Dear all, my name is Madison, and I am a 1st year student at Lincoln College studying French and Beginner’s Italian, though my background heavily contrasts with the expected background of an Oxford student as I hail from a state school in Liverpool, the quirky city that happens to have an incredible football team – sorry, not Everton. As the first person from my school to achieve an Oxbridge place, tensions were high throughout my two years at sixth form when I attended a variety of residentials and summer schools, namely UNIQ, a summer school held by Oxford for underprivileged students and a charity called Aspire Liverpool directed by Harry Doyle. These two programmes without a doubt were my main sources of motivation. My Aspire residential, in which I lived as an Oxford student at St Peter’s College for a few days, whetted my appetite and convinced me that perhaps the stereotypes I grew up believing weren’t true, and that I should apply. According to Aspire Liverpool’s social media page, 31 students on their programme across the whole city got an Oxbridge place in 2024; this is a record high for them, and yet there remain schools elsewhere that send double this amount every year. My point is, we should all work harder to make Oxford and university in general a more accessible place for those from underrepresented backgrounds. I am forever grateful for all those who have supported and continue to support me both in Liverpool and Oxford.
On the UNIQ residential I learnt about a variety of topics, but it was the world of French feminism that struck me the most. This is eventually what I ended up writing my personal statement about and still find relevant to my studies to this day. I particularly enjoy Agnès Varda and, as my peers will already know, the writing of Olympe de Gouges who was a revolutionary feminist during the 18th century. Fun fact, she was also the only person to be executed for sedition during Robespierre’s ‘Reign of Terror’. Way to go Olympe!
On another note, I was shocked by the variety of societies that were at my disposal, especially the fact that there is a Quidditch society! Who knew it would be possible to emulate a sport that requires flying broomsticks? I have grown to love everything at Oxford so far: the stunning architecture, soaking up the rich history, unravelling the mysterious of your course, despite the pressing workload that only pushes me further despite its ardour. My course began last Michaelmas, in October, with a variety of lecture series that covered works of literature such as ‘Des cannibales’ by Michel de Montaigne, a perplexing essay published circa 1580 that not only popularised this genre of writing but also offered perspective into the ‘New World’ and the Brazilian Tupinambá’s traditions and ceremonies, which included cannibalism. Amongst other works such as Paul Verlaine’s Romances sans paroles collection and Jean Racine’s Phèdre, an enticing tragedy of unrequited love, it goes without a doubt that Montaigne has charmed me the most. In the new year, Hilary term began and I studied works such as La Chastelaine de Vergi, a medieval courtly romance with no defined author, and with the generosity of our lecturer Sophie Marnette, I was able to personally view one of La Chastelaine’s twenty known manuscripts. This was certainly eye-opening for me, as I glanced upon the faded yet well-preserved ink that had somehow found itself in my grasp. Being able to engage with my subjects so intimately is something I have especially enjoyed at Oxford so far and being around world-leading academics and students such as myself are what make Oxford feel like home.
As for Italian, I have enjoyed learning the language from scratch though it has been challenging as Italian grammar is certainly unforgiving in my opinion. Since Michaelmas, I have covered many incredible authors and poets such as Petrarch, Primo Levi, Natalia Ginzburg, and even G.G Belli and Michelangelo. I would say that my favourite part of this course so far has been exploring the sonnets from the Middle Ages up to the present and picking out the differences between Medieval Italian and Modern Italian as etymology is also a special interest of mine. I really enjoy Petrarch’s word play to refer to ‘Laura’, a woman whom he hinged many of his sonnets around. Unfortunately for Petrarch, I don’t believe this love was ever fulfilled.
As we move into Trinity term, a hard 8 weeks of exam preparation await, but also 8 weeks of opportunity to make memories. I hope to engage more in sports, particularly badminton which is a sport I have always enjoyed, and perhaps even some casual rowing – though I do not feel I am very gifted in this sport unfortunately... Anyhow, I am also a Welfare Officer of a few productions this term. Last term I was the Welfare Officer of Seabass Theatre's Hamlet which was incredibly amusing and I can’t wait to do it again for other productions such as Magdalen Players’ The Tempest. I will end my article here and thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my time at Oxford so far. I am excited to find out what Trinity has in store for me.