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A guide to Oxford’s libraries

Anya Biletsky
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A guide to Oxford’s libraries

Once the whirlwind of Freshers’ passes, a week of meeting new people, settling in, and, of course, clubbing, you will probably want (or rather, need) to hit the library and tackle your first Oxford essay or problem sheet. Oxford is home to a whole host of libraries, some of which make indisputably scenic study spots, whilst others, though perhaps lacking on the visual front, make up for it by being practical and convenient places to get a substantial amount of work done. This is a selection of some of Oxford’s many libraries.

The Radcliffe Camera (A.K.A the RadCam)

One of the University’s most famous libraries, situated in the very heart of the city, you will have likely seen a photo of the RadCam on Google Images or a university prospectus before arriving at Oxford. The imposing dome, 18th-century stonework, and grand interior make the RadCam a popular spot for students seeking to live out their dark academia dreams. Some students apparently come to the RadCam to sit and admire the architecture, neglecting to do any work at all. Others prefer to avoid the RadCam entirely, claiming it is “intimidating”, or that the echoing created by its acoustics (perhaps better suited for a music hall than for a library) can make it difficult to concentrate. However, are you really an Oxford student if you haven’t studied in the RadCam at least once? Although it may appear daunting to venture into at first, pay it a visit, and decide what you think about this divisive library.

Quietness: 2/5

Wifi connectivity: 2/5

Instagrammability: 5/5

The Old Bodleian Library (A.K.A the Bod)

The Bod is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and the second-largest library in Britain after the British Library, so it goes without saying that it is an unmissable study spot to make use of during your time at Oxford. With multiple floors, plenty of seats, and a view of its gorgeous courtyard and Radcliffe Square, the Bod is a favourite for many, myself included. While you’re at the Bod, make sure to check out the Duke Humphrey’s Library, located on the first floor. As the oldest and most beautiful reading room in the Bod, the Duke Humphrey’s is a real treasure (and, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, it formed the set of the Hogwarts library). On the whole, the Bod is a trusty library that has stylishly accompanied me through many a study session.

Quietness: 4/5

Wifi connectivity: 4/5

Instagrammability: 4/5

The Taylor Institution Library (A.K.A the Taylorian)

Notoriously difficult to find a seat in unless you arrive early in the morning, the Taylorian is a gem of a library, smaller than the RadCam or the Bod. Located on beautiful St Giles’, right next to the Ashmolean Museum, the Taylorian contains books related to the study of languages. Like the RadCam, the Taylorian is known for its ability to facilitate “aesthetic” study sessions through its beautiful interior, with wood-panelled bookcases rising to the ceiling, chandeliers, paintings on the walls, and carpeted floors. Somewhat resembling a Jane Austen-esque mansion, the Taylorian is certainly a library worth frequenting, if you are lucky enough to turn up when seats are available.

Quietness: 5/5

Wifi connectivity: 4/5

Instagrammability: 5/5

The Sackler library (A.K.A the Classics library)

As a Classics student, I, unfortunately perhaps, often find myself needing to go to the Sackler library. The Sackler is not known for being pretty; in fact, quite the opposite. The low ceilings, blank walls and subdued colours give it a slightly sullen feel.  Aside from this, the Sackler’s disorientating circular design has led me on embarrassingly numerous occasions to walk thrice in a loop as I tried to locate the toilets. However, due to its proximity to my college, and its functionality as the Classics library, I owe to it many a productive study session. It is also worth mentioning that, as the Sackler is less popular than the RadCam or Taylorian, one can always find a space to work, which makes it unquestionably a reliable library.

Quietness: 3/5

Wifi connectivity: 4/5

Instagrammability: 1/5

Your college library (A.K.A your forever friend)

When one inevitably runs into an essay crisis which needs to be resolved late at night, the college library is one’s immediate refuge. Unlike the aforementioned university-wide libraries, most college libraries operate 24/7, and will likely become the place second only to your own room which will see you at your most dishevelled. Become familiar with your college library – decide which nook you work best in, and figure out how to borrow books and use other resources like the printing system. In all likelihood, you will be spending a significant amount of term time here, so you might as well befriend it and reap the benefits.

The college library is fantastic for a number of reasons. It is enviably close to your accommodation (and bed); the wide array of books it has available will often mean that you won’t even need to leave college to acquire your reading for the week; it is full of the friendly faces of the people from your college. Be wary, however, that the chances of seeing – and being distracted – by friends whilst in the college library reach an all-time high.

Practicality: 5/5

Loveability: 5/5

Chances of being distracted: 5/5

I do recommend spending some of the first term getting to know the various libraries in Oxford, and finding out which you most like working in. Part of the excitement of going to uni here is being able to access some truly beautiful study spaces, so do make the most of it!

Image Credit: Diliff/ CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A guide to Oxford’s bookshops

Katerina Lygaki
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A guide to Oxford’s bookshops

The number one rule for being a book-obsessed English student is having the inside scoop on the different bookshops in town. Here’s a short guide on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Oxford book-buying scene. 

Book Stop

Starting off hot, this bookshop has everything going for it: it is found on St Giles’, right next to Tesco, so I do not have to tell you twice how great that is; it sells second-hand books for a pound and all of its new titles are priced at around a fiver; and finally, it is environmentally friendly. This is because the books they sell are the titles that have not been sold by other booksellers, and so have been returned to their publishers. These publishers either recycle the books, or sell them to bookstores like these, where they are sold for half the price of regular paperbacks. I found out about this through a Cherwell article – thank goodness for student journalism – and have not looked back since. 

Vibe: 10/10

Price: 10/10

The Last Bookshop

Honestly, this is the ultimate hidden gem of Oxford. Forget picturesque colleges or artfully maintained parks, this bookshop is definitely the spot where all your main character dreams come true. Situated just off Little Clarendon Street, with its fairy lights and cute cafés, this book shop is owned by the same people as ‘Book Stop’. Here too, you can find second-hand and first-hand discounted books, ranging from a pound to £4.99. I come here whenever I’m in dire need of some shopping therapy without breaking the bank: I have found that not much cannot be fixed by buying a discounted book and then getting an overpriced but cute candle from the nearby store Wild Honey. 

Vibe: 10/10

Price: 10/10

Blackwell’s

Blackwell’s is a must for any Oxford student. They have every title you could ever dream of, and if they don’t have something in store, the staff are extremely knowledgeable in all things books. If you are looking for an Oxford World’s Classics edition of a book, chances are it will be here, since the bookshop acquired most of OUP’s titles after its store on the High Street closed. Another great perk is that they ‘price match’ book titles for students (all you have to do is show your bod card) and they have some great ‘3 for 2’ deals on fiction titles. Oh, also, they have a very vibey café to do some work or read a book in.  

Vibe: 10/10

Price: 8/10

Waterstones 

With all the great independent bookstores in Oxford, going to Waterstones just doesn’t hit the same sweet spot as the others. They carry loads of new releases, and their prices are standard: £8.99 on average for a paperback. What makes this bookstore stand out instead is its top-floor café. Their coffee is average, but the view of St Giles’ and the relaxing atmosphere are exceptional. 

Vibe: 8/10

Price: 6/10

Gulp Fiction

Finally, this independent bookshop is a new addition to the Covered Market, selling second-hand books whilst also serving coffee from The Missing Bean and beer from Oxford’s Tap Social and BMan Brewery. You can even sell your old books to them for a pound. I haven’t had a chance to go to this store myself, so I can’t comment on its prices, but I have looked at it longingly from afar every time I’ve entered the Covered Market, so that has to count for something. Only downfall for this one is that it operates under Covered Market hours, which still remain a mystery to me, even after studying in Oxford for two years now. 

Vibe: 10/10

Price: to be determined 

Imade credit: Peter Trimming/ CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A guide to Oxford’s traditions

Maxi Grindley
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A guide to Oxford’s traditions

This is a quick guide to some of the events and evenings that will constitute a vital part of your Oxford experience. These traditions will form many of your fondest memories of your time at Oxford, hopefully making up for the late nights in the library that inevitably outnumber them (though actually, in a strange way vaguely reminiscent of Stockholm Syndrome, those late nights also seem to morph into something suspiciously similar to fond memories) . 

Matriculation

The first big event, which marks the official beginning to your degree. You’ll get dressed up in sub fusc, queue up outside the historic Sheldonian Theatre, stand (the unlucky ones) or sit (the lucky ones) in the Sheldonian, listen to some Latin, and leave. I’ll admit it is not my personal favourite of the Oxford traditions, as that is about all there is to say about the event itself. If I could, I would enlighten you as to what the Latin actually means, but since that remains a mystery to me, I am afraid I am none the wiser. This is the kind of thing that gives Oxford the reputation it has and sets it apart, for better or for worse (or just as different), from other universities, according to many people. 

Afterwards, many students like to go out for a meal to celebrate. Don’t let it be said that I’m giving people ideas, but – apparently – on occasion alcohol accompanies these meals. That’s a personal choice though, of course.

Formals

Whilst matriculation is essentially the same for everyone, formals vary considerably college to college, making my job somewhat harder. 

Formals are essentially the fancy meals where everyone dresses up, or puts their gowns on, and has some nice food served to them. Depending on your college, these can be compulsory events or highly sought-after, held daily or weekly, with strict or loose dress codes.

Ultimately, it all depends on your college. 

Bops

Once again, your college massively influences how these events are held.

To give you a brief summary, bops (suspected but not confirmed to stand for Big Organised Party) are college parties almost exclusively attended by members of the relevant college(s). Bops are similar to normal night-outs but pretty much everyone there is from your college. What makes it a little more interesting is that there is usually a theme to dress towards. Again, depending on your college, they may be held at a club/bar or in college, lead on to a club night or replace a club night.

Some people love them, some people hate them – you’ll just have to find out how you feel about them yourselves!

Crewdates

The clue is – kind of – in the name. Two sports teams getting together and going for a curry would be the accurate but reductive and misleading definition. Vitally, copious volumes of alcohol are drunk (usually at least a bottle of wine per person, but obviously this depends on the person, with many non-drinkers also participating), often as a result of the various drinking games that are played. Generally, the teams will then go on to a nightclub.

As a general rule, crewdates are probably more inclusive and less wild than their reputation, though there is the occasional outlier which lives up to the stereotype. If you’re worried about what might happen, it’s probably best to go with a team you feel entirely comfortable in, but equally it can also be a great way to bond with a team you’ve only recently joined. 

Balls

To get the picture: tickets are generally over £100 and somehow people usually don’t regret buying them.

This will involve food, drinks, dancing, live music, rides, entertainment, and lots of people. Balls don’t happen often, with most being held towards the end of the academic year, but they are very good fun and are something to get excited about if you decide to attend. Whether or not they are worth the price is another question, but they are certainly very enjoyable.

Much like previous entries, these can vary considerably depending on the relevant society/college/association hosting them. Prices, dress codes, entertainment, facilities, amenities, and venue can all differ considerably. 

To conclude: throw yourself into it and in a year you’ll all be able to write this article as badly as I have. 

Image credit: The Illustrated London News/CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia commons.

A guide to academic life

Teagan Riches
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A guide to academic life

We all have been there, bewildered at how we’re supposed to navigate a lengthy reading list in only a couple of days, forgetting to set our alarm for a 9am lecture or wondering what older students are on about as they talk about collections and tutes. Hopefully this brief guide to academic life will help alleviate some of the confusion in what will inevitably be a whirlwind of a first term. It can take time to adjust to academic life at Oxford and that’s okay – nobody expects you to understand everything right away! 

The academic year is split up into three eight-week terms called Michaelmas, Hilary, and Trinity. The first and last terms of the year, Michaelmas and Trinity, tend to be the busiest. Our terms are shorter than most other universities and it’s normal for academic life here to look very different from your friends’ at other places! Oxford has plenty of options when it comes to choosing where you want to study and your first term is a great chance to tour all the different libraries, try out study cafés such as Common Ground, or find the desk setup that works best for you. 

Glossary of useful terms: 

Collections: Collections are mock exams that you normally sit at the beginning of term. They are held within your college and the questions are usually based around the content you covered the previous term. Whilst it’s always good to aim to do well on collections, don’t stress! Collections are a great way to practise exam technique and identify gaps in your knowledge that you might need to work on further. Remember your first collection will be the first time you’ve ever sat a university-style exam which is very different to what you will have been used to at A-level. Do your best, take on board any feedback your tutor gives you, and don’t worry about them too much! 

Sub fusc: This is a special academic dress that you will be required to wear for events, such as matriculation, as well as exams such as Prelims or Mods. Some colleges may also ask that you wear your gown whilst sitting collections.  

Preliminaires ‘Prelims’: These will be the first university-wide examinations you will sit near the end of the final term of your first year, testing you on all the content you have learnt in that time. Prelims don’t count towards your final degree classification; you just need to pass them, as they are a stepping stone into the next couple of years! If you fail a paper, you will be allowed one resit later on that summer. If you do really well in prelims, you can get what is known as a ‘distinction’, which enables you to wear a special type of gown called a scholar’s gown to events such as formal dinners, in place of your commoner’s gown. Prelims can feel really daunting but it’s important to remember that you just need to pass them!

Mods: For subjects such as Law and Experimental Psychology, your first year exams are called ‘moderations’ (or Mods for short) and are sat earlier than those doing Prelims. Whilst sitting your exams earlier might seem like a scary prospect it does have its perks as it means you will be able to enjoy your summer term exam-free! If you are a classics student you will sit your first university exams even later, in the second term of your second year.

Lectures:

Lectures are where the majority of your course content will likely be taught to you. The number you will have in a week will vary depending on the subject you are doing. Nobody likes a 9am lecture but it’s important to try and go to all of them as your exams will probably be based on the content you learn here! 

Arranging to meet your coursemates and walk to lectures together can be a great way to meet new people in first year and can also help to break up the day.

Be punctual – coming in late can be disruptive for others already there and some lecturers will stop students from coming in after a certain amount of time.

Do ask questions at the end, but be mindful lecturers might have limited time. Most usually give out their email addresses so don’t be afraid to reach out with any questions afterwards. 

Try different ways of taking lecture notes. Some people prefer to type them, some to handwrite and some to annotate the lecture slides. There’s no right or wrong way – whatever feels best for you! For most lectures you will get access to the slides afterwards so don’t try and write down everything that is written, focus on getting the key point the lecturer is saying – you can always go back and add to your notes later! 

Tutorials

Tutorials, or ‘tutes’ as they are commonly referred to, are an opportunity for you to go more in depth into an aspect of your course with a tutor who specialises in that area. Depending on your course you will be asked to prepare work for the tutorial, which will usually be either an essay or a problem sheet. 

Re-read your work before coming to the tutorial so it is fresh in your mind. 

Write down any questions you have. This is your chance to go through anything you might be stuck on. 

Be respectful of your tutorial partner. Whilst you may have some one-on-one tutorials, the majority will be in groups of two or three. It’s important to make sure you aren’t talking over others in your tutorial and respect their ideas and opinions.

Think out loud, just like you will have done at interviews. This way your tutor can hear your ideas and see your train of thought so they can point you in the right direction. 

Remember tutors want to hear your opinion. 

Top Tips:

Organisation is key. Managing your own time can be one of the hardest parts of academic life so make sure you have a calendar, whether online or on paper, and put in all your commitments academic and otherwise for the week. Work often expands to fill the time you give it so break up everything you need to complete into smaller tasks and give yourself a time goal – this will help stop work dragging on all day!

Take regular breaks. It is unrealistic to try and work for long hours everyday. Make sure you plan in regular breaks and look after yourself. 

Remember you are here to learn. Nobody expects you to turn up knowing everything – otherwise there would be no point in you being here!

Just give it a go. It can be easy to get hung up on whether you are doing something just right and trying to make your work perfect. Whilst problem sheets will usually have a right and wrong answer, for essays the questions are usually an open end with no real ‘right’ way to answer them. Either way, no matter what work you are doing it’s more important to give it your best go and come to a tutorial armed with questions than not do anything at all! 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your tutors and lecturers are there to answer your questions no matter how big or small. Speaking to older students who do your subject can be really useful as they’ve been in your exact position and can give you tips and ideas. 

Constructive criticism is a good thing! One of the hardest adjustments can be getting used to tutors critiquing your work or challenging you on your ideas. Don’t get disheartened. Thinking about it in a more positive way can help: if your tutors are challenging you and giving you constructive criticism to work on, it means they see the potential in you to grow and get better.

Don’t worry about making mistakes. Sometimes this is the best way to learn!

Everyone will have different strengths. Oxford brings together students from a wide range of backgrounds; don’t be worried if someone knows more about a particular subject or seems to be finding a certain topic easier. First year is all about getting everyone on the same page so don’t stress if you’ve never heard of something before – it’s likely that there are lots of people who don’t.

You will get the hang of things – maybe not right away but that’s okay. There will be many things you might have never seen or been asked to do before but don’t worry – it’s all part of the process, and even if you find it hard at the start, things will start to get easier the more you practise them! 

You deserve to be here. Even if your essay didn’t go as well as you’d hoped or you didn’t understand what to do with your problem sheet, you deserve to be here. 

Image Credit: Mike Knell/ CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A day in the life of an Oxford student

Phoebe Walls
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A day in the life of an Oxford student

A typical day in the life of an Oxford student is intense, from waking up hungover and going to a 9am tute, writing essays in incredible libraries, to the constant trips to Prêt and the milking of its subscription!

As a French and German student at Lincoln, I aim to get up at 8am – breakfast in Hall motivates me to stop snoozing my alarm. It’s nice to enjoy the tea pot and gossiping with the limited selection of friends who have actually made it to breakfast. Sometimes, I regret not becoming a rower when I see the rowing team in their gear, but then I remember that they have been up since 5am. My morning routine involves walking straight from Hall to Prêt for my first coffee of the day. Some days, I have a 9am tute. A German tutor once violently humbled me by comparing my writing in German to a Picasso painting: “pure chaos, but something beautiful may eventually emerge”. From experience, it seems that when I turn up to tutes well-rested, I am roasted by the tutors, and when I wake up hungover, I am praised for my great ideas. 

A lot of my lectures are online but those held in person make me feel more inspired – and it was fun to discover one time that the girl sitting next to me was also called Phoebe! After tutes or lectures, I make a long to-do list and get some work done before my next Prêt trip. A change of scenery helps my concentration, so at some point I usually relocate to the Lincoln library, where I admire the ornate ceilings, and find familiar faces buried in books. A few times a week I will attempt to get a seat in the Rad Cam. I like seeing other people working but sometimes wonder whether the whispering next to me is a couple or what is blasting out of someone’s headphones.

After library time, I have lunch in Deepers, our college bar. As I approach the long queue, I admire the Imp, Lincoln’s rather unusual college mascot, safely tucked away behind bars. Normally I go for the tuna baguette and hope there’s actual mayo this time rather than something resembling a cat food consistency. I also enjoy a delicious smoothie, which provides me with my fruit for the day. After lunch, I return to my essay and aim to get it done and dusted by 5.30pm. An essay that seemed wonderful before lunch can quite often appear less satisfactory with fresh eyes and a full stomach. I read it aloud to edit and then proofread until I become snow blind to my own errors. Many of my peers submit their essays in the early hours of the morning but I’ve never wanted to pull the infamous Oxford all-nighter essay crisis. I have found that time management truly makes the notorious Oxford workload manageable. 

In my downtime I go to dinner in Hall, where I enjoy spotting who is in a scholar’s gown and notice how almost every Oxford student seems to devour their slab of butter and bread roll before the soup even arrives. After dinner, my college friends and I enjoy going to Deepers for a pint. On Thursdays, I go to the Union Debates and sometimes end up at Plush. Every so often I get an early night to fight the constant Victorian-sounding cough I’ve had since arriving in Oxford in October (it’s not Covid). Before bed, I write melodramatic diary entries and poetry about my disappointing love interests. I put my ear plugs in to block out the sound of drunken chants (“OLLIE!”) on Brasenose Lane. How many Ollies are there in Oxford? I briefly regret not having gone out after all, and then I wonder whether 18 is too old to still be sleeping with Dolly and Blanket Bear, one in each hand?

I fall asleep quickly, exhausted by reading, essay writing, black tie, translations, tutes, and Prêt queues. I ponder what the German word for garden gnome is. 

Image Credit: Ron Lach via Pexels.

Five things I wish I’d done as a fresher

Charlotte Perry
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Five things I wish I’d done as a fresher

Reflecting on my first year at Oxford, here are some of my own mistakes delivered up as sage advice for a new cohort. Coming from a seasoned third-year, I wish I’d…

  1. Not purchased and packed half of the IKEA homeware range.

Perhaps I’m a little late with this one, seeing as many may have gone out and purchased their kitchen and crockery items soon after results day. As much as I loved cooking during my first year – it’s a great way to gain independence, as well as make friends – I really didn’t need to pack five plates, four sets of cutlery, two massive pizza plates, and enough bowls to stock a small buffet. While I would recommend purchasing a small number of essentials, such as those covered in IKEA’s student essentials crate, I wouldn’t recommend going overboard; remember, you will have to lug it all the way to uni, all the way back at the end of term, and up goodness knows how many flights of stairs in between. There are plenty of shops in Oxford where you can purchase any essentials you’ve missed, so don’t overpack to the extreme!

  1. Learned how to budget… properly.

A detailed sheet with every single one of my expenses, incomings and outgoings, wasn’t at the top of my list at my start of university. Admittedly, I am very thrifty when it comes to food shopping and that has served me well, but I wish I’d kept a closer eye on my finances during my first year. Although your student loan may at first seem infinite, making it far easier to spend on treats or takeaways, it’s worth remembering that it has to last you an entire term – maybe even the holidays too. Working out where to cancel an unused subscription here, or scrape a few pounds there, can leave you with quite a neat little stack of money at the end of term. This in itself is a great habit to get into; both at university, when you get given a lump sum of money every few months and have to make it stretch until the end of term, and, in time, after you graduate and have to start managing substantial bills on your own. It is important to keep a keen eye on your finances by sitting down, going through your bank statements, and making use of spreadsheets available on Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to track your spending holistically. 

  1. Not been afraid to go to my support network for help

First year at any uni is a big step for anyone, but the first year of Oxford? It’s crazy! Students can often get the feeling of being isolated and alone despite living in halls or large groups, and if you find yourself feeling this way it is important to acknowledge this and talk to someone about it. Talk to your family, your friends from other universities or from home, and share how you feel – more often than not, your friends will understand how you feel and maybe even feel the same way. It’s perfectly normal to feel homesick every now and then, and at times like this calling home can be incredibly comforting. 

  1. Gone to my lectures!

Admittedly, it was very hard to sleep through lectures for my first year, as everything was online and we could watch them at any time. Luckily, now that everything is back to normal, lectures are still very much on – yes, even the ones at 9am on a Friday. I would advise to go to your lectures straight from the get-go, as getting into the habit of going now is crucial for your second, third, or even fourth year of university. Lectures are a great way of covering content that isn’t mentioned in tutorials, or for refreshing a topic already discussed in a tutorial that week. I know that my ancient coinage lectures were a great time to catch up on topics or reading that I’d missed in classes that week, and also offered me an amazing chance to talk to one of the leading academics in the field of numismatics. This is Oxford, so the chances of your lecturer being the person who wrote the handbook on your subject are higher than you might think!

  1. Gone out! Made friends!

This might seem very obvious , but finding the time to socialise, go out, and meet new people can be really hard if it’s not something you’re used to doing. I had not – and still have not – been to club nights, although I have been getting more and more involved in student journalism and other societies since my first year. Through these activities, I’ve managed to meet a lot of people and make some really great friends that I’ll keep in touch with after I’ve graduated next year. Freshers’ Week is the perfect time to do this, as it’s one of the first chances most first-years will get to meet other people outside of their immediate colleges. You also get a rare week to go to club nights and parties without the worries of a hangover impacting your work, lectures, or classes the day after – an incredibly unusual occurrence in Oxford, and something to make the most of for sure!

Overall, some of the friends you make at university – whether on your course or by other means – will be friends that you keep and take with you throughout your twenties and life as a young adult, if not further. One of my biggest regrets from my first year was not taking the time out to socialise, meet new people, or make an effort to hang out with them, despite the Covid-19 restrictions in place. It’s important to remember that everyone is in the same boat as you, and probably feeling just as nervous! 

Image Credit: Jess Buckle via Pexels.

How to survive Freshers’ Week

Maggie Wilcox
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How to survive Freshers’ Week

Ah, Freshers’, a week filled with many new faces and places, and very little free time. How can you navigate this hectic period?

First, and most importantly, put yourself and your health first this week. Most of you won’t – I didn’t. But, be warned, I got a cold (or “freshers’ flu”) that made me sound like a hoarse Jordan Peterson for a week, and I had to run out of my first tute to have a coughing fit. You can preserve your mental and physical wellbeing relatively well if you avoid severe exhaustion. Club nights and other evening activities are amazing (and cheaper!) during Freshers Week, but missing one to get a good night’s sleep will not ruin your social prospects. Another great way to steal more sleep: nap! Your schedule may seem to be full of activities, but so many sports tasters, trips around town and in-college games aren’t compulsory. Don’t feel pressured to do everything, especially if you desperately need to rest. That being said, lots of these activities are designed to be fun, active and are thus great stress-relievers. Adjusting to a new city and uni life is incredibly overwhelming, so going on college-led walks to parks, participating in games, and letting loose at night can really help you relax and become more at ease with Oxford. In general, if you don’t throw sleep, self-care, and moderation to the wind, then maybe you won’t get a bad case of freshers’ flu.

Given that you most likely fall ill by the end of this week, try to have a good time before everyone in college is going through a pack of Lemsip a day! Freshers’ Week is full of exciting events. My advice: try a variety. Even if you don’t fancy yourself the clubbing type, go to one night and definitely hit up your college’s bop (the fun Oxford word for a chill fancy dress party, often in the college bar). You shouldn’t feel pressure to drink, and there is often a strong sober contingent who will come along. These will be a mix of second-year helpers or fellow freshers who aren’t keen on everyone’s first impression of them being tinged by alcohol-induced escapades. On the other end of the spectrum, if you are a keen partyer, indulging in some of the daytime activities, even a games or movie night instead of going out, is equally fun. The pub quizzes and scavenger hunts organized during my Freshers’ helped me meet a bunch of interesting classmates and were a great way to make friends. You might not meet some of your closest friends in Freshers’ Week but meeting people at events during the day allows you to party with people you know at night.

Freshers’ does not determine what societies you do or what your Oxford experience will look like. It is merely one week, and the first week at that. One of the biggest events of the week is the uni-wide Freshers’ Fair. All the clubs, societies, teams, and a variety of other groups from around Oxford will have stalls advertising their activities. Lots of free stash and food will be available as well, so it’s worth going, but don’t feel the need to stay too long. Many societies and sports teams will have open meetings and practices the first week, so the fair itself isn’t the only place to get involved. Freshers’ Week, like the fair, is just one moment in time. Both are fun, both help you become part of the university, but they are not the be all and end all. In Freshers’ Week, focus on enjoying yourself and adjusting to uni life and you’ll have an unforgettable time – and an amazing first term at Oxford.

Image Credit: Toby Ord/ CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia commons.

Packing: too much or too little?

Anya Biletsky
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Packing: too much or too little?

Deciding on what to pack when going to university for the first time can be tough. Having packed and unpacked my suitcases for three terms now, I can safely say that it is an art that requires perfecting. You’re torn between having to deal with lugging into your accommodation a suitcase that is so heavy it seems you have packed enough bricks to build a two-storey semi-detached, or risking leaving behind items that turn out to be essentials when you arrive for term. If you are worried you may have under-packed for Michaelmas, chances are you have packed plenty. To reassure you, these are some of the excesses of my own first-term suitcase.

1 – Clothes

It may be tempting to fold half your wardrobe into your suitcase on the chance that the occasion will arise to wear that sweater you got on your 16th birthday that is hibernating at the back of your closet. In my first term I brought so many clothes that some never made it out of my room. Colleges provide washing facilities, so don’t worry about bringing enough clothes to last you all eight weeks; you will definitely be able to recycle outfits! It is important, however, to have some warm clothes for the transition into the colder weeks of Michaelmas.

2 – Kitchen supplies

I and many of my friends brought a bunch of kitchen equipment that we hardly ever used. The kitchens in my building were very basic, lacking even a hob or an oven, and so any cooking done was limited to the microwave, kettle, and toaster – the most complex “meal” I ever made was hummus on toast. For most meals, I would go to Hall; as well as being a functional trip to acquire sustenance, Hall serves as a great social occasion to see friends and wind down a bit. If you think you might end up going to Hall far more often than cooking, you probably won’t need an entire array of pots and pans!

3 – School notes and books

Although it might be useful to take a few pages of notes you think could be helpful to refresh your understanding of concepts you learnt at school, it will probably be rare that you will need to refer to old exercise books and folders. Once you start attending classes, tutorials, and lectures, you will quickly build up a bank of notes and other resources which will very likely suffice for your studies at Oxford. Don’t forget that you have access to over 100 libraries, so you will pretty much always be able to find a book with the information you are looking for.

4 – Miscellaneous room items

By all means bring items to decorate your room with – it makes your room all the more cosy to return to after a day’s work. However, you may find that some of the room décor you bring does not end up serving its purpose. I brought a blue rug to add some colour and comfort to my room but when I moved my belongings into my room during freshers’ week, I discovered that my floor was already covered in a blue carpet, making the rug both redundant and invisible. Likewise, some of my friends brought various bedroom paraphernalia, like an extra duvet or a desk-lamp, which did not come out from being stored in their wardrobes the whole term, as college already provides these items.

Don’t worry if you find yourself with a surplus of belongings at uni. With each term, as you get used to living and studying in Oxford, you will get more and more adept at the fine craft of packing for uni, and figure out for yourself what you can leave behind, and what you ought to remember to bring next term. You might even be able to put “suitcase specialist” on your LinkedIn by the time you graduate.

Image Credit: Timur Weber via Pexels.

Why Isn’t Dystopian Fiction Fun Anymore?

Deborah Ogunnoiki
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Why Isn’t Dystopian Fiction Fun Anymore?

Like many of you, I’m kind of a slut for the dystopian genre. The first time I read The Hunger Games was in my stuffy Year 5 classroom, drowning out the sounds of Snakes and Ladders and Uno games as we were kept in for wet play. I felt like I had escaped to a new, scary other world. Even if it bore some similarity to our own world, I could be rest assured that when I closed that book I wasn’t fighting for my life in a totalitarian dystopian regime, I was sitting in my village school classroom hoping they serve apple crumble at lunch.

Nowadays I can’t figure out if I’ve gotten old or the world has gotten worse, but reading dystopian fiction is hitting a bit too close to home… I read books for escapism but this summer after reading All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown and the Legend series by Marie Lu, I just feel like I can’t escape my own reality. And yes, I know what you’re thinking “That’s the point of dystopian fiction, it’s supposed to reflect our society blah blah blah”, and I get that obviously. Still, there’s just something a bit too sinister about how much it’s reflecting our society. Like George Orwell’s 1984 was so crazy I doubt anyone reading it at the time was like “Oh yeah, I can totally see this as becoming our reality in the next 10 years”, well, maybe someone did, but everyone definitely thought they were a weirdo. In All That’s Left in the World the story follows a pair of young boys as they navigate a post-apocalyptic world that was devastated by a pandemic. In the book they struggle to navigate a world where most of the population has died because they and the government refused to take the illness seriously. Then more people died from violence and starvation due to hoarding of supplies by a select few. And then top of that, white supremacist neo-nazi-esque communities start to spring up in order to rebuild society in a very twisted image of what they considered ‘perfect’. Reading this felt eerily familiar to the year 2020. Like, too similar, like I’ve literally lived all of this already, of course not to the degree of the characters of the book, but enough that I was very uncomfortable. This wasn’t a very far away distant future like the one Orwell imagined for his readers, this felt like it could be our reality next year. Though I suppose that was Erik J. Brown’s intention seeing as he published in 2022. It’s still a world away from the typical almost fantastical dystopian worlds given to us by Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth.

Even the Legend series by Marie Lu, though I read it two years ago, rereading it this summer made me squirm. The series follows a pair of teens on other sides of the economic scale, surviving in a totalitarian region of America. During this time the is a sickness running amuck in the city, mostly affecting those living in poverty in the underbelly of the city. Then (spoiler alert!!!) it’s revealed that there really was a cure for this plague, and the government decided to only give it to the rich and used the plague to cull the poor essentially. Heavy stuff, right? But is it a stretch to argue that this was kind of similar to Covid policy? Of course, the government didn’t create Covid, and I’d like to think they weren’t intentionally trying to unalive people. But undeniably Covid policies allowed the rich to get richer and be safer, whilst the working class, and notably, those in the service and healthcare industries remained unsupported and made to work in unsafe environments. Marie Lu wrote this series in 2011, a good 8 years before Covid-19 was discovered, but there were many similarities between the society she conjured (perhaps predicted?) and the society we live in. 

Of course, I don’t think Marie Lu’s society could exist within the next five years or Erik J. Brown’s apocalypse will happen in the next couple of months. But, the fact that in Britain we’re having conversations on how to keep poorer people alive during the winter (some interesting characters on the internet think that 3 bowls of porridge a day and some Primark blankets are going to protect people from the cold and hunger). It makes me wonder if the dystopian novels that we read, the social and economic inequality expressed in this genre, are really so far off from our own reality. And I wonder, if we realised how close we were to experience the reality of the dystopian genre will we change our society? Will the genre become fun again? Or perhaps, the new appeal of the genre is its extremely close proximity to our reality. But let’s be honest, there’s no fun in that at all.

Image Credit : Flickr via Creative Commons

 

Why Giorgia Meloni’s election makes me fear for my right to abortion

Freya Jones
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Giorgia Meloni swept to victory in Italy’s general election on 25th September and will soon establish herself as the country’s first-ever female prime minister. Sadly, however, I cannot see this as a positive step for women. In fact, the opposite is true. Having looked into the anti-abortion beliefs of the “female Mussolini” and her radical Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, it appears that Meloni is on track to continue the alarming pro-life narratives associated with Europe’s shift towards the political right. As a young woman in the UK who’s keen on having as much reproductive freedom as possible, the potential impact of Meloni’s premiership has me worried.

Setting the scene, Europe’s recent surge in right-wing ideology is hard to deny. Perhaps it’s unsurprising, given that the pandemic, war, and energy crisis have all fallen within one electoral cycle, but nationalist parties such as France’s RN and Germany’s AfD are gaining. Meanwhile, the UK continues to stagnate in the clutches of a Tory government which has overstayed its welcome. With this as context for the fact that the Fdl won 26% of Italy’s overall vote on Sunday, compared to the mere 4% it won in 2018, the likelihood of any pro-life policies meeting little resistance should give urgent pause for thought.

Even prior to Meloni’s election, it was difficult to terminate a pregnancy in areas controlled by the FdI. Clinics in the party stronghold of Le Marche refused to follow Italy’s existing law on dispensing abortion pills, and a study by The Economist reveals that over 20% of women seeking an abortion in the Italian south had to travel to other parts of the country. 

Although Meloni has said she will keep abortion legal, she also intends for the state to strongly promote alternatives (that is, continued pregnancy), and to demotivate doctors from offering the procedure. In a strongly Catholic country, where around 70% of physicians are already conscientious objectors to abortion, many fear that a further clamp-down will have devastating effects on women seeking time-sensitive treatment.

Worse still, Meloni (who was recently dubbed “Il Duce in a blouse”) is herself a woman. Not only this, but her campaign ran on the words, “I am Giorgia. I am a woman. I am a mother…” 

Of course, Giorgia is entitled to her personal opinion, as all women should be, but the problems caused when female leaders publicly express pro-life views are manifold. As seen with Donald Trump’s strategic appointment of Amy Barrett to the US Supreme Court, these individuals rapidly gain the praise of pro-life men, being portrayed as morally superior to their abortion-seeking counterparts or framed as representative of the mainstream female view. Meanwhile, for all Meloni’s talk of reclaiming personal identity, it’s telling that no woman with a pro-choice, LGBTQ+, or minority ethnic identity has ever enjoyed the same rise to power.

But why am I worried? Stepping back – with respect – don’t I live in England? Unfortunately, Meloni’s election is just one event in a summer of challenges to abortion access. In June, the UK’s MP for Devizes, Danny Kruger, disagreed on the point that pregnant women should have an absolute right to bodily autonomy. Meanwhile, several women in the UK are facing prison sentences for taking abortion pills after accidentally passing the legal 10-week cut-off point for medical abortion. Given the difficulty of accurately assessing one’s own stage of pregnancy when many in-person gynaecology consultations were delayed by the pandemic, these women are hardly to blame. And the prosecution seems arbitrary – who benefits from punishing these women other than enforcers of pro-life values?

Whether or not the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade opened the floodgates to all of this is debatable but a concerning pro-life sentiment has been growing on this side of the Atlantic for some time. Indeed, the group “Oxford Students for Life”  ran a controversial anti-abortion stall at the Oxford SU Freshers’ Fair last year and other pro-life groups attended freshers’ events elsewhere in the country. 

While pro-life demonstration isn’t the same as banning abortion, events such as these suggest that the general acceptance of women’s choice in the UK is at a troubling low. Meanwhile, any question-mark held over female autonomy can be dangerous, especially among students.

As young people, who are statistically more likely to have casual relationships and less sexual experience, the attendees of last year’s Freshers’ Fair should have been told that abortion is a perfectly sound choice to make. Beyond this, the majority of female Oxford students have career plans, student debt, and few means to break off their studies for an unplanned pregnancy. In cases such as these, choosing abortion may be empowering, and women should not be pressured over such choices by other groups within the university.

Luckily, a lot of pro-life sentiment in the UK comes from a lack of education. Many of those against abortion mistakenly believe that it’s a violent procedure which causes foetal pain, rather than simply taking pills to trigger a pragmatic, early-term bleed – as it is in over 80% of cases. If proper teaching about abortion was included in the national curriculum, I’m hopeful a lot of these problems could be solved.

Still, those who oppose abortion on religious or moral grounds, like Meloni, are more worrying. Even in Oxford, I’ve spoken to several highly-educated students who believe that abortion is wrong because another body is involved. However, if a woman’s well-being is seen as subordinate to that of her foetus, how far has our society really come for women’s rights?

With so many high-profile figures taking it upon themselves to advocate for unborn cells, women need as much space as possible to advocate for themselves.

Image: Vox España, CC3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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