oxford!!

ohhhh my day has been fabulous!! i was chosen to go on a gifted&talented trip to st. peter's college at oxford university and i'm so happy i could go!! i had an amazing day. :-) it's especially good because now i'd really like to apply for the uni when the time is right, which is the exact opposite to what i told my mum a couple of weeks ago. i was trying to talk to her about college and she just kept mentioning how i have to go to oxbridge, which kind of pissed me off because i felt like all she was thinking about is how good that would sound ('ooh look at me i raised a kid who goes to one of the best unis here!'). now i have a better case for why i'd prefer to go to college (she wants me to go to sixth form blegh). anyway, here's how my day went:
i got to school as early as i normally do and read for about 10 minutes in my form room then went to reception and waited for everyone to come. meanwhile i read a lovely piece from i think the guardian newspaper that was on display as the picture of the day about the lost photography of a now dead central african republican guy. a few thousand negatives were found amongst the rubble of his house by two other photographers, which made me think about the importance of photography, especially as a social and historical documentation or artefact, that kind of thing. i think life needs to be recorded so we can learn from it. this was a lovely start to my day. :-)
when everyone arrived we walked to the civic centre and gathered with 3 small groups from other schools in the borough to wait on the coach. i noticed i was the only black girl there lool hashtag represent. when the coach came i sat with two of my friends around a table and we ate haribo gummy bears and skittles and laughed a lot. we stuck together throughout the day. somewhere in the middle of our journey i read a few pages of my book then slept for about an hour. we were at oxford university by about 10.45am.
we had an informative introductory presentation which discussed oxford's teaching systems and its financial and social aspects. then 3 students came and gave us a tour of the college. one studies chemistry and two study PPE (politics, philosophy and economics). they have a chapel which echoes beautifully when the choir sings, has two weekly services and maybe bi-monthly general lectures. the chemist was my favourite student, because he's so geeky and passionate and shy. he kept bending his knees and looking at the chapel ceiling as he told us that tonight he's going to a lecture (there are 5/6 at oxford weekly) about how genetics influence who we are, which is really interesting in itself, and relevant to what i studied in science yesterday. the chemist showed us his bedroom, which was light and tidy and had a wonderful view. he had some really heavy books which he's had from the beginning of the year and keeps renewing (oxford's libraries are amazing!). we then had a really useful and quite humourous q&a with the 3 students, plus one other who studies portuguese and linguistics.
lunch time came and i ate a mexican chicken wrap with chips. as i ate i partly listened to one of the PPEists talk about uni and stuff. but mostly i talked to the language student. she is in her fourth year whereas the others are in their first. she told me that in her 2nd year she got pregnant and took her 3rd as maternity. i was so fascinated. she said it's difficult to balance motherhood and studying but not impossible. however this has made her realise that she would like to work within the university to try and do stuff for women (!!!), not because the uni isn't good, 'it just doesn't understand'. i'm so impressed by that. after lunch the students disappeared, much to my disappointment. we then walked to the computer science department.
we were given a short lecture that was fascinating in content though slightly dull in delivery about the human visual system in relation to computer science - graphics and illusions and technology, that kind of stuff. i really want to look more into it, though not the computer science bit specifically. the lecturer briefly spoke about how people are researching how else we understand the world other than through the 5 senses. and there was a slide about how colour represents different things globally: good luck in china, danger & evil in the middle east and mourning in south africa. next a really petite lady told us about what the department's currently working on:
* making robotic footballers with skills like coordination and balance to develop something that could be helpful in natural disasters
* a model of a human heart which may eventually lead to medics knowing how to model human body parts in order to test on them instead of animals and people
*software as a natural translator, so something on a computer that translates into another language instantly???
there's also one other thing that i unfortunately cannot remember. a different lecturer began talking to us now about calculators and computers and programming, but in really basic terms. i remember it was animated, funny and well presented but the information (cool and useful as it is) was too mathematical for my liking lol.
our last activity was a school,group treasure hunt thing around oxford city centre taking pictures of a given list of things. i didn't take it seriously but in retrospect i think it's a really great way to explore a place. :-) i got a free sample of surprisingly delicious fudge and bought haribos as if i didn't already have some in my bag lol. everyone then got together, filled in a questionnaire and got back on the coach!
on the way back to london a boy (?!!) from a different school sat next to me and me and my two friends literally spoke to him for the whole journey. it was amazing. he was slightly awkward and smart and cool and crazy and interesting - my kind of person. he plays violin and guitar and ukelele omfg. i might never see him again :-( but that was the loveliest end to my day.
it's really surreal that today i literally was actually in oxford university interacting with smart people and i literally got actually told that i'm the kind of student they'd like there. it's really really special to and for me. i wonder if the other students felt that.
i'm so glad at how my day went. it was all about talking and listening and thinking and understanding. i love that kind of thing. :-) i've learnt so much, especially about myself, in this one brilliant experience and i feel so privileged. i'm so thankful.