One Year Ago

Some Reminiscing

Anna Dirkse
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read
The Bodleian Library at sunset

When I close my eyes I can still feel it. I can feel the wind ripping through my sweater and scarf as I fly down the long hill into the city center. Even now, I can feel the way my boot heel catches on my bicycle peddle as I negotiate the city and push my way over bridges. I can smell the pungent leaves in the fall air and the exhaust coming from the red, looming, double-decker city bus as it thunders its way past me on the narrow stone streets. Even after a year I can remember the way to the library, to the local grocery store, to my favorite afternoon tea shop.


The memories I made while studying abroad are etched into my mind and as I’ve approached the one-year anniversary of my departure, different scenes such as the one described above have been replaying themselves in my head. But one year ago today I hadn’t experienced any of that. On August 31, 2017, I flew out of the San Francisco airport bound for London Heathrow. I was leaving for a semester studying abroad at Oxford University, in Oxford, England. Standing in the airport with my parents, I was nervous and excited for what the next four months held. I did not know what to expect from the university, the program I was going to, or from the people I would meet. I was afraid of failing and unsure of my ability to perform at the academic level needed. But nevertheless, I boarded the plane and embarked on an adventure I will never forget.

One year ago today (or tomorrow really), I met the thirty-seven people I would live with for the next semester. I walked through the doors of “the Vines” for the first time. That old, renovated red brick mansion held many late nights of laughing, stress baking, and burning dinner in the temperamental ovens. It held days and nights writing paper after endless paper. The drafty building was home to the people I studied late into the night with; people I commiserated with about papers and the library and trying to find adequate sources and citing them correctly. The Vines quickly became a home away from home, and the students living in it became dear friends.

Late nights at the Vines often included sweets. The oatmeal cookies were a big hit.

Reflecting on my experience an entire year later, I can hardly believe so much time has passed. It seems like just yesterday that I was saying goodbye to my parents. I was on a flight with one of my roommates for the semester, and thinking of our awkward interactions together that first day makes me laugh. I feel as though I hardly knew what it meant to write or to research when I left, and I certainly did not understand the importance of a good cup of tea . I learned so much during those four months. Studying abroad opened my eyes to a different part of the world and to a different part of myself. I learned things that I didn’t know I needed to learn and have been greatly impacted by time there.


I could talk for hours about different parts of my Oxford experience, maybe I’ll write those things down and publish them here. But for now, I’ll sit in Coffee Cottage and finish my scone and cappuccino while daydreaming of Oxford.

Anna Dirkse

Written by

Senior English and Biblical Studies major at George Fox University. Traveler, hiker, lover of books and of coffee. Tune in here for some of those things.

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