My Oxford Term

Amid the immense success of Netflix's hit: My Oxford Year, I had my own run at a shorter, more condensed version: My Oxford Term.

Despite my fluorescent pink Bod Card that is distinctly different from the navy blue of a normal student's, along with my isolated home across the street in 'Stanford House', I was a student in Magdalen for Hilary term. Throughout Hilary term, I enjoyed the magnificent deer park, OKB sandwiches, and BOPs. But most importantly, I enjoyed the kindness of Magdalen students and countless conversations I had with people from around the college.

Due to the nature of the Stanford in Oxford program, our cohort arrived two weeks earlier than Hilary term's start-date. This allowed us to explore Oxford and absorb its mystery for when the campus would eventually come to be populated with real students and not just tourists on break.

I experienced my first BOP at Oxford the first week. The Big Organized Party exceeded my expectations. I was told by former students that it was a mix between a middle school dance and a typical night out at Stanford, and I would say that was about right. The loud "White Girl Music" that I could sing-along to made me feel right at home, and made me realize how even across the pond "Party in the USA" lives on.

Just like My Oxford Year, I came into contact with a variety of different kebab shops. Naturally, our cohort began to pick favorites, and inconveniently, we all collectively agreed the worst one was the closest to Magdalen, across from Queens. However, these are how I rank the top three:

Throughout my time at Oxford, I had the immense pleasure of visiting multiple libraries. Of course, I had to hit the classics like the Radcliffe Camera, and the Duke of Humfrey's library, but the coziness of the third-floor Magdalen (Longwall) library remains my favorite. Compared to Stanford, where the oldest library is from 1919, the centuries old reading rooms and magnificent ceilings won my heart. However, I did not enjoy being forbidden to take books out of multiple libraries, in which that is almost never the case at Stanford - though I understand why.

Oftentimes, I am asked what the main differences between Stanford and Oxford are, so I will start in terms of teaching/education style. First, Stanford has no sense of a tutorial system, and can have classes upwards of 500 enrolled students (CS106A). The smaller classes are usually 8-12 students, usually due to lack of interest. However, at Oxford, I was immersed in two one-on-one tutorials (Development Economics + German) where I was my tutor's sole student. I significantly prefer this style of teaching, because instead of merely doing the bare minimum to sneak by, I was forced to converse about the quality of my work - making it much more difficult to BS things.

At Stanford, we have exams at the end of every 10-week term, and once you are tested on something, you barely ever interact with the material again. Some classes are pre-requisites for others, but most often, everything is forgotten after the term. However, at Oxford the main exams are given at the end of the third year, before graduation. I am not a fan of this exam style in the slightest, as I believe that I would be quite lazy and not study for the exams until last-minute, and based on conversations with Oxford students, I am not alone. Point: Stanford.

The largest difference I have noticed is that higher education in the United States is centered on a completely different goal - to get a job. At Stanford, almost nothing else matters. People work internships during the school year, in hopes of boosting their resume to get that entry-level offer. However, at Oxford - education remains the core. I very much appreciated this, as I believe that university in the United States is becoming more misguided. Classes are taken just because they are easy and will boost GPAs, not because anyone actually cares about them. That said, I appreciate how the United States lets students roam freely across subjects and majors. Golf classes on Monday, Mathematics on Tuesday, and Political Philosophy on Wednesday. How UK students must limit the topics they will study (A-level subjects) at age 16 baffles me. As someone who has decided to change their major three times before completing their second year, I am extremely grateful for the more free-flowing structure of the United States education system.

Socially, there were many stark differences as well. One of my favorite past-times was attending Formal Dinners on Sunday evenings, where intense debates with my friends broke out regarding the implications of AI, Hamilton's wokeness, and the activities we were missing back home. These dinners were the highlights of my weeks: good friends, (mostly) delicious food, 'chocolate pot'.

I also attended my first crew date during week 6 with the Magdalen Women's Football Club and St. Peters Men's Football Team. This was unlike any activity I was familiar with in the USA, although some of the ideas were quite similar to a frat party. There were copious amounts of whipped cream, embarrassing stories (sconces), shoes on heads, and wine bottles taped to hands. I had a great time, and got to visit St. Peter's bar after. However, I did not try the Crosskeys because they were 8 pounds too expensive.

On the subject of college bars, I am a devoted fan. My favorite was undoubtedly Balliol, and its signature drink - the Balliol Blue. I have heard the Magdalen bar will be under construction soon; it's a shame I cannot see it finished. Stanford's alcohol consumption mainly comes from Borgs and Bud Light's, chugged in the hallways of Kappa Sig or KA (Kappa Alpha, NOT Kings Arms). Throughout my time here, one thing has remained the same - people are curious about Greek Life, tutors and students alike. So, I'll quickly explain here: they are organizations of social, academic, and philanthropic means that are made up of 'brothers' (frat) and 'sisters' (sorority). At Stanford, the typical weekend has a party or darty (day party) thrown by a fraternity. Some members choose to live in the house of their organization, but many do not. Many have compared these greek life organizations to the structure of Oxford Colleges, which I believe is somewhat close, but not quite.

The largest difference I've noticed across the pond is the culture. The best analogy to compare the two worlds is 'jump in the fountains' vs 'keep off the grass'. At first, I was extremely suspicious of the seemingly mundane rules that I was constantly reminded of by the small, black signs, with bright, white letters. What is the use of luscious grass, if not to be enjoyed by laying on it with a good book? I couldn't recall a single patch of green that was forbidden to Stanford students on campus - we were often encouraged to hop into fountains on a hot day! Truly an interesting contrast to enjoying things to their fullest extent. On one hand, it is to admire something from afar, grateful for its beauty. On the other hand, it's to utilize it to its utmost value, even if it means destroying it in the process. Alas, I must agree with the latter, but that might be contradictory, because if everyone had that worldview, I wouldn't have been able to walk by the buildings of Oxford that are nearly a thousand years old. At Stanford, I am surrounded by buildings made of glass and fluorescent lights; the Western half of the United States was only acquired in 1848. At Oxford, the yellow-ish hue of streetlamps that illuminate Queen's Lane, and the grey stone buildings and wooden doors that open up to a whole new world of colleges are a privilege that I was grateful to experience. At Stanford, there are maybe five coffee shops, with only one of those with coffee that is drinkable. However, at Oxford, I've had the pleasure of trying TWO of the oldest coffee shops in England (although they both claim to be the oldest) within 100 meters of each other. I've discovered Gail's - I am a huge fan of their pastries and iced coffee, and it is immeasurably better than any Starbucks in the United States. Out of the things I will miss dearly, the cafe culture is one of the top three.

Throughout my time at Oxford, I have learned a lot. Sure, I learned about modernization theory in terms of Development Economics and Nationhood, and that German largely follows the Time-Manner-Place structure. However, the more important things that I have learned during my time at Oxford were largely informal. I re-discovered my love for art, and have gotten back into playing the piano. Listening to the choir perform Evensong, watching plays at West End, and even walking by the man screaming/singing into the mic at any hour on Cornmarket street rekindled my appreciation for live music.

I also learned to find beauty in the most unlikely of places. At Stanford, where everything is sunshine and rainbows (literally, I probably see rain once a term), I'm often amidst chaos and havoc, with Psets (homework) due every week and club meetings to attend to each evening. However this term, I had much more time for myself, where I could contemplate my day and stop and smell the flowers (specifically, the daffodils near Addison's Walk). Through having a great conversation with a friend, making scones with clotted cream and jam, or taking the long way home to admire the architecture - encompassing it all, without having to worry which job applications were due, or where I had to be next; that unhurried quality made everything more vivid.

The most important thing I didn't do this term was set an alarm. At the earliest, I would have to be ready by 10am for Nationhood - a Theory and History, just once a week on Thursdays. Thus, most nights, I was awake until 3am. This is a stark difference from my life at Stanford, where I am absurdly awoken by my extremely loud alarm at 5am most mornings for ROTC. These nights were spent attending birthday parties, going to Kings Arms, watching movies, and most notably, having long, deep conversations about anything from a walkthrough of a math problem from the 2019 Math Olympiad, completed in full on a large whiteboard, to discussing who's most likely to go homeless based on childhood trauma. I've realized what makes a moment great is often the people. Whether it was the friends I made in my cohort, or outside of it through pubs, crewdates, or random shenanigans, the people at Oxford defined my experience in a way that will make me forever reminisce this term.

I will miss my time, and the friendships I have made here greatly, and am deeply saddened because I have to leave. However, that's how I know I made the most of my brief, but very fulfilling time here. Somebody told me that Oxford has a tendency to bring people back, and I can only hope they're right.

Anna Roth