Oxford

On Tuesday, Caterham’s Tom Murphy was kind enough to drive us all into the city of Oxford and give us a guided tour of his alma mater. Among the many highlights of the day were the botanical gardens of Christ Church, Bodleian Library, Blackwell’s Bookshop (ok, maybe that one was a highlight just for me!), the Covered Marketplace, Magdalen Bridge, and a very curious (curiouser and curiouser!) fellow in a rabbit mask astride a stationary bicycle peddling bubbles into the air (see photo). We ended our day with some punting, an activity we were told we simply must do while in Oxford; some of us were more accomplished punters than others. A wonderful time was had by one and all, and we were especially grateful to Tom for sacrificing an entire day for our sake.

First Weekend

Over the course of our first weekend, the students spent time with their host families, traveled into London, and/or spent time enjoying some of the campus festivities.

All settled in

We arrived in England safely Monday morning (Sunday evening EST,) and were met at the airport by our own Eric Rhodes '09, proudly sporting his WRA alumnus tie. A quick bus ride later and we were on the campus of the Caterham (pronounce ‘Kay-trim’) School.

For the past two days our students have been attending classes during the day and joining up with their hosts in the evening. As far as classes are concerned, the WRA students are welcome to attend as many classes as they like, but only their politics classes are obligatory. Most have already found time to walk into town, where they can grab a coffee at Costa (a coffee shop quite similar to Starbucks or Caribou), browse the book selection at W.H. Smith, or stock up on munchies at Morrison’s, Caterham’s full-size supermarket.

We’ll follow the same routine until Friday, when it’s off to Cambridge for the day. From speaking with the students, it sounds like many have already made plans for the upcoming weekend as well. Below you’ll find some photos I took over the course of our first two days here. More later!