My first term at Oxford

News from Francesca Crisante, reading Italian and German at Lincoln College, Oxford

At this moment in time I can’t tell which of the two is more surreal; the fact that my first term at Oxford has flashed by so quickly, or simply the fact that I actually study there in the first place.

Being back in Highcliffe over the holidays has evoked a pang of nostalgia for those familiar purple jumpers and also a sense of how much has changed since then. I remember the initial hesitation with which I attended the Oxbridge meetings with Mrs Karanja and Mrs Dedman that were devotedly run on Wednesday lunchtimes, the sense of disbelief after clicking the ominous send application button on UCAS, the three days of simultaneous terror and awe that were interviews, and the even greater terror when I sat down in a very old fashioned library and stared blankly at my first essay question of the term.

(Michaelmas, that’s what they call the autumn term here. Even now I am still not quite sure how to pronounce it, as with a lot of peculiar building names or Latin signs dotted around the university).

Perhaps the use of “terror” seems a little exaggerated, but the work did seem very daunting at first, and to some extent it still does even after eight weeks of it.

For my course of Italian and German the teaching is very comprehensive, with separate classes for translation, grammar, then lectures, and literature tutorials. But even when I have been puzzling away at an essay until the early hours wistfully thinking of how opportune a little nap might be, I have never had a single moment of regret at choosing to study at Oxford.

I have come to view Lincoln, one of Oxford’s smallest, friendliest and prettiest colleges (allow me to indulge in my own biased opinion!) as a second home, and the city itself is as picturesque as the postcards of the “dreaming spires” portray.
Even though some students (including myself) may often complain about a particularly challenging piece of work, I can assure you that the overstated amount of complaining is disproportionately larger than the amount actual work to be done- there is time for relaxation and various university societies as well!

I don’t think that anything can fully prepare you for studying at this unique and quirky university, but for those who are considering it rest assured that potential applicants are given as much help as possible.

Even when I had privately resigned myself to not getting a place after my... eventful interview, the encouragement from my teachers did not falter, and for that I am very grateful to Highcliffe.

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