New Year’s Resolution: Learn Something New on Next Summer’s Vacation

Oxford, England, December 11, 2012--And what better place to learn it than The Oxford Experience, a one-week residential course at Christ Church, the most prestigious and most beautiful of Oxford University colleges. The 2013 program will take place from June 30 to August 10.   If you missed the Jubilee and the Olympics, here’s a chance to enjoy an English summer, stay in rooms where prime ministers and poets once lived, dine in the magnificent Hall made famous by the Harry Potter films and take one of 60 interesting courses. (Note that there are no requirements, no papers, no exams.)

The courses cover subjects as varied as: The Gothic Novel, The Operas of Verdi, The Indian Empire, Anglo-American Relations and the Making of Modern Britain,  From Rasputin to Putin, Charles Dickens, Alice’s Adventures in Oxford, 20^th Century Poetry, Mythical Animals, Quantum Mechanics and Spies in British Fiction

Tuition, accommodations and all meals (a full English breakfast, buffet lunch and served three-course dinner) are included in the price.  Everyone dines together in the legendary Hall and on one night during the week each participant is invited to dine on High Table, where wine is served with dinner.  On the final night everyone dresses up and  gathers for champagne in the flowering Cathedral Garden and a celebratory farewell dinner in Hall.

Most courses provide excursions to stately homes, cathedrals, museums and such and on some afternoons tours of Christ Church and the city of Oxford are offered.  In the evening there might be a pub crawl, a special lecture, wine and croquet in the Master’s Garden, the English oddity called Morris Dancers or Evensong in the college chapel, which is also the Oxford Cathedral.  Students—who come from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the U.S.—can take part in the city’s cultural life and enjoy the college gardens, riverside walks in Christ Church Meadow and boating on the Thames (known as the “Isis” in Oxford).

The price of a one-week course, is £1,180 or approximately $1,885.  There are additional charges for most excursions and for rooms with private bath.  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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