- Hi, I'm Jess.
I'm from Auckland, New Zealand
and I do first year biology at Oxford.
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So my day will normally start around 6:30
where I'll get up and head to the gym
and then I'll start with a nine am lecture
and have labs maybe
from like, 10:00 to 1:00
and grab lunch at The
Alternative Tuck Shop
or at the little cafes around Oxford.
After that I'll normally do
some study until the evening
and then head to the
student bar on the JCR
to hang with some friends.
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So right now, we're in the
Natural History Museum.
This is where I have
lectures for cells and genes,
organisms, and the ecology
and evolution course.
Alongside that, we also
have lab work and field work
as well as tutorials with written essays
and that comprises most of
the first year biology course.
What amazed me most about
the first year course
is just the sheer breadth.
In only the first year,
we covered everything from
microbial disease to dinosaurs
and it's been amazing to kind of just
reflect on all this newfound knowledge.
It's been really rewarding.
So part of this course
that I really enjoyed
were the tutorials where you go off
and write an essay on a particular topic
and then you sit down in
small groups with your tutor
and you have a really in depth, kind of,
rigorous academic discussion
surrounding everything
that you've just learned
which I found both
challenging and inspiring.
Despite what you may think,
people here and the students are actually
just regular people, but of course like,
one thing that links all of us is that,
we're just like live and breathe biology
and really have a true
passion for our subject.
So, we come from so many like,
diverse and different backgrounds,
but we're all kind of joined
by that shared passion.
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So in the very building behind me
is where the great 1860 Oxford
Evolution debate took place
where many British philosophers
and scientists came together
to debate over Charles Darwin's book
"On the Origin of Species."
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So this is The Alternative Tuck Shop.
This is where we'll grab lunch most days.
They do really good paninis
and really good bagels.
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So a lot of the day,
we spend at classes and studying
and then you have the
option of going out at night
and Oxford has a lot of you know,
great bars and clubs, restaurants,
a lot of like amazing facilities
you can really do whatever you want.
Alongside that, there are
bar crawls, crew dates,
lots of different social activities
and a lot of these places
to hang out and chill
are actually located within college.
So we have a student bar
and a junior common room
where everyone will kind of
hang out and socialize in that.
So one thing I found a
little bit challenging
about being an international
student from New Zealand
was that, I kind of was
living between two worlds.
My home life and my Oxford life.
And they're very very
different but that being said,
I am so glad that I decided
to make this leap of faith
and come to oxford because
I've met such an amazing group of people
my education here is amazing
and I have a really
high quality of life so,
I've come to really appreciate
the day-to-day at Oxford.
So right now, we're in the Trinity Term
which is the summer term at Oxford
and a popular summer activity
for a lot of students to
out and do is punting.
So basically,
my college has hired a boat
and everyone at my college
can then book the boat
and kind of go for a punt along the river
and it's a really nice way to relax
and just take a study break.
So I chose to go to Oxford
mainly on the basis that
for me, New Zealand felt a bit too small
but Oxford was kind of a higher reach and
it really allowed me
to kind of push myself,
see where I could go
and be a bit ambitious
with my academic choices.
So to whoever tossing up kind of between
staying in a comfort zone
say, at a local university
or stretching out a bit further,
I'd say you miss 100% of
the shots you don't take.
So give it your best shot
and see where that takes you.
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