My name is Emma, and I am an exchange student from Norway. The reason why I want to study abroad is because I want to learn as much as possible about other cultures and societies. I come from the established middle class, but I do not have a lot of money myself yet, so that is why my parents have to pay my education, at least until I get a job and start making my own money.
Like I mentioned earlier, I am from Norway, or Oslo to be exact, so coming to Oxford was a big difference. You cannot even compare Oslo to this city. Oxford consists of many beautiful buildings like the Carfax Tower and the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. These are just some of the few places you have to visit if you go to this city.
Oxford lies in the south of England, so there are many people who are just in a rush to get to and from their well-paid jobs, and they mostly keep to themselves. Many of my classmates complain about the citizens being rude to them, or that they are just boring and plain, but I never see it, probably because I am from Oslo, where people can be even more withdrawn.
Oxford is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, and it is filled with many different cultures and people, who makes so much more fun to live here. The different shops where you can find groceries and similar items from countries all around the world are so much fun to visit, and I often join some of my foreign classmates in to these shops so I can learn more about their local dishes.
So, now I will tell you a little bit more about Oxford University and my experiences so far. The day we arrived, we parked just outside a gigantic hall, and we were showed into the dining hall, the library, and many of the other rooms. Since the University has around 39 colleges, we were all placed in one college each. Then, when we finally got to go to our rooms. They told us to change into our new school uniforms, and then come down to a lecture hall to be handed our schedule. Putting on a school uniform felt quite strange because this is highly unusual in Norway. Everything seemed stricter, but I felt like I still had more independence than I had in Norway.
I remember trying to find the lecture hall we were supposed to meet at after we had changed. It took quite some time since it is very big, but I still managed to find the room after all. I was quite happy with the schedule we were given, mostly because we had a lot of time during the day to study, and we got some new subjects that seemed like fun.
Later that day we were showed into the eating hall where we got served food from the English cuisine. They served food like fish and seafood, different kinds of sausages, pies, and of course tea. The food was so much more different from the Norwegian cuisine. They did have similar foods like potatoes, and vegetables, but there was still a big difference. Something that really differs from Norway is that they usually have afternoon tea. That is when they drink tea and eat treats like muffins or scones. I quite enjoy having afternoon tea with my fellow students. We all sit and chat about where we used to live, and how big of a change Oxford is from where we all originally come from.
University of Oxford is a college university, which means that it consists of several colleges. We were all given a college, and the colleges have different private halls. The University has tree trimesters instead of two, which Norwegians are used to. The first one is the Michelmas Term, which lasts from October to early December. The second one is Hilary Term that lasts from the middle of January to right before Easter time and last Trinity Term, which is from right after Easter, and ends in June. So now having three trimesters instead of two is good, even though they envision that we work hard during our vacations.
University of Oxford
Sources:
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar