The oldest university in the west

Trying to keep the blog up with life – here’s a selection of a few recent photos from my phone that I considered worth sharing.

Oxford, the city of spires!  Beautiful in town, and beautiful from Port Meadow.  Sometimes bleak – this is a full color photo from an early, misty morning jog.

The town is full of history; every building has a story.  This is the original charter for our college, on an extremely rare public exhibition – marking the 750th Anniversary of our college’s foundation (1263 is the year that students began studying at Balliol College).

The top left corner, enlarged:

And the top left corner of an English translation:

Some books from the Balliol archives; seminal works on economics!  Adam Smith was a scholar at Balliol!

Soon, it was time to share Balliol with 2/3rds of our MBA classmates at formal hall!  Wasif and I welcome everyone, and the Dean (also a Balliol member) says a few words before the multi-course dinner is served.

      
Thanks to whichever classmate took these photos – I forgot to note down your name when I grabbed them!  Let me know if it was you!


After dinner mints celebrate the college crest, as well as its age!

And then there are the academics to attend to – check out this 1200 page book: “Examinations Regulations”; photo taken outside Balliol College (main site).

Matriculation is upon us!  Once per lifetime, a person can be admitted to the University of Oxford; never again, as they will remain a member for life.  Time to get dressed according to strict rules:

Wasif and I are the only two MBAs that are from Balliol College, but what we lack in number, we make up for in quality, passion, and experience!  Our collegemates come from varied backgounds and each have something to teach the others.  Here we are, posing just outside the Sheldonian Theater where Matriculation will take place.


Here’s a very quick 10 second video from inside Matriculation:

Holywell Cemetary is nearby the Archives (shown above) and is beautiful, especially after a mild rain!

MS and I are part of different colleges, despite studying at the Said Business School for our MBAs together – here we are at her college, Green Templeton College, sipping some Pimms and about to play croquet.