by Josh GlancyThere comes a point during every term at Oxford when most students simply don’t want to be here anymore. Whether it is ‘fifth week blues’ or seventh week ‘please let me go home now’ syndrome, it is the reward of a long holiday that motivates many to the finish line. A month with nothing to think about but Christmas presents, New Year parties and what to watch on television. Of course all too soon collections loom large and it begins again, but ignoring that harsh reality for at least a month is the best part of the Christmas holidays. There is barely a student in Oxford who doesn’t set themselves the same deadline, ‘I will start work in January’. So in the meantime, after a long, cold and fairly high-pressured Michaelmas term, some form of holiday is in order, in-fact it is richly deserved. Many go on the Varsity Ski Trip, an opportunity for very cheap skiing, very heavy drinking and an introduction as to why we all ‘hate’ Tabs. This year’s “fastest ever selling trip” will take over 1500 students from Oxbridge for a week of snow-based revelry. But if you missed the deadline, didn’t have the cash or would rather spend another week in the Rad Cam than careering down slopes of ice on planks of titanium and being dragged up button lifts nursing a hangover then there are plenty of alternative ways to enjoy the new-found freedom of early December.
One option is simply to stay at home. Aside from the obvious catching up with old friends and seeing family, across the country there is plenty to do in December. If you are in London then I certainly wouldn’t dream of missing Mika at the Brixton Academy, although I might not wear my official Mika T-shirt and hair band on the tube home. Other options include Marilyn Manson, UB40 and Rihanna all playing at Wembley arena. Tempting as these may be (rumours continue to abound that Marilyn Manson can perform oral sex on himself), the dominant performance in London over the holidays will undoubtedly be The Spice Girls at the O2 Arena on the 15th December. An unmissable opportunity for an outpouring of early 90’s nostalgia and the stark realisation that you still know all the words to ‘2 Become 1’.
Away from music everyone loves a Christmas Blockbuster. It’s like going to the cinema normally except its more crowded and they have tinsel in the foyer, possibly even a tree if your nearest cinema is a super duper megaplex. Beowulf has been praised for its ‘subtle choreography’ and ‘power and depth’. The opportunity to see Ray Winstone fighting a Dragon certainly appeals. A slightly more cultural option would be the screen adaptation of Brick Lane. At a time when many in the media and around us are so quick to judge immigrants it is useful to understand that for many England is not the land of milk and honey the Daily Mail would have us think.
Of course there is a simple enough reason why there is a lot to do in England in December. It gets dark at four o’ clock, it rains a lot and it’s piss cold, if there was nothing to do it would be like…well, Scotland. If you do feel yourself suffering from SAD, there are places to go for sunshine and joy, but they aren’t very near or very cheap. The Sunday Times is offering a chance to win a holiday for 2 to the Red Sea worth £7,000. My recommendation would be to win the competition but if you don’t then Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, and Eilat offer some of the best diving weather to be found in the Northern Hemisphere. Other places that are a lot sunnier than Oxford and popular over the holidays are Barbados, Cuba and South Africa. Needless to say these aren’t necessarily compatible with student loans and battels payments, but if you think about the fortunes that might lie ahead as an Oxford graduate it could be worth extending the overdraft, just a little bit. So not going on the Varsity trip isn’t the end of your December. There is still a plethora of opportunities to fill the weeks before Christmas, wherever you live and on any budget. At the very least there is no excuse to complain about missing fun times in Oxford (it always feels better when you aren’t here). And if this article feels like it came out of TimeOut magazine then go and sit in the pub and enjoy the fact you don’t have an essay to do.
