ruby slippers: The City of Dreaming Spires

While studying at Oxford, we only have four-day school weeks. Pretty great, huh? So, on Monday we took guided walking tours of this small city before classes began Tuesday. Monica, the coordinator of our guides, gave us a brief history lecture on Oxford, starting around c.1200 AD. Wowzers! She emphasized the progression of the University of Oxford (the oldest university in the English-speaking world) and its thirty-eight different colleges. For much of the university's past, education centered around the church. The way to a "full and prestigious, prosperous life" was through studying divinity; therefore, the college chapels were the most decorated and elegant parts of the exquisite campuses and degrees received in theology were the most respected. We divided up into small groups for two-part, all-day tours of the city and I was lucky enough to be in the very well-informed Monica's group. She filled us in on the competitive requirements to get into Oxford (as well as the stats for American students attending), the tension between "the town and the gown," and gave us a glimpse into the wonder of this lovely, dreamlike place. It truly seems like a vacation land for university students...except when they are taking their A-levels. Akin to our standardized test, "high school" students, after already applying to a specific college as well as the university have been given a specific score they must receive on their A-levels in order to gain admittance - talk about pressure! There is a building in Oxford used exclusively for these crucial exams and students are required to dress in black and white attire, often sporting a red, white, or pink carnation symbolizing how far along they are in their exam process. We even witnessed two girls running out of the building, their faces beaming and their arms grasping one another in pure bliss. They were likely to soon be greeted by friends and a popped bottle of champagne.