Oxford, England

Well we feel a bit more learn'ed now! We actually visited Oxford University where I heard one college kid accuse another of not be intellectual enough to enter the ongoing conversation. I must say I have never heard a conversation like that during any US university visit. Oxford University is a collection of 38 different and independent colleges. The enrolments range from 8 students to a maximum of 800 with the total under the Oxford umbrella being 22,000 students. One college was Balliol College and it is the oldest known English speaking college. It dates back to the early 1200's and as most colleges it started with the purpose of teaching young men theology. Another was called Christ Church College. Henry VII claimed to have founded the college though Thomas Wolsey actually founded the school. It is the richest college and one of the main tours took us through the Great Hall which was the inspiration of the Great Hall at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. There were many Harry Potter film locations around the University along with many other films. Lewis Carroll (writer of Alice and Wonderland) attended Christ Church College and also John Wesley, founder of Wesley United Methodist Church. The building were amazing and each had their own unique architecture. The stats about the university were interesting. I only recall a few:

• 142 different nations are currently represented
• 13 Prime Ministers attended university at Oxford
• The learning is delivered one on one with the student and his/her assigned tutor
• The students all live at the college and dine together in the dining hall
• Oxford is regularly ranked 1 or 2 in the world by a number of publications
• The colleges offer many of the sames courses of study so determining which one to attend is usually based on personal preference, past family members that may have attended the college, or preference for a particular tutor
• Hundreds of famous writers and poets have attended the university including CS Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

CS Lewis is the writer of The Chronicles of Narnia and JRR Tolkien wrote The Lord of The Ring series. They were part of a small literary group called "The Inklings" who met once a week at a pub called The Eagle and the Child which they called The Bird and The Baby! We enjoyed lunch at the pub which was littered with all their memorabilia. The atmosphere was very nostalgic.

Balliol College



 At the The Eagle and Child Pub

The Radcliffe Camera. The Reading Room for students.

Christ Church College