The students are keeping extensive journals about their experiences, with a special focus on the current events they are following through daily readings of England’s major newspapers.  Ted Blain notes that the program’s timing is especially interesting because of the recent vote by the UK to leave the European Union.  “Oxford exemplifies the spirit of a lasting tradition,” Mr. Blain says, “and yet while we're living there, we're going to be witnessing a furious national debate over which traditions need to be embraced and which should be abolished.” 

 

Student journal entries range from daily details of travel to thoughts on the significance of the sites they are visiting. The overnight flight proved the first challenge for Charles Hargrove ’17. “I had spent about 32 hours and 45 minutes awake.  Counting backwards from 100 to get to sleep took me until 97.”  But Jackson Monroe ’17 cherished the opportunity to be at Wimbledon during the tennis championships, something that had been “on my bucket list ever since I watched Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal in five sets when I was about six.”  Thomas Bledsoe ’17 was similarly impressed by Wimbledon, “We got very lucky when we stumbled upon Serena Williams warming up on one of the smaller courts.  She is one of those athletes that have an aura.”

 

Read more reflections from students and teachers as they experience Britain on the Woodberry Forest in Oxford 2016 Blog.