Breaking Free

    After being quarantined for ten days, the city of Oxford had began to feel very small, as if it was reduced to our little street corner, garden, and the pub across the street. It was only during the walking tour we went on a few days later that I realized just how big the place is. Beyond that, it was only then that I realized that the land I was walking on was deeply historic and storied. On that walking tour, there were a few things I noticed. The first was the undeniable affect of celebrity here. People seem truly proud of the fact that JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis laid their hats down here. Even our tour guide was glowing. The second, was that the community was the college, not that the college was part of the community. Everywhere we walked, there was some touch of academia. If there was any one thing that stuck out to me, it was learning about All Souls' College: an institution you can only join by invite, that is devoted to honoring the duck. The is full of idiosyncrasies like that, and I'm so eager to find more of them.