- 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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