Champagne, Ceremonies and Marches - settling in Oxford

These few weeks have passed getting accustomed to Oxford life and studies. So far I´m loving it and hope that things can only get better. Apart from having caught some kind of a cold virus circulating among the students, I´m feeling happy and relaxed (and increasingly busy)!

 The culmination of the first few weeks was definitely the matriculation ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre. There are very strict dress code rules here in Oxford when it comes to formal events. The participating students and professors must wear a subfusc, meaning a dark attire including gown. The students must also have their mortar boards, the squared caps, which they are not allowed to wear on their heads, but must carry with them. After a scandalous event where students who had photos of them wearing the cap inappropriately were stalked on Facebook and expelled(?) (not sure how this urban legend actually went), we took the rule very seriously and resisted the temptation to take photos with the cap on.

 So after having our official college photos taken, the 200 or so graduate students of our college paraded through the streets of Oxford, attracting lots of attention from excited tourists, to the Sheldonian building where the ceremony was supposed to take place. We were gathered into long rows on the courtyard and had plenty of time to take photos of each other making faces, taking photos, of tourists taking photos of us, of the building, of the long rows outside, of our subfuscs, of shadows created by clear sunny weather and so on. Anticipation was high after 40 minutes of waiting...


 When we were finally led in, the view inside was
spectacular. The frescos on the seiling, gold-framed paintings, pillars, squeky floors, hundreds of students dressed in black, serious looking professors, medieval looking guards at doors, a golden throne... It was amazing. I was one of the last people to be seated and the ceremony started shortly after that. A professor walked over to another, took of his cap a couple of times, walked over to the throne and said something in Latin. A speech followed on how blessed we are for being Oxford students. And in 10 minutes it was over and everyone was free to go and drink champagne.

And drinking champagne and wine is as much part of the Oxford experience, as is heavy reading and studying. One must balance things out I guess...

  But there is really a lot going on out here that I want to share with all of you who are following, and expect to see posts of different events very soon. The next event will already take place tonight - the Reclaim the Night march and rally calling for an end to end all violence against women and girls! I will be sharing the experience with you soon!

Here´s some more information about the event:

Why Reclaim the Night?

 The facts speak for themselves:

• - 3 million women each year in the UK experience some form of sexual violence
• - In the UK 23% of women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime
• - 91% of these attacks are by someone they know
• - There are nearly 7,000 incidents of domestic abuse reported in Oxfordshire each year
• - Approximately 7 women each month report a rape in Oxfordshire – around 20% of the number of rapes that take place
• - 10 women a week take their own lives because of domestic abuse or ‘honour’-based violence.

Oxfordshire's Reclaim the Night march was revived in 2008 to provide a safe and empowering space for women to march to demand an end to violence against women and for men to join them at a rally to stand together in solidarity and show their support. Violence against women is everyone's problem. We hope you can join us.

 And a link to their webpage:
http://oxfordfeminist.ox4.org/rtn