What a joy it was to welcome our Session 5 students to St Hugh’s yesterday. The mood was relaxed and joyful as students arrived with their parents and got settled in, dropping their bags in their rooms and partaking in a spot of afternoon tea. A particular highlight was seeing the map fill up as students and staff alike placed pins to mark their country of origin―we have it on good authority that there are over 135 nationalities amongst students on ORA campuses this summer, putting the ‘world’ into our world-class courses!

Then it was time for students to bid their parents goodbye and attend a welcome talk by Programme Director Costa Constantinou, who struck an encouraging tone in setting the ground rules and exhorting students to take every opportunity to be offered them in the coming days. After that, students hunkered down to some ice-breaker activities: they must have got to know just about every inch of the college, as they pressed themselves to the walls in a game of Ninja and lay close to the floor in a shape-forming challenge.

With the ice well and truly broken, students moved seamlessly into dinner, enjoying a delicious meal in the dining hall with their new friends and classmates. When a pleasant and well-earned weariness began to assert itself, students headed bedwards, tired yet eagerly anticipating the start of lessons at 9am.