Woodberry at Oxford 2014: Day 6, July 11: A day in Oxford

Today was another fine sunny day at Brasenose. We started off the day in the classroom writing our daily journal entries. After a class discussion of our previous day’s journey to Iron Bridge Gorge, we wrote an essay focusing on the production of iron and the beginning of England’s industrial revolution. We had to analyze the significance of the location, available resources, and advancement in innovation and techniques used for iron making in Coalbrookdale’s Severn River Valley. After finishing our essay’s we continued to follow England’s various newspapers. We talked about England’s political and social issues in order to better understand the British people and their customs. We ate lunch at the great dinning hall of Brasenose and then prepared for our scavenger hunt into the town of Oxford. My group, which consisted of me, Alex, and Talfourd, visited the world famous Ashmolean Museum. The Ashmolean had lots of impressive statues and paintings from different areas of the world. My favorite piece was the Alfred Jewel, which is and Anglo-Saxon artifact worth millions of dollars. It was a small piece covered with diamonds and gold and its original purpose is still under much scrutiny. There is reason to believe that it served as a pointer to help one follow along while reading, but I found that to be a rather expensive investment for such a simple task. Tonight we began to study the beginning of England’s WWII history. We read an article called “Remembering the Blitz” which followed a man and his family’s experience through Germany’s bombing of London. I found it interesting that Hitler never attacked Oxford because he planned on making his headquarters here after his assumed victory. Today was a quiet yet productive day, and we are looking forward to our trip to the Imperial War Museum and Duxford Air Show tomorrow.

Edward Miller