Oxford Journals: Beginning the Adventure

MBU student Victoria Scheibe shares her experiences as a student at Oxford University.

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After the nine-hour flight into the London Heathrow Airport and nearly two hours on a bus to Oxford I arrived at the house I would be living in for about four months and literally crashed.

So, my time at Oxford began with sleeping.

Fortunately, that was not all my trip has consisted of so far.

I am studying English at MIssouri Baptist University and I am continuing that study in Oxford. All of the courses that I am taking in England will transfer into my program at MBU.

I am set up to study The History Use and Theory of the English Language, British Literature 1509-1642, British Landscapes and an English Seminar on autobiography.

All of these courses take up my time here in England.

Bob Kilzer, director of Study Abroad at Missouri Baptist University, warned me that this program called Scholars Semester in Oxford, which is run by BestSemester and sends students from all over North America to study for a term or a year at Oxford University, would be rigorous and not a vacation.

But, when I went to him looking for an opportunity to study abroad in England, this program really intrigued me.

I’ve wanted to attend Oxford University since I was 11 years old.

However, the timing was never right and the funds were low, so I was never able to attend straight out of high school.

So, I felt like this was my chance to live my dream, and after a long and highly selective application process, I found myself at Oxford writing more than I ever have before.

Kilzer was right about the academics, and by no means am I disappointed by that.

One must be in study mode most of the time at Oxford University.

Luckily, BestSemester implements their students into the Oxford system, which means that I get to enjoy tutorials and lectures that only Oxford students are allowed to participate in.

I take the typical primary and secondary tutorials at Oxford, which is the system that Oxford alone employs.

Tutorials are one-on-one meetings and essay evaluations with a specialist in the topics of your choice at the University.

In addition to the tutorials, the University offers lectures to students for general interest and to prepare for exams.

And fortunately, BestSemester program students do not have to take the exams, so we can just enjoy the lectures. Our grades come from our work in the tutorials.

But, school and essay writing, of which there are about 16 essays, do not take up all of my time here in the beautiful land of England.

Our program takes me and my fellow program students on field trips and we visit many historical and beautiful places together.

We come from across the United States, representing Seattle, Boston, Texas, Minnesota, Tennessee and other states, but we have come together to form a community.

For study breaks, we watch movies together, play games, go park hopping, shopping and dye hair.

So while this program is rigorous, I am having a lot of fun too, both with the school work, social gatherings and adventures.

This time here abroad will be an educational time for me, but hopefully for the students at MBU as well, as I share my adventures, struggles and happiness with them all.

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