A Visit to Oxford

A mile or so before they reached Oxford, George, Tom and Anne stopped the car on top of a hill from which they could see the whole of the city spread out before them. The college walls and towers looked as peaceful as when they were first built, hundreds of years ago.

When they drove down, over the River Thames and into the city centre, they found it was not so peaceful after all! The main streets were crowded with traffic: cars, trucks, coaches full of tourists and the bicycles which the students use to get about. But as soon as they had managed to park the car and get away from the noisy traffic, they discovered a completely different world. Narrow streets which had hardly changed since the Middle Ages ran between the high college walls of grey or yellow stone. Inside the great double gates of each college they found quiet squares of grass, surrounded by the chapel, the library, the dining-hall and the rooms where the students and teachers live. Many colleges had the most beautiful gardens where one could sit and read, talk, work or dream.

Most of the students, or undergraduates, wore informal clothes. But some of them were wearing their black gowns. George explained that they had to wear these when going to lectures or to their weekly meeting with their tutor, or teacher. Tom and Anne were very surprised to see a few young men dressed in formal black suits, with ties, gowns and scholars' caps. Anne asked what ever they were doing, wearing evening dress in the morning! George laughed and said that this was the official dress for taking examinations, many of which were held in June.

In one college, they visited the dining-hall. It was extremely large with a high roof, beautiful windows, and long heavy tables and benches. At one end was the "High Table", which is usually kept for the Head of the College and the teachers. It really was high, raised on a wooden platform above the level of the rest of the hall. An undergraduate may sit at the High Table once; on the day when he has passed all his examinations, takes his degree and becomes a graduate.