the final presentation

It's official.
For the past five weeks, we as a class with Professor Reed have studied millennial Britain through writing, performance, and curation. I cannot believe how fast the time passed by and am incredibly sad to live Oxford in a couple of days. It's been amazing and very interesting to compare and contrast Oxford with the rest of United Kingdom and with the United States as well. It is a beautiful city, and I feel trapped back in time walking in between the narrow streets of the world's oldest university.

We had the privilege to have the access to Bodleian Library, Oxford's central library where under the law of the UK, every book published in the UK is entitled to send a copy to this library. The library itself consist of consist of many buildings, but the main two buildings, Bodleian and Radcliffe Camera are connected underground and boast millions of copies of all the books published in UK. My favorite place is Radcliffe Camera and its Reading Room.

Radcliffe Camera Lower Reading Room

This amazing place has sadly put Suzzallo Reading Room into a shame- my eyes are spoiled and I will never be able to love UW Suzzallo in the same way I did circa Oxford Radcliffe. The library has a strict security system. It is close to the public(which made us extra special!) and you have to present your library card twice to get in and out of the library (first to the librarian, and then swipe at a machine to enter). You cannot also take out a book from the library so each bag is checked when you exit the library.

Stairway connecting Upper and Lower Reading Room. The librarian is guarding the entrance where students and faculties entering the building must present their library card

Our class was granted the access to Bodleian to help our research projects. Our research team (Agazit, Kristin and me!) looked into the effect of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling's influence on Millennial Britain, specifically focusing on social identiay, mobility, and children's literacy. As a firm believer in education, my mini topic in the effect of Harry Potter in children's literacy seem tricky to approach in the beginning. However with the help from Faye and Kristin, I was able to carry on my research without breaking down! We presented our final projects as well as the other groups in a beautiful classroom in Jesus Graduate College Housing on Herbert Close. We shared a mixed feeling of joy and disbelief when the last group presented their work. 

photo credit to Chuck Krysieniel

Now our program is officially over and all we have left is a garden party tomorrow then we're off to go on our own journeys. I still have a week left in London- excited for that but incredibly sad at the same time. I met invaluable good friends, and the experience living in Oxford community is priceless. It has also given me a new-found appreciation to my home country, the United States. I've learned not to take things for granted and found the joy of exploring and discovering other parts of the world.

In other words, Honors Oxford program rocks!

Yay!! :D

Also, 

엄마아빠 저한테 이런좋은기회주셔서 감사해요!! 사랑해요! <33