Oxford University Summer School is an Enjoyable, Enriching Vacation

Stronger Dollar Makes The Oxford Experience a Bargain

Oxford, England, March 17, 2010—Talk about hallowed halls.  The Oxford Experience, a one-week summer program, takes place in Christ Church, the college founded by Cardinal Wolsey, at Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world.  And as the British pound sinks and the American dollar strengthens, The Oxford Experience becomes a very good deal.  Where else can you get a choice of 50 fascinating courses, accommodations, three delicious meals and evening entertainment for $1,564, or little more than $200 a day.

At Christ Church you  can you eat breakfast, with Queen Elizabeth I, John Wesley, W.H. Auden, Anthony Eden and William Gladstone looking over your shoulder in the magnificent Tudor dining hall featured in Harry Potter films.  And you can walk in Tom Quad and imagine Alice (of Wonderland fame) doing the same when Lewis Carroll was math tutor and her father was Dean of Christ Church.  At 486-year-old Christ Church,  English history greets you at every corner. “In Oxford,” as Jan Morris says, “you may see it all—century by century, or face by face.”

The Oxford Experience, which takes place from July 4 to August 7 this year, is open to all.  There are no tests, no papers, just small study groups taught by friendly tutors.  The 50-plus courses include such subjects as Castles in Britain, The Brontës, Reading Contemporary British Fiction, Jewish Life in Medieval England, The English Romantic Poets, The Reign of Henry VIII, Romanesque Churches of England and Alice’s Adventures in Oxford.

Each one-week course starts on Sunday, finishing the following Saturday after breakfast, though anyone attending for two or more weeks gets free bed and breakfast over the intervening weekends. And people—especially those from Australia, South Africa and the Far East—do come for two, three or even four weeks. Accommodations are in student dorms, though some rooms with private bath are available.

Throughout the activity-packed week there are excursions to stately homes, castles, museums and such; tours of Oxford; strawberries and wine in the Masters’ Garden; a display of traditional Morris Dancing; a whisky tasting; evening lectures and concerts. One night during the week each participant is invited to dine on High Table and on the final night a champagne reception in the Cathedral Garden is followed by a gala dinner in the hall.

The price of a one-week course—including tuition, accommodation and all meals is £1,050 or approximately $1,564.  Excursions and private bathrooms are extra.  The deadline for registration is May 1.  For more information, visit www.conted.ox.ac.uk/oxfordexperience, or write to The Oxford Experience, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA, U.K.

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