation, walking along with a bottle of Champagne, covered head to toe in flour, feathers, glitter and a whole bunch of other stuff tarnishing their lovely tuxedos. I was surely moved by the spirit and felt a strong impulse of returning to my days of university life - I would love to again sit in a library reading and exploring the topics that I am interested in and discussing them at length with my fellow schoolmates.

Brad and I agreed that if we have any kids we would definitely send them to one of the top universities (like Oxford) to study - that would set up a solid spiritual foundation for them.

We found there is a Magdalene college in Oxford as well as a Rose Lane and a Rose Place (we were still obsessed with The Da Vinci code - so we thought that this poignant).

Oxford is very green and full of great buildings - those students are very lucky to live, dine, study and sleep in those awesome old buildings that have stood for centuries. They live in history, with many of these colleges having produced great business people and political leaders, imagine learning in a school with such history - it must really motivate you to be the best you can and to live up to the expectations of the school - and your self.

Oxford preserves lots of old traditions as well, for instance the bell in Tom Tower, in Christ College, rings 101 times at 9pm every day (this was one time for each of the original students - they had to be back on campus by the time the last bell rang). The other example is the dinner gathering - all students and the faculty have dinner together every day. Imagine all those students in a big college all dining together in the great dining hall (just like Hogwarts from Harry Potter) - it must be remarkable!

We also saw the Jacqueline du Pre music centre  in one of the colleges with a beautiful stream with punts parked along side for the students use. I love Jacqueline's cello music, she is one of favourite artist. Her music is so inspiring and soothing at the same time - it is my ultimate background music for when I am working.

When we were all done and tired from walking, we made our way back to the bus for another easy hour of travel back to the hotel. Robin came and picked us up and took us out to dinner at a lovely spot overlooking the Thames. We had a good meal and glass of wine and went off to bed, ready to head home to face the music of reality.

Comments

[Shanghai mm]

Oxbridge too elitist. Consider London instead. London U is first English University to accept Jews and women.