On a pleasant sunny morning yesterday, students in Balliol College began their studies. Making their way with notebook and laptop in hand, they headed to their classrooms in either Balliol itself, or in the grand setting of the Oxford Town Hall. Lessons began well, and this seems set to be a very successful session.

With a morning becoming more familiarised with their teachers and their chosen area now under their belts, students were given free time after lunch in which to spill out into Oxford and explore their surroundings. Balliol College is in an excellent location for this purpose. Its front gates open out onto the busy and aptly-named Broad Street, on which are the famous Bodleian Library and Sheldonian Theatre, as well as the Oxford Science Museum and another college, Trinity, notable for its enviously large lawns.

Venturing further down Broad Street, students had the chance to duck inside Blackwell’s Bookshop, underneath which is the cavernous Norrington Room. And that is all simply to the left of the Balliol gates: students turning right found themselves on the Cornmarket, one of Oxford’s largest streets, or heading into George Street, favourite haunt of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

Now far more acquainted with the city, students returned to Balliol in the evening to have supper in its Hall, before a quiz. Although some might consider it a bold decision to name a team ‘Oxfam aka the winners’, it paid off, and its members were indeed the winners on the night.