Popular Oxford Summer School Offers Varied Courses

11-07-2012

 

From The Beatles to Shakespeare, Henry VIII and Cotswold Towns

 

Oxford, England, November 7, 2012—What could be more enjoyable and more interesting than a one-week learning vacation next summer at England’s legendary Oxford University.  The Oxford Experience is open to everyone and  has no requirements, no exams and no papers.  Participants live and study at Christ Church, one of the most prestigious and beautiful of Oxford colleges,  and dine in the magnificent Hall made famous by the Harry Potter films.  Though the college was founded by Cardinal Wolsey almost five centuries ago, the dorms are considerably younger and a new elevator to the Hall makes life easy for people with mobility problems.

 

The six-week program takes place from June 30 to August 10, 2013, with each week starting on a Sunday and finishing the following Saturday.  Small classes of 12 are taught by friendly tutors and the more than 60 courses offer a variety of subjects: Charles Dickens, Paradise in an English Garden, From Rasputin to Putin, Introduction to Particle Physics, Cathedrals of Britain,  The Victorian and Edwardian Home, The Gothic Novel,  Alice’s Adventures in Oxford, The Operas of Verdi, The Indian Empire, Anglo-American Relations and the Making of Modern Britain, Political Philosophy, 20^th-Century Poetry, Spies in British Fiction.

 

The residential program includes not only accommodations, but also three daily meals: a full English breakfast, a buffet lunch and a served three-course dinner, which last summer’s students called “delicious, not at all what you’d expect.”  On the final night everyone gathers for champagne (and picture-taking) in the flowering Cathedral Garden and a farewell dinner in the Hall.  Throughout the week there are excursions to stately homes, cathedrals, museums and such, tours of Oxford, pub walks, whisky tastings, lectures, wine and croquet in the Master’s Garden and Evensong in the college chapel, which is also the Oxford Cathedral.

 

Participants range in age from 25 to 85, though the average is about 60, and the mix is very cosmopolitan: Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, an occasional Asian and lots of Americans and Canadians.  Some sign up for two or three weeks and many have been coming for 10-or-more years.

 

The price of a one-week course—including tuition, accommodations and all meals (except those on excursions)—is £1,180 or approximately $1,885.  There are additional charges for most excursions ($80 and up) and for rooms with private bath (about $289).  The registration deadline is May 1, but early application is recommended as courses fill quickly.  Information and a registration form are available at www.conted.ox.ac.uk/oxfordexperience, or from The Oxford Experience, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1  2JA, U.K.

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