My Future University

Today, we drove to Oxford – my future university. We went on two tours to learn about the city’s history and see where I’ll be going to class. In the city, I learned about the flag.  The flag looks like an ox crossing a river or a ford.  If you put “ox” and “ford” together you will get Oxford and that is what the flag means.

On the tours and through research, I found out that during World War I, Hitler decided not to bomb Oxford so if he won, he could use it as a base.  I also learned that during the English Civil War, Oxford was the capital for Charles the First.

I learned lots of things about the university like there are 38 colleges that makeup the university and there are over 16,000 students who go there. There are so many beautiful buildings with large windows, gardens, lawns, and small statues everywhere the eye can see.

We went to an Evensong service in the church part of Christ Church college and it was amazing.  There is a beautiful altar covered in gold, benches that have cushions on them, and everyone has their own sections with beautiful carvings on them.  There is also a big bell called “Old Tom” in the bell tower which rings 101 times at 9:05 PM every evening.  It rings at 9:05 PM instead of 9:00 PM because Oxford is 5 minutes away from Greenwich and say that there is a 5 minute difference from GMT and Oxford time.

At Oxford University it is a tradition to write your exams in full Oxford uniform.  Then after you finish writing them, when you go outside, your friends and family throw things at you like sparkles and confetti to celebrate.

Lots of famous people went to Oxford University.  Here are just a few:

C.S. Lewis was a professor there and wrote The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  He was inspired to write the book because every day when he came out of his room, he would see a lamp post, two statues that looked like Mr. Tumnus and a carving on the door of a lion – perhaps Aslan?

J.R.R. Tolkien was also a professor at the university and wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  Tolkien actually wrote the Elvish language first and then wrote a book in that language.  What I think inspired him were all those little statues around the campus that looked magical.

Lewis Carroll, also a professor in this amazing university wrote one of my favourite children’s stories.  Guess what book it is!  Here are some hints.  What inspired him was everything around him but mostly the Chancellor of Christ Church College’s little daughter.  Every week Carroll would take her on a punt and tell her stories with her name in it.  Her name was Alice.  If you still don’t know the book title it is Alice in Wonderland.

I want to go to this university when I am older because the whole city is beautiful, it is one of the most famous, and one of the best universities to go to.  But the main reason that I really want to attend Oxford is because some scenes of Harry Potter (my favourite book series) were filmed there!!!!!!!!!!!!!