Monday, January 20, 2025

Lifestyle

Oxford cured my perfectionism

So the Oxford workload, rather than triggering a stress response, has instead desensitised me to the fear of academic failure. Exposure therapy, I suppose. It’s very freeing.

Home, and how to find it

It seems like life after university is a journey to find our way home, whatever that means.

Three Thousand reasons to slurp

I thought the place was great, especially as a very quick sit down option.

Christmas mourning

This will be my second Christmas without presents wrapped in wallpaper, and gift tags with clues on them rather than names...

Stockholm syndrome: Reversed 

Education folklore has it that for many years, students at MIT have scrawled the acronym ‘IHTFP’ (I hate this fucking place) around campus in an attempt to express disdain for their university. After two years at Oxford, I can now report that students here often experience similar feelings.

Why get up? Why keep going?

At every late library session or rainy walk back to college, I think back to my days in fluorescent-lit, outdated offices. I think of riding a busy bus, an hour each way. I think of pointless, drawn-out meetings. And I think of all the time I wasted for no good reason.

Keep missing the Northern Lights? A guide to aurora-chasing in Oxford

Last night, Oxford was treated to another spectacular display of the Northern Lights. For many students, this marked the second time this year they...

Narcissus’ reflection: Ego and the Oxford experience

What exactly does it take for someone to think of themselves as ‘worthy’ to study at one of the greatest universities in the world?

Much ado about nothing: Oxford cafes

Having spent a ridiculous amount of time working(ish) in Oxford cafés, these are some of the top tips and tricks I have learnt about attempting to navigate Oxford café culture.

The grey area

It is a funny thing to become a statistic. It all seems so binary before it happens to you. Are you the zero, or the one?

Going out without flunking out: How to write your essay when the room’s still spinning

We’ve all been there. The perfect opportunity for a night out, potentially foiled by the un-attempted essay due tomorrow at 4pm. An age-old Oxford conundrum.

The helliday

My friends and I had approached the trip with the motto ‘catch flights, not feelings’, and it appears we completely forgot to add ‘or parasitic infections’ to that list.

Serious life lessons from silly Oxford mistakes

You’re not alone, and to make one mistake – or even a hundred – doesn’t doom you to eternal failure.

Underconsumption-core: Are students the perfect subculture to reclaim underconsumption?

Living at university – with lives bundled completely and entirely into 4-by-4-metre rooms – requires prioritising the necessary.

What I wish I’d known before my year abroad 

For many students the year abroad had either been one huge disappointment or a life-changing rite of passage.

Reflections on the life of a mature student

I think we find ourselves in a particular state of searching after finishing secondary school. Even if we have an idea of what we...

The college tortoise that has taken over my life

I celebrated May Day in a pretty unorthodox way: I adopted a tortoise. Or more accurately, I took her over – with a group...

Here’s the problem with dating a man far more privileged than you

There is already a power imbalance in heterosexual relationships. The society and institutions in which our relationships with men are built favour men, their...

The definitive Oxford smoothie review

With summer comes smoothie weather, and Oxford offers a plethora of fruity delights. Coming from a place where a small smoothie is twice the...

Inside the Oxford wine world: The Bacchus termly dinner

Dressing up in black tie on a Tuesday isn’t too alien to an Oxford student. But, even to the Editor of Oxford’s best newspaper,...

Your insight into interrailing this summer

“ it can all come with a rather hefty price tag, so here are a few tips to help you save some precious pounds.  ”

Greeting the Imposter

Is an Oxford degree truly worth the stress? What really should be worn for a lounge suit dress code? (spoiler alert, reader: I still...

An ode to the spring onion

Content warning: discussion of eating disorders I really do add spring onions to everything, you know. They go with my eggs, on my toast, in...

World Cocktail Day at the Ashmolean Museum

As News editors, when we received an invite to the Ashmolean Museum’s celebration of World Cocktail Day – 13 May, for those who didn’t...

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