Life, Literature, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Arriving at the University of Oxford

I am staying and studying at Christ Church, perhaps the most well-known of the University of Oxford's 38 colleges. Past graduates include the philosopher John Locke and poet W.H. Auden. It is incredible to walk the same halls and quads that students have been walking for hundreds of years. What is most striking is the sense of quiet and calm here. Oxford the city is bustling with people, bikes, and buses coming and going. The city has not escaped the infiltration of KFC and Burger King. But here on campus, the buildings are ancient, the guards are called "porters" and wear bowler hats and suits, and you take your meals surrounded by portraits painted centuries ago.

I am staying in a dorm room in Peckwater Quad. I have my own room, but share a bathroom with the other people on my floor. There is a bathtub on my floor, but not a shower so I will have to go up another flight of stairs to shower. We type in a passcode to get into the building and have a key for our rooms. We also must wear our name badges at all times so that the porters know that we belong here. There is what is called the "Junior Common Room" which is an area with chairs, tables, and eight computers where people can gather. That room is about a two minute walk from my dorm room.

All of our meals are taken in the "Hall" which is where the Harry Potter Dining Hall scenes were filmed. The hall has become a huge draw for tourists who are allowed in on a paid tour during times when students are not eating.

This week, I will be eating breakfast in the Hall (or as they say "in Hall"), then attending class from 9:15 to 12:45 (with a half hour coffee break in the middle), then having lunch in Hall, then going on afternoon tours and adventures, then having dinner in Hall, then doing evening activities organized by the college.

Today we had an introductory lecture where we went over details about the program, then we had a reception, and then we had a formal dinner served to us with soup, lamb, potatoes, vegetables, and apple galette for dessert. After dinner, we met with our tutors and our classmates for the first time to introduce ourselves. The class I'm taking is called "Reading Twentieth Century Poetry," but there are about ten other courses going on this week too in subjects like history and architecture. For homework, my class's assignment is to think about the definition of poetry, which is perfect because that's how I start my poetry unit with my American Authors students and I will be interested to see how the answers tomorrow compare to my students' answers.