Describe your program socially and academically.
Bailey: My program combined the close-knit community of fellow visiting students (from the US, Australia, India, and beyond) with immersion in the full British experience of Hertford.
Socially, I spent a lot of time exploring Oxford with other visiting students; we lived in the same flat, right on the Thames, and made plans to travel together on several weekends as well as the six-week spring break between terms. Day-to-day, social life was to be found in the college dining hall, where everyone went for meals, and in Oxford’s many pubs, where it was common to get together for drinks in the evening.
Academically, the Oxford tutorial system put me in one-on-one meetings with my tutors, and gave me the freedom to explore the diverse lectures of the English Faculty. In other words, I was required to meet with each of my tutors once per week, and I prepared an essay to discuss for each tutorial (or “tute”).
The rest of my time was self-directed; I spent many hours in the Bodleian library enjoying the amazing resources there, and usually went to about three lectures per week that intersected with what I was studying. The Oxford semester forced me to be a scholar in my own right: to find questions I was curious about, and design my own method of exploration for answers.
Describe a goal you set and how you went about accomplishing it.
Bailey: It was easy to become complacent with the intelligent, accomplished, interesting American friend group I quickly formed upon arrival. I challenged myself to become a bigger part of college life—to really be a Hertford student. I joined the rowing team—something I never imagined myself doing!
My days began with the 5 AM walk down to the boathouse with my teammates, the sun rising over the misty river. We practiced long hours on the erg machines, organized outings to get on the water together, and really grew close as a team. The club was very social as well, and organized “crew dates,”or group dinner parties with men’s clubs from other colleges (kind of like mixers in the US).
One of the highlights of my time at Oxford was rowing in Summer VIIIs, the big regatta in May. Thousands of alums came out to cheer for us. It was a full weekend of barbecues, face painting, team spirit, and celebration. It was a joy to take part in such a quintessential Oxford tradition.
Did you run into a language barrier? Did you ever think you knew more/less of the language?
Bailey: It may seem surprising that I want to talk about a language barrier, considering I was studying in England. However, the gap between my understanding of communication and that of my new, British peers in fact made the learning curve more difficult. There were humorous differences—like “pants” meaning “underwear,” or “revision” meaning “studying.”
But there were also really serious differences, like the way we used sarcasm, the way we joked. I found myself challenging the borders of the way I used English in order to better communicate with my new friends—I had to translate myself into British!
If you could do-over one thing, what would it be?
Bailey: If I could go back, I would be less concerned with traveling on every free weekend. I found, the more I allowed myself to build a life at Oxford, the more I really felt like I was missing out on things I wanted to be a part of on campus. I would encourage you to really plant roots in your new university, and to see yourself as a bonafide student there, rather than a tourist or a visitor.
It was much easier to build relationships when I was actually on campus on the weekends (shocking, right?). When I left, I was sad to leave my dear friends, especially those from the rowing team, the visiting student community, and the Christian union. I was thankful for the bonds I made and the life I came to know at Oxford, and I wish I would have seen their value earlier on.