*I’ve been traveling in the Outback for the last few weeks and haven’t had time to finish the Oxford Files before now. Here’s the final episode!
The final days at Oxford were bitter sweet. Sweet because we’d completed our assignments and could relax a little while we waited for feedback on our writing. A little bitter because we knew we would all be heading our separate ways and going back to ‘real life.’
On our last days we had feedback sessions with our tutors where we received our marks and were given intense feedback on our work. For some, the marks were crucial as they contribute to their degrees back home. For others, like me, they were crucial as we were to find out whether or not our work was at a standard we hoped for.
What was it I hoped for? I hoped that my work would be judged good enough to stand on the world stage. My writing thus far has been self-published and in a niche of faith writing that is limited in audience and scope. Would my work be able to stand up in a secular, academic setting and give me the encouragement I needed to continue my fiction writing journey?
The sessions were tough. Think of having your heart and mind exposed then ripped apart. That might come close as each comma, word, sentence you’ve crafted becomes fair game you either feel elation or despair.
There’s a little of both as you listen to the critiques. Generally I was happy to find out my work was judged to be publishable and my grades were at the highest level.
Even so, taking criticism is part of the journey. You have to listen to what needs to be improved and developed in your work, as well as praise.
Worn out after these sessions, the mood was quiet around the college. it was the same feeling I had after doing a tandem parachute jump once the adrenalin rush had worn off.
On the Friday night, we had our final reception beginning with drinks in the garden and the mood lightened with the bubble of champagne and laughter.
After a formal dinner our certificates were handed out and we cheered as if we were receiving our PHDs. We were proud to have completed a summer school at Oxford and to have ticked off a few things on our bucket lists. It was different for everyone as the reasons for being there were varied.
After the reception a fun evening of karaoke ensued and the mood certainly grew louder. Our mild mannered student assistant Richard and proudly gay bar manager Lulu did an amazing rendition of Come On Barbie, Let’s Go Party with Richard being Barbie. Very funny!
The next day we all left in dribs and drabs. After coffee with the lovely Jasmeen from Canada, I headed for the train to London on my way home.
Oxford will forever have a place in my heart, as will the people I met there. The ‘Adult Learners’ have formed an online writing group so we can continue the journey together.
Since getting home I’ve been camping in the Outback for five weeks so I’ve had plenty of time to dream and remember the summer days of Oxford.
“I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all—the colleges I mean—like an opera.”
William Butler Yeats, in a letter to Letter to Katharine Tynan
