by Josh Springer | Summer 2023 |
Traveling to Oxford was one of those moments in my life I’ll never forget. Walking down the street and pinching yourself. Walking down the street and seeing churches that have stood for centuries. Walking into a house every single day that has not only hosted hundreds of ACU students but has also been home to families for over two hundred and fifty years. Going to evensong services and listening to the choir sing songs that have been sung in those rooms for centuries. Everything is old, but not in a way that makes it disappointing. Rather, the age of the cities dramatically changes the energy that people have, the way people interact with life, and the way we can see how people lived when things were new compared to today.
Living in Oxford was a dream. Think of an old English town that, almost mysteriously, found the perfect balance of history and modern amenities, and you probably have a close image of Oxford. My favorite days were the slow ones. The days I woke up in the house around 9 am to a room with open windows and rain falling gracefully on the gravel driveway while staying out of the house completely. Walking down the stairs to a kitchen with so many windows, we rarely turned the lights on. I made coffee, ate breakfast, and watched the rain hit the greenest grass I had seen in a long time. As I watched the rain, it seemed to slow, coming to a complete stop shortly after this. I got ready and went to town. On my way, I stopped at a local coffee shop to order my usual, a vanilla latte; hot. After this, I grabbed a quick sandwich from the shop next door and headed to City Centre. There, I went to Blackwell’s and spent hours pondering through their collection of books. After a good part of my day was spent in the bookstore I headed to M&S to get some things to make for dinner. Going back to the house, I met up with my friends; we made dinner and ate at the kitchen table together as we normally did when we had nights at the house. When dinner was over, and we cleaned up, we played board games until late, and it was time for bed. This day was so restful, and it was one of my favorites in Oxford.
As far as the whole trip, we traveled to four countries. England, Scotland, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Something I will forever remember is how different people doing different things is so critical to the world. If we didn’t have diversity in thought, culture, way of life, etc., we wouldn’t be where we are as humans. We need these people who think differently than we do to help us understand different ways to do things. I will never forget these things, and it’s something I wish every single human could not only experience but dwell with for a month. I hope to be back one day to learn more from the people and the way that they live.
