Day 9

Today the majority of the day was taken up by presentation and interview skills workshops.In the presentation skills workshop students were challenged to design a radio station, including the concept, business model, average day's programming and even a jingle! They then presented their pitch to the group.

Ideas included a local radio station for new artists to pay to get their music out there, sponsored by New College, Oxford!

The interview skills workshop was run by an experienced human resourcer who has interviewed hundreds of candidates. Questions such as "who are you?" and "what is your greatest fault?" are very difficult to answer on the spot, yet often come up in interviews for a wide range of jobs. Students were encouraged to explore who they are as potential employees and students, as well as what makes them special.

Then it was back to the accommodation for Thai Green Curry, followed by a relaxed evening watching films. Forrest Gump was on, and many students had tears in their eyes by the end of the film!

Day 8

During the day students had tutorials and continued their seminars in their chosen subjects. The environmental studies students investigated logging and the sourcing of timber, which sparked heated debate.

After a long day of work students had a traditional British Sunday dinner at The Mitre. This is traditionally a special meal in the UK where families and friends get together to eat.

In the evening a quiz was set up, including rounds in the subjects students are studying at the summer school, an Oxford trivia round, a "Famous Georges" picture round and challenges for extra bonus points that included eating cereal with chopsticks. Another task involved eating spoonfuls of vegemite - easy for the Aussie students but difficult for everyone else!

It was a close call but team Dubmiyork/BLAH were the eventual winners. Helena bravely took on her team's challenge solo - well done to her! The high scores obtained by teams during the Mean Girls round was also very impressive!

Day 7

Students had individual tutorials today where they received one-to-one tuition. These tutorials were valuable for the students and allowed them to get one on one feedback about their work, as well as discussing their subject in a way tailored to them rather than a group.

Law, Psychology and Medicine students had an interdisciplinary workshop on Antisocial Personality Disorder, Mental Health and the Law. This debate sparked lots of debate, with Gordon, Eleanor, Lara and Leora standing out as outspoken contributors during the debate.

 Other students then braved the rain to make their way to a lateral thinking workshop. This workshop challenged students to think laterally through a variety of games and exercises. Interestingly many students first thought that lateral thinking was thinking logically to solve complex problems - by the end of the workshop they learnt that lateral thinking more involved thinking creatively or differently about a problem.

Students played games, including the scissors game, where students had to figure out a rule as to when the words "crossed" or "uncrossed" were correct or incorrect. Talking about these differences revealed that those who struggled to find the rule were often over-thinking or looking for a complicated pattern when the rule was actually very simple. It showed how even coming up with a clever way of tackling a plan can be unhelpful, and highlighted the importance of recognising the need to change strategy sometimes.

Then a delicious healthy meal at Will's Deli was in order before once again braving the rain to watch The Merry Wives of Windsor at Wadham College. The outdoor performance went on, despite a heavy downpour of rain, some students bravely watched and actors bravely carried on the play, despite becoming soaked and their props disintegrating! Charles enjoyed the French character and found the portrayal very funny! Finally they gave in to the weather and the play was postponed. Back at the accommodation students recovered from the rain with mugs of hot chocolate, biscuits and horror films (or Dirty Dancing for Hope, Nayab and some of the others!)

Cambridge Trip

Students had a well-deserved break from tutorials today to take a trip to "The Other Place", also known as Cambridge! After an early start and coach journey fuelled by breakfast bars, students took a tour of the city.

Their guide was Rosie, herself a Cambridge graduate. Students saw famous bridges and looked around many colleges including Trinity and Rosie's own college, Jesus. There students heard about Rosie's experiences as a student and how student/college life works at Cambridge.

Meanwhile, Jean-Luc, Joanne (aka Fufu) and Tudor took a visit to King's College Chapel, famed for its choir and Christmas carol service. The chapel itself was planned by Henry VI but not finished until the reign of Henry VIII. The students seemed impressed, and enjoyed the musical accompaniment of the string quartet practising there!

Students then had some free time for lunch and shopping. Helena bought a Cambridge T-shirt which she has been bravely sporting around Oxford and Daisy bought some trendy wellies!

A punting tour was up next, giving students the chance to see "the backs", the beautiful lawns of colleges backing onto the river. The punting trip gave students the chance to experience punting by an expert before trying it themselves next week!

After more free time, students had dinner at Giraffe and then headed to the coach home after a long day!

Day 5

In the afternoon students completed either a Problem Solving or Essay Writing workshop.  In the problem solving workshop students were encouraged to break down and get to the root of a problem in order to tackle it. For Kabhir this was a relief as the more subjective Philosophy and Ethics worskshop yesterday, despite being interesting, gave him a headache!

 In the essay writing workshop students learnt how to structure an essay and produce arguments and counter arguments. The students then were challenged to come up with arguments and counter arguments for and against an issue and share them with the class.

Topics of debate included whether people should be obligated to donate to charity, whether we should protect the environment and whether religion was relevant.

Dinner was in the accommodation and students enjoyed their meal in the garden. Economics students had an evening tutorial.  Other students played  football, with a ball freshly retrieved from the neighbour's garden, or watched Mean Girls in the common room, with Jess styling many heads of hair!

Day 4

After more tutorials and independent study to stretch the students, a trip to the Ashmolean was in order. The Ashmolean museum is the world's first university museum, and home to a wide variety of art and archaeological treasures.

Students were sent on a mission to find the collection of rings that inspired the One Ring from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Other highlights of the collections included the Kish Tablet, thought to be the oldest written document, drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and Raphael and the death mask of Oliver Cromwell.

After a lovely meal at Aziz, students came back to the accommodation for their first evening seminar. Seminar options included Life as a Junior Doctor, Philosophy and Ethics, Creative Writing, Environmental Studies and Current Affairs.

Derrick, Radu, Charles, Gordon, Tom and Helena had an Environmental studies seminar from a tutor who studies climate change from an international relations perspective.  Students were encouraged to consider the wide implications and effects changes to one aspect of the environment may have, and what we consider "natural" or unmodified in an environmental context.

Students enjoying a visit to the Ashmolean

Debating at the Union

After working on a variety of tutorial assignments – Greg had an 1500 word essay, whilst Jess had readings on the philosophy of history - students honed their debating skills in the prestigious Oxford Union. The Unions has hosted leading public figures such as Winston Churchill, The Dalai Lama and Pierce Brosnan.

The workshop began with word games, and then moved on to debating controversial issues such as “This house believes that dogs are better than cats” and “This house believes that school uniforms should be abolished”.

Some impressive points were made, including Gordon bringing in the Ancient Egyptians, an impressive way of bringing new ideas to the floor! Daisy made an incredibly confident argument against uniforms, tackling arguments posed to her with ease. Jess also was a very captivating speaker, making excellent points.

Students were given instruction on debating technique, where they learnt about the structure of a British parliamentary debate. The variety of speaking styles were also discussed, some of which could be seen in the students : Ariana had a conversationalist way of speaking, Gordon took on a statesman style and Daisy was most definitely a firebrand!

Students split into groups and competed against each other – some excellent debates were had, with two winning teams entering the finals. The final debate was “This house believes the monarchy should be abolished immediately”. The proposition made some excellent points and Eleanor was an outspoken contributor to the debate. However the opposition made a very strong case and were pronounced the winners! Well done Tom, Leora, Jess and Natali!

Debate winners!

First full day!

Now that everyone had settled in it was time for the work to begin! It was the students' first tutorials today. The molecular medicine students - Elizabeth, Sarah, Tudor and Shalini - had a tutorial based on disease, where they learned about different types of diseases, including some pretty gruesome infections!They enjoyed the tutorial but were surprised by the amount of discussion involved in the tutorial compared to a normal class.

After tutorials the staff showed everyone where they could grab lunch in the city centre and the students had some free time to explore Oxford in the sun. This year we have been incredibly lucky with the weather we've been having - it was 30 degrees for most of today!

Then it was time for independent research and study before going on a tour of Oxford. During the tour students saw all of the main sights in Oxford - including the Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library, Christ Church Meadow (and the college itself!), and the Bridge of Sighs. Students also were able to look around the present and former colleges of staff members, exploring their libraries and various quads. They heard all about student and college life at Oxford, from college rivalries (for example St. John's attempting to destroy Keble literally brick by brick) to strange traditions (such as May Morning). There was a lot of curiosity and questions to be answered by our guides!

After the tour we all ate at Fire and Stone, a pizza restaurant with exotic menu options such as "Peking", which is a pizza that includes crispy duck and hoi sin sauce as toppings! Whilst understandably Ernesto thought pizza was better back in Italy, generally students enjoyed their meals. This was followed by a trip to the Oxford institution that is G&D's, an ice-cream shop and cafe frequented by students. Its midnight closing time and Wi-Fi makes it a popular alternative to the library!

After this the plan was to play rounders in University Parks, however the first rain since the heatwave we've been having struck, so some returned to the accommodation early. Tudor finally experienced typical British weather, which he was looking forward to! The remaining students thoroughly enjoyed a wet but fun evening!

Sheltering from the rain!

Welcome!

Today we welcomed all of our students joining us for the second session of the summer school! The four - weekers were excited to start their new subjects and meet new students as well. It was a busy day, with lots of keys to be given out and bags to be carried - some of which were heavier than others!

Once students had settled in there was time to socialise in the garden - a game of football started but was cut short by the ball going over into the neighbouring garden!

After a while of getting to know each-other, students were introduced to all of the staff and had a run through of the rules and structure of the summer school. Then it was time for  ice-breakers in the garden  - with a "speed friending" activity where students had two minutes with each person, with some entertaining questions provided by the activities co-ordinators if people got stuck for ideas! This was followed by a game involving passing oranges between team members in inventive ways

Then students relaxed in the garden and chatted before bed - after some long journeys here everyone had a well deserved rest!

Goodbye everyone!

We've had a great first summer school! We hope everyone has learned new things and made lasting friendships - please keep in touch!

Last full day!

Students began their last full day with their final individual tutorials, where they got their last bit of feedback from their tutors before leaving.

Then after some free time to see the sights of Oxford  before leaving, students returned to the accommodation for a barbecue in the garden (the heatwave over here is STILL holding out!). Then it was time for some lovely mocktails, lovingly decorated by the activities coordinators.

After enjoying some refreshments students got spruced up for their graduation ceremony  Everyone was very excited about dressing up for the occasion, and some of the boys certainly looked smarter in suits than in their usual onsie attire!

All of the staff congratulated each student individually, and the whole summer school cheered for each student as they came up to get their certificate. Well done everyone!

Finally students celebrated the end of the summer school with a bop  (Oxford slang for party)! The theme was "dress as your subject". We saw some great costumes - including lots of Union Jacks, crowns and Prince Harry masks from the English students!

Blenheim Palace!

Students found themselves in altogether more grandiose surroundings today, as we took a trip to  Blenheim Palace. This historic country house is home to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, as well as being the birthplace of Winston Churchill (who Badar claims is his uncle...).

Although students were less than pleased about the hot coach journey to Blenheim (the UK rarely gets hot enough for air conditioning), the beautiful grounds of Blenheim were a worthwhile reward for the journey! The palace boasts a maze, huge landscaped grounds -complete with a a mini-train to tour them- and many, many swans.

After exploring the grounds students had a guided tour of the Palace, including the room where Winston Churchill was born, and numerous beautifully decorated rooms. These were filled with priceless antique furniture and had impressive paintings from masters such as van Dyck adorning the walls.

After Blenheim students ate at Aziz, a  Bangladeshi restaurant on Cowley Road. The curry there was excellent, with Sarahkate and Yuval both agreeing that this was their favourite restaurant yet! The evening was spent attending more seminars, and getting some rest for the last day of the summer school tomorrow!

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Day 10

The main event of today (apart from studying of course) was a punting trip! Unlike in Cambridge, students were in charge of the punts this afternoon, which provided a lot of entertainment for the students! There were many horizontally facing boats and dramatic collisions, with one student Liz having a swim in the river! Liz enjoyed a break from the hot sun, so much so that she decided to go for a dip again. Alex, whilst originally nervous about falling in really got into punting and enjoyed herself!

That evening students enjoyed a dinner in the garden followed by a careers seminar run by an advisor for the Oxford University careers service. Students were encouraged to explore the wide range of careers in existence by listing the different jobs related to household objects such as a music album or bottle of weed killer.  Students were then given questions asked by top consulting firms and challenged to tackle them in groups. They did very well to come up with answers to tough questions quickly - for example coming up with the next date composed entirely of numbers which did not repeat themselves!

The main task of the session was designed to mimic "assessment centre" type of tasks, where job candidates are given tasks to complete in groups and assessed on how they work as a team. Students were challenged to build a tower as cheaply as possible, with a minimum height of 60cm, able to hold withstand a weight being placed on top of it. We saw a range of designs - including the prohibited but highly ingenious idea of securing the tower by attaching long strands of tape to the ceiling and the tower! The winning team went for an excellent minimalist design - well done!

Day 9

Presentation and interview skills workshops took up the majority of the day today. In the presentation skills workshop students were challenged to design a radio station, including the concept, business model, average day's programming and even a jingle! They then presented their pitch to the group.  Ideas included a London underground station for deprived boroughs of London. The prize of fudge from The Fudge Kitchen was well earnt by the winning teams!

The interview skills workshop was run by an experienced human resourcer who has interviewed hundreds of candidates. Questions such as "who are you?" and "what is your greatest fault?" are very difficult to answer on the spot, yet often come up in interviews for a wide range of jobs. Students were encouraged to explore who they are as potential employees and students, as well as what makes them special.

Through this we learnt about Alex's experiences swimming with dolphins and Johanna's experience of living in a diverse range of countries!  Questions requiring candidates to give evidence of possessing a particular skill or experience, such as "give me an example of when you worked in a team were also explored. The workshop will prove very useful for upcoming university interviews, as well as job and internship interviews in the future.

After dinner at student favourite Noodle Nation, students assembled in the garden for the summer school's very own Alternative Olympics. The countries Narnia, Tommorrowland, Jonar, United States of Candy and Trashland courageously competed against each other. Events included eating a chocolate bar with a knife and fork, three-legged relays, eating polos with chopsticks, and forming a human pyramid.  It was a very close contest however the overall winners were Trashland, followed by Panam  and Jonar in 2nd and 3rd.

Day 8

More individual tutorials for Medics and Psychologists were on the cards for today. Joanne found her tutorial very valuable, and received very useful feedback on her personal statement, as she will be applying to Psychology courses at UK universities in the Autumn. Like yesterday, these individual tutorials gave students the chance to  discuss their subject one-on-one with a tutor and receive personalised feedback on their work.

In the afternoon students had more seminars, following on from the previous seminars - Life as a Junior Doctor, Environmental Studies, Philosophy and Ethics, Current Affairs and Creative Writing.

Students were treated to a traditional Sunday dinner, at the historic Oxford pub The Mitre. Sunday dinner is traditionally a big family occasion in the UK, and whilst some students were unsure

A relaxed film night followed in the evening. The films on show were classic Bond films and the less classic John Tucker Must Die. A relaxed evening was much needed as the action - packed days, rigorous academic assignments and uncharacteristic heatwave hitting the UK was making the students a little tired!

Day 7

Students had individual tutorials today where they recieved one-to-one tuition, apart from Medicine and Psychology students, who have theirs tomorrow. These tutorials were valuable for the students and allowed them to get one on one feedback about their work, as well as discussing their subject in a way tailored to them rather than a group. Olivia's tutorial focused on exploring the work she has done so far in more detail, whereas others focused more on feedback for a particular piece of work.

Students then braved the intense sun to make their way to a lateral thinking workshop. This workshop challenged students to think laterally through a variety of games and exercises. Interestingly many students first thought that lateral thinking was thinking logically to solve complex problems - by the end of the workshop they learnt that lateral thinking more involved thinking creatively or differently about a problem.

Students played games, including the scissors game, where students had to figure out a rule  as to when the words "crossed" or "uncrossed" were correct or incorrect.  Some students, such as Brett and Alex, picked up on the rule immediately. Others, such as Diletta and Will, were sure they had figured out the rule but actually had found a different one whilst others such as Yuval and Claire found it very difficult to determine the rule!

Talking about these differences revealed that those who struggled to find the rule were often over-thinking or looking for a complicated pattern when the rule was actually very simple. It showed how even coming up with a clever way of tackling a plan can be unhelpful, and highlighted the importance of recognising the need to change strategy sometimes.

Then it was back to the accomodation for enormous portions of traditional British fish n' chips. The rest of the evening was spent in the sunny garden playing football, frisbee and guitar playing! The football got very competitive, even involving plots from Irene to hide a certain team member's shoe!

Day 6

A trip to Cambridge gave students a break from tutorials and an opportunity to see for themselves the differences and similarities between Oxford and "the Other Place"! After breakfast everyone piled onto the coach and set off on our two hour journey. The earlier start and busy days meant that many used their time on the bus to catch up on sleep!

Once arriving in Cambridge the first item on the itinerary was a tour of the city by Rosie, OCSS coordinator and Cambridge Alumna. This tour included famous bridges, colleges such as King's and Trinity, the Union and Rosie's own former college, Jesus.  The students learnt local nicknames for landmarks and colleges, as well as many anecdotes and trivia (apparently you could walk from Cambridge to London on land owned by Trinity College!). Students were also able to explore Jesus College in more detail, and hear about student life from Rosie. The college also was displaying its biannual sculpture exhibit, so the grassy quads were adorned with weird and wonderful art pieces including a fire truck and a series of wrinkled bronze umbrellas!

After some free time which was spent exploring Cambridge's many shops by many of the students (including  Joanne, Johanna, Reika, Yuval and Dimy who proudly showed me their purchases), the city was explored via river! Everyone went on a punting tour which included the Backs, the grassy banks onto which many colleges back. Some tour guides let the students have a go - on our boat Jace had a try. He discovered first hand the difficulties of steering when first starting punting! Hopefully this practice will put the students in good stead for punting themselves back in Oxford later in the week.

On the coach back home students kept themselves (and staff) entertained with Liz's new ukulele. The whole bus sang "Wonderwall" by Oasis accompanied by ukulele, followed by a newly written song about activities coordinator Alasdair and his "bad hair", finishing on a rendition of "Happy Birthday" for the other activities coordinator, Isobel.

Rosa, Jace and Lauren on the punt!

Nina, Konstantinos, Emma and Jean-Luc enjoying Cambridge

Day 5

A visit to the Ashmolean museum followed students' tutorials today. The Ashmolean museum is the world's first university museum. Students were sent on a mission to find the collection of rings that inspired the One Ring from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Other highlights of the collections included the Kish Tablet, thought to be the oldest written document, drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and Raphael and the death mask of Oliver Cromwell. 

After pizza and salad for dinner it was time for students' seminars of choice which included Life as a Junior Doctor, Environmental Studies, Current Affairs, Ethics and Philosophy and Creative Writing. Claire and Harrie enjoyed their model UN exercise in Current Affairs, where they represented Brazil and USA. Other countries involved inluded Haiti, Iran, Morroco and Russia. Liz was looking forward to the Environmental Studies seminar, which explored the role of emotion and facts in climate change and other enviromental issues.

We were excited  to have a new student, Sneha joining us today. Sneha is studying English and Economics.  She will be studying at a UK university next year; this summer school will be a great introduction to studying at a UK university. Although it's a shame she couldn't join us from the start of the summer school, she will still have over three weeks to make the most of her time here.

The Ashmolean

 

Day 4

After another day of challenging tutorials the students were taken en masse to the world renowned speaking society ‘The Oxford Union’. With speakers including presidents, pop stars and priests, the students were given their own chance to make some noise in the famous debating hall. 

Our chief executive, Bobby, led the coaching with some of his colleagues teaching students about British Parliamentary Debating alongside some basic tips for forming a strong line of argument and being clear and concise. 

Whilst some struggled with shyness most were able to overcome their initial fears with exercises including arguing that dogs were better than cats. More serious and stimulating topics followed, the students argued whether celebrities have a right to privacy and if junk food should be banned in schools.

 Special mention goes to Rosa who wowed the opposition aiding her team to the semi-finals. Alongside that fantastic performance was Olivia who has a knack for arguing which lends itself strongly to her legal studies. Jean-Luc despite seemingly shy exceeded his own expectations and argued fantastically in opposition of banning violent media.

The busy day of debating was sustained by Oxford’s largest burrito order ever. Over forty five burritos were enjoyed by the students prior to the night’s final debates. After a heated debate under the watchful eyes of the entire summer school  - standing where world leaders have previously argued - we had our champions. The winning team who argued fantastically against the motion “this house believes university education should be free” consisted of Emma, Dimy, Will and Sarah-Kate. 

Day 3

Students have been getting into a pattern of work now that everything is more familiar. There were tutorials again this morning, followed by lunch and independent time to study and complete tutorial assignments.

After their study-time students had skills workshops in either problem solving or essay writing techniques. In the problem solving workshop students were encouraged to break down and get to the root of a problem in order to tackle it - Savita bravely volunteered to try and tackle her problem of procrastination using these techniques! In the essay writing workshop students learnt how to structure an essay and produce arguments and counter arguments. The students then were challenged to come up with arguments and counter arguments for and against an issue and share them with the class. The group then took a vote on which argument they found most convincing, Starbursts being the prize for the winner.

Then it was time for a lovely Moroccan tangine meal at Will's Deli in St Giles. Food disappeared from plates very quickly and almost the entire summer school decided to descend upon G&D's again!

Then it was over to Trinity College gardens to watch a stage version of Pride and Prejudice, performed open-air in the gardens. The company promised to perform in any weather but luckily for them there wasn't a single drop of rain. As it got dark and started to get a bit chilly the blankets available for hire became very popular! The gardens made an excellent setting for the play. The nearly 3 hour length of production tired out many of the students, who made a swift trip home (why no one walks this quickly on the way to tutorials I have no idea...) and were ready for sleep!

Day 2

Now that everyone had settled in it was time for the work to begin! It was the students' first tutorials today. The English students - Rosa, Claire, Tudor, Radu, Harrie and Alex- had a tutorial based on some readings on Humanism and Renaissance literature that they were assigned earlier. They enjoyed the tutorial but were surprised by the amount of reading that they had to do for the tutorial the following day!

After tutorials the staff showed everyone where they could grab lunch in the city centre and the students had some free time to explore Oxford in the sun. This year we have been incredibly lucky with the weather we've been having. That being said, some are finding it a bit too hot - as Alasdair's red, sunburned skin demonstrated!

Then it was time for independent research and study before going on a tour of Oxford. During the tour students saw all of the main sights in Oxford - including the Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library, Christ Church Meadow (and the college itself!), and the Bridge of Sighs. Students also were able to look around the present and former colleges of staff members, exploring their libraries and various quads. They heard all about student and college life at Oxford, from college rivalries (for example St. John's attempting to destroy Keble literally brick by brick) to strange traditions (such as May Morning). There was a lot of curiosity and questions to be answered by our guides!

After the tour we all ate at Fire and Stone, a pizza restaurant with exotic menu options such as "Peking", which is a pizza that includes crispy duck and hoi sin sauce as toppings! This was followed by a trip to the Oxford institution that is G&D's, an ice-cream shop and cafe frequented by students. Its midnight closing time and Wi-Fi makes it a popular alternative to the library!


For those who weren't too tired from a long, eventful day a trip to Port Meadow was up next.  There people relaxed, played football- with Claire and Olivia scoring the majority of the goals for their team! The game wasn't without its mishaps - unfortunately whilst going in for the ball, Marco slipped and fell in a cow pat. Despite this, he had an excellent attitude towards his bad luck, saying ,"Oh well, I probably already smell anyways!". Then it was a long stroll home; by the time we all got back the students were certainly ready for bed!

A tour group outside Christ Church College

Fun and games at Port Meadow

Day 1

Today we kicked off the summer school and had a wonderful start! We had students arriving throughout the day, with our first student, Savita coming at 9am. There were lots of bags to be carried and keys to hand out. Some of the bags were bigger than others - Claire's enormous bag springs to mind (which Ali bravely struggled with)! Liz brought a guitar with her, which we are all excited to hear her play during the school.

Many of the students (and staff!) watched the nail-biting Wimbledon final, with varied opinions on Andy Murray being shared. The weather remained uncharacteristically hot and sunny for England throughout the day, which was perfect for our icebreaker games in the garden after watching the match. Games involved balancing buckets of water on feet, untying human knots, and finding out interesting facts and lies about each other! After this the students met all of the staff team - Alex, Oliver, Rosie, Sarah and Kit as well as us Activities Coordinators.

 Then it was time for dinner outside in the garden, followed by cake and candles, as it was Jonar's birthday! The whole summer school sang happy birthday to Jonar and had a piece of cake. Then everyone chatted and played football. Jace was the resident photographer for the evening, and Justine took some snaps on his camera as well. Hopefully we will be able to get the photos they took onto this blog and our facebook page soon!

Although most people were happy just to chat and play games amongst themselves, we had some fans of organised fun as well. A game of "duck duck goose" was started, only to find that there are many different ways of playing this game in different countries! An "international" version was created, incorporating the different rules. Dimy seemed keen on "speed friending", but sadly many students were jet lagged and ready for bed after an exciting first day!

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for the Oxford and Cambridge Summer School 2013!

This blog will be updated every day by the summer school Activities Coordinators, Alisdair and Izzy  to  keep summer school students and their family and friends updated on everything we are getting up to.

Both Alisdair and myself are current Oxford undergraduates (Alisdair is a 1^st year Law student and I’m a 2^nd year Biology student). Our role on the summer school is to run the extracurricular activities and day trips for students, as well as offering advice and guidance about applying for and studying towards a degree at a top university (something we’ve recently experienced!).

Today we have been busy setting up the summer school for our arrivals tomorrow .  We’ve got  our frisbees and footballs at the ready,  an inordinate amount of food for breakfast , and have all of our classrooms set up!

We are based at Exeter College’s annexes and share a huge garden which I’m sure everyone will spend a lot of time enjoying during the summer school.  It’s been beautiful and sunny today – so hopefully the weather will stay lovely for tomorrow’s icebreaker games in the garden. If not, at least our first summer school arrivals will get to experience the stereotypical English weather!

We are all very excited to meet everyone tomorrow . Rosie, our Summer School Coordinator has already been chatting with many of the students, and has heard about a wide range of interests and skills that students will bring to our summer school. We have keen rowers, debaters, footballers, artists and budding politicians to give a few examples!

In addition our first summer school will be made up of 18 different nationalities!  It will be such a great experience to have such diversity of countries represented here. Tomorrow we will be on hand to make sure everyone settles in well, whether they have travelled a few or a few thousand miles! The Wimbledon final will be on TV, there will be board games available as well as some games going on in the garden for early arrivals.

Here’s to an amazing summer at the OCSS, we hope our students are looking forward to it as much as we are!

Our garden!