Five weeks of eternity

There was a slight disappointment waiting for me in the beginning, as my room was one of the smallest Lincoln – my college – has to offer (although I’m told to expect a significant upgrade next year). Furthermore, I was one of the first freshers to arrive so my first evening here got a little lonely and I was getting thoughts of immediate return home. Luckily, more freshers started coming in in the next couple of days, the college brightened up and I began to settle in more and more. I wouldn’t trade my room for any other now (even though a couple more square meters would come in handy) – not only do I get a wonderful view but I also live right above the Hall, which means I get to go to dinner in my slippers.

Initially, most of us suffered from a mild ‘impostor syndrome’, which is quite common amongst the freshers. In short, you have a feeling that someone like you should not be at a school like Oxford and that you probably somehow managed to trick the tutors during your interviews and are now occupying a spot of a much more talented applicant who was not accepted because of you. You quickly find out that 90 % of your friends feel the same way and so did the second-years a year ago and as you get into the proper working routine, no thoughts like that have time to occur to you.

You soon sink into writing essays, working your way through problem sheets and going to lectures, all of which you are trying to balance with your favourite form of a social life – for me it is to meet up with a group of like-minded friends and watch the next episode of The Great British Bake-Off, interrupted with my question about the British culinary vocabulary, or a properly black British comedy with an occasional jewel of Czech cinematography added to the mix. At the moment, I am writing subtitles for the play The Conquest of the North Pole by Jára Cimrman, and I hope that my friends will appreciate the unique humour of the play the same way I do. On the contrary, I am not very happy about my room’s not-so-sealed windows being located right above the college bar. Nonetheless, you can always escape the noise by going to the college library, and the Lincoln one is truly beautiful. It is not so hard to pretend you are studying at Hogwarts then.

This feel is then expanded by the Oxford Harry Potter Society which organises various weekly events for its members, from debates with refreshments such as homemade butterbeer through quizzes to ‘Design your own school of witchcraft and wizardry’. It the upcoming terms, I might try playing quidditch as well. As far as sports are concerned, I have stuck to my beloved figure skating and every week I find time to go skating at the local ice rink with my friend.

Last week I was also persuaded to take part in ‘Drama Cuppers’, an intercollegiate drama competition. Well, competition – our little group of enthusiasts is taking part mostly for the fun and experience rather than any ambition to win. We’ll see how well our performance in Week 6 will go.

A lot of time has passed since Week 0, when everyone was a little dumbfounded, shy and scared of the new environment. Not only because we have already matriculated do we feel like true Oxford students. This realisation often comes about when we make our way through crowds of tourists and proudly present our student cards to access places that are forbidden to them.