Involvement at Oxford

One of the great things about being in a direct enrollment program is how many involvement opportunities are available to you. You don’t have to search very hard for groups to join, no matter what you’re interested in. And Oxford University is especially good at involvement - it seems like basically everyone I have met is involved in something.

The Freshers’ Fair is the easiest way to find out about societies, clubs, sports, and more, so if you’re a Michaelmas term student, you should definitely go. Even older students go - it’s a massive event which lasts two full days and you can get tons of free stuff, including food and multiple tote bags, if you’d like. If you’re a spring semester student, you should still be able to find lots of information online about clubs and societies.

A note: if there are sports teams or musical ensembles you would like to join, do your research early. I struggled to find a choir to join, even though I started looking during freshers’ week. It worked out in the end, and I know another IES Abroad student who joined multiple sports teams for the term, just be thinking ahead.

My goal at Oxford was to join a Christian group, find dance lessons, and join a choir. I ended up doing all this as well as attending the C.S. Lewis Society. As a big C.S. Lewis (and J.R.R. Tolkien) fan, I enjoyed the talks at the meetings each week, even though many of the members knew far more about Lewis than I did. I also got to attend an end-of-term Christmas party at The Kilns, C.S. Lewis’ house. The whole society was such a unique Oxford experience, although it was funny how many Americans I met there. Apparently C.S. Lewis, who rarely left Oxford his entire adult life, is more famous in the U..S than in the U.K.!

I also ended up joining the Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) Chapel Choir. We rehearsed on Friday afternoons before singing evensong at 6 P.M., so it was a relatively low time commitment compared to a lot of chapel choirs, and I still got to have the experience. I’ve never sung in an Anglican Church context, or any liturgical context at all, so the style of some of the music was very new to me. Singing the Psalms was probably the hardest thing to get used to. The text is written with markings to indicate measures and rhythm, but the notation was completely foreign to me - it was like learning to read music again! My favorite part was the Christmas service we sang at the end of term. I also got to attend the LMH Christmas Dinner afterwards, a three-hour long formal featuring speeches, Christmas crackers, and a little bit of Latin. 

One of the most fun activities I did was ballroom dancing classes with the Oxford University Dancesport Club (OUDC). Learning some type of ballroom has long been a bucket list item for me, but now that I’ve started, I don’t think I can stop. I attended the club’s community classes once or twice per week, and by the end of term, I could waltz, quickstep, and cha-cha well enough in a social setting. I’d also learned a bit of jive, tango, foxtrot, and Viennese waltz, and I’m hoping to continue learning at home (although apparently international styles can differ from American ones, but it seems there’s still a fair amount of overlap). I tested my skills at the OUDC Christmas Ball. Attending an Oxford ball was also a bucket list item, so I bought a ticket even though I didn’t know anyone who was going at the time. It turned out to be a fantastic evening and one of my favorite things I did all term. I ended up knowing others who were going, and I made some new friends too, including some great dance partners whose patience and good humor I appreciated. There was good food, a great band, a fantastic ballroom demonstration by a couple who compete internationally, and, of course, lots of dancing! 

Being part of a church made me feel at home in a foreign country, more than any other group I joined. This is in part because my faith is central to my life and affects the choices I make, so there’s a unique connection between me and others who are similar in that regard, a connection which transcends even culture and nationality. But also, the people at both churches I attended, Grove Hill Evangelical Church in London and St. Ebbe’s in Oxford, cared a lot about helping new people feel welcome. In the past I have occasionally felt like an outsider among other Christians, since my beliefs differ in some aspects from most Christians’ - my church (called the Restoration Branches) believes in the Book of Mormon but aren’t LDS. I didn’t have that experience at any church I attended though, and being a part of a Christian community helped me grow in my faith and relationship with God. 

Besides Sunday services, I went to St. Ebbe’s undergrads night on Thursdays, called Focus, which is mainly a small-group Bible study. The OUICCU (Oxford University Intercollegiate Christian Union, everyone just says “Oik-you”) also has a ton of activities and smaller groups to join. I usually went to the Maths Morning Prayer group on Thursday mornings. I found genuine friendship in these groups, and we had some great talks about living out our faith. One of my favorite parts of term was having lunch with a couple of church members at one of their houses one weekend, along with another student. It was cool to get to know them a little bit, and they were so encouraging to both of us students.

Whether you're joining a religious community or pursuing hobbies, getting involved is a great opportunity to experience your host culture in a personal way. Not only can you develop skills, learn more about faith, or discover a new hobby, you'll have the chance to form genuine connections with people in your host country.