Advice for Oxford Study Abroad students, both present and future

Go to Blenheim.

That’s what we did yesterday. Tara and I traveled with our students to Blenheim Palace, a country house just outside of Oxford that is the seat of the Duke of Marlborough. Built in the early 18th century, the palace is massive: 187 rooms, some of them with soaring vaulted ceilings painted in fresco. An UNESCO world heritage site since 1987, the Palace continues as one of several homes of the current Duke of Marlborough (the 12th in the family line). The main entrance and large state rooms are open to tourists. The family occasionally lives in the east wing of the house, itself a lavish, immense space. The grounds of the palace encompass over 2000 acres, many of them traversable by the public. Beyond its massive size, the palace is best known as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, who also proposed to his eventual wife on the grounds. Churchill’s legacy is much celebrated here.

Tara and I only scratched the surface of the palace grounds before we made the decision to head back to Oxford late in the afternoon. Fortunately, the palace is running a special that allowed us to convert our one-day passes into a pass for the entire year, so we will be able to return whenever we want. There is so much more to see and do. I am kicking myself for not bringing our kids to Blenheim in 2012; they would have loved this place. I’ve uploaded a complete collection of photos from our visit to Blenheim on my Facebook page for friends who want to see more.

As we approach the end of our first month in Oxford, I’ve been thinking a lot about a common pattern that can set in with students around this time. During your first couple of weeks in a Study Abroad site, everything is unfamiliar and exciting. You can’t help but want to ramble and explore. But eventually, what is unfamiliar becomes commonplace. You find your favorite coffee shop. You have memorized all of the buildings between the house and City Centre. When confused tourists stop to ask you for directions, you are able to help them with the confidence of a local who has lived here for a lifetime. Because the Study Abroad site has become normal to you, that excitement about exploring a strange, unfamiliar place wanes. As the excitement wanes, students sometimes stop exploring, spending more of their time in the house, watching Youtube videos and binging their favorite American television shows.

Don’t do it! Youtube and Netflix are fine, but think about where you are again! You’ve been in Oxford for a month. You haven’t even scratched the surface of this place. There’s new experiences to be had, new places to be discovered and explored, and new people to meet. Resist the temptation to sequester yourself in familiar space. Push yourself to get uncomfortable. Ramble wide and far. Document what you see. Do it for your family, but do it for yourself too. Ten years from now you won’t remember much of that Netflix series you binged. You’ll want to remember that British man you watched an English football match with at the local pub, or the Oxford students you met at St. Aldate’s during the church’s student ministry gathering. Get out of the house!

And go to Blenheim.