故地重游系列之一：初次邂逅牛津剑桥

雨中的牛剑

　　Brideshead Regurgitated – Part 1: What to expect when you arrive at Oxford or Cambridge University

　　In this blog series, Ben Fellows, an Oxford graduate, will endeavour to demystify the mystifying experience of an Oxbridge education.

　　“These memories, which are my life--for we possess nothing certainly except the past--were always with me.”  ― Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

　　As the gavel strikes three times the Great Dining Hall falls silent. No one speaks, no one dares breathe, but the atmosphere, like Victorian smog, becomes thick with anticipation. It is overwhelming, suffocating and nauseating. Like a foreigner in a strange land, you become a monoglot in a polyglot boarding house.

　　Your peers, resplendent in fine robe and bowtie, glance at each other knowingly, as if they are in on a conspiracy you have been excluded from. By birth or talent, they were meant to be here, in this place, at this time, and you are merely an intruder, a feral beast on their indigenous landscape.

　　Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall open, and in walk the Dons, with canonical indifference, they stride purposefully towards the head table, nodding on all directions except yours, further exacerbating your growing sense of isolation. The gavel once again sounds, this time for a call to pray; a Latin Grace, in ancient tongues, further entrenching your existential nightmare. You have arrived. You are an Oxbridge student.

　　But panic not! Although within this opening statement there are many truths about my first evening as an Oxbridge student, I very quickly adjusted to the rites, the rituals, the formalities and the ancient traditions which actually serve to make the Oxbridge experience a very special time in lives of those fortunate to attend these revered institutions.

　　It is odd, and it is unusual, but an Oxbridge education brings with it more than a demonstration of one’s intellectual capabilities and learning; it brings with it an environment designed to broaden one’s horizons and a complete emergence not just in academic rigour, but in a historical journey to which you are , in some small way, now a passenger.

　　From Kings and Prime Ministers, to novelists and scientists, your journey through Oxbridge will tie you inextricably with some of the greatest minds to enter and leave higher education. It will serve as a stepping stone to future prospects, and expose you (hopefully) to people with whom you will form life long bonds of affection and friendship.

　　However, the Oxbridge experience (as demonstrated in at the beginning of this blog) can be an intimidating one. Therefore, in this series of blogs, I will try and demystify some of the mysteries of the Oxbridge experience, paying particular attention to what you can do, as international students, to integrate as best as possible.

　　Oxford was, at first, intimidating for me as a native Brit, so for foreign students there are very particular cultural and social challenges. But, having spoken to many of my international friends for advice and assistance, I hope this blog will serve as a modest guide to help you into the Oxbridge Universe, and hopefully the most rewarding time of your young academic lives.

　　Ben Fellows is a graduate of Oxford University, a former Research Fellow of Berea University in Kentucky and is currently teaching economics, history and the creative arts at the British Fortune School in Beijing.