After such a hot day on Thursday, Balliol’s students welcomed the slightly cooler temperatures on Friday. With the weekend right around the corner, our students flew through their lessons yesterday with a surge of renewed energy. Before anyone knew it, classes were over and it was time for a but of lounging in the sun before dinner!

The highlight of the day by far was the evening. As it was Friday, the staff had organised something a bit more special than usual for dinner: the 16-18 cohort had been invited over from Jowett for a ‘colourful’ themed meal! Though there was a little awkwardness initially between the two cohorts, it soon faded as they began to find other students with similar interests or from the same home country. Before long, the students were all mixing together and beginning to really make friends!

To match the colourful theme, Balliol’s wonderful kitchen staff had produced a fantastic Indian feast featuring as many bright colours as they could manage. It was great to see all our students so willing to try new things and our Indian students found themselves suddenly at the centre of their peers many questions about India. It was a very tasty way to kickstart discussions about the students’ different cultures and encourage them to learn more about each other.

Once the last plates had been emptied, it was time to say goodbye to their new friends – not for long though as both colleges are attending ORA’s Great Debate on Sunday! The students headed off to bed looking forward to a day entirely to themselves tomorrow morning!