Saluti a tutti,
Congratulations on your offers! Even if the above meme is worryingly relatable for us linguists, you really should be proud of yourselves. We are Madeleine and Tuppy, your subject reps for next year, here to help guide you through Freshers’ week and beyond. If you’re nervous, you are sooooo not the only one, and you’ll soon feel at home here. First year is so many things at once: daunting, amazing, unique, fun and sleep-deprived… looking back on it, the whole year has flown by, so we hope we can help you make the most of it. Let’s start with the academic stuff.
The course is structured thusly: you’ll study each book for a mere two weeks in tutorials (widely referred to as ‘tutes’; make of that nickname what you will), which means it’s a fast pace and you only write one or two essays/commentaries per book. As well as tutorials, you will have language classes (sometimes out of college) and potentially literature seminars too. You will sit your Preliminary Exams (prelims) at the end of the year, usually 8th or 9th week of Trinity term. This gives you plenty of time to cut loose and disappoint your tutors get used to essay and translation techniques. However, at the start of each term you will have Collections, which are essentially mocks based on material from the previous term, but a bit more relaxed.
Before all this, you will have been set some summer reading. Whilst you definitely don’t need to know the books inside-out, we would really recommend giving them a proper read-through. When you get here, you’ll almost certainly end up lamenting how much work there is, so doing a bit in the Summer can make term-time much easier. At the end of freshers’ week, you will most likely have Collections, but (on this occasion) these are rarely more than vocab and/or grammar tests. You’ll be told what you need to do when you get here, and they are solely to help the tutors get a grasp of your current level. We’d recommend making a note of unfamiliar vocab from the books on your reading lists and maybe do an ounce (a morsel, at most) of grammar revision before you get here. Most importantly, do not let Collections ruin freshers’ week for you – you’re supposed to be having fun and making friends during that week, so don’t shut yourself up all day and night working.
Also in freshers’ week are the subject dinner and subject drinks. The subject dinner will be held with your tutors in hall, and there will be drinks beforehand; this is a chance for them to get to know you (yes, you will have to sit next to them), and it’s a great evening with fantastic food. You may even realise that your tutors are human too (at a push, you’ll think the same about your fellow linguists). Secondly, the two of us will host subject drinks, a jamboree that may include a drop of alcohol here and there[1]. These drinks will be followed by your first crew date (a bizarre Oxford tradition that will be explained upon arrival). A theme for costumes will be announced during freshers’ week, so prepare yourselves for some fan(cy dress)tastic times!
And now, we’d like to introduce you to the linguists in our year:
Hilarious, unflinchingly chill, and studying Chinese from scratch, Lucy Lamoury is the most adventurous and tanned of us by a long shot. She is always down for a night out or a pizza bagel from G&D’s and is a great person to go to for advice. Has a friendly smile too.
Our very own star athlete, Pat Metcalfe-Jones has been killing it on the Blues Rugby team. No one knows how she manages to fit in French and Italian around her enormous sport commitments, but she – miraculously – always pulls it out of the bag.
The resident rowdy Scot and a dedicated student of French and Linguistics, Antonia ‘Inchy’ Kerrigan is your place to turn if you ever need some emergency weetabix, printer help, or a hug from her childhood bear, Haddington Ted. Alternatively, if you have computer issues, run far and run fast; Antonia is not your computer’s friend.
Recognisable for his mane of flowing locks, Tuppy ‘Redvers’ Morrissey spends his time playing football, writing books and focussing on his French and Beginners’ Russian German studies. Tuppy is a man of surprises. Nell has a note on her phone entitled ‘Tuppy Trivia’ - do not underestimate its size. He is one of 9 children, and was a national judo champion aged 12. Also has weird eating habits. No-one likes chickpeas that much.
Elliot Sutcliffe is many things. First and foremost, he is a loose cannon on a night out. Very loose. He is, however, a quiet intellectual: he may not say much in French and German tutorials, but there’s a serious brain behind those oft-dilated pupils. Elliot is many things, but easy to understand he is not.
You will initially get to know Nell Norman as your freshers’ rep. Do not be concerned if she breaks into dance whilst speaking to you for the first time or sings very loudly on the way to clubs, she is insane she is a happy and gregarious girl (and an excellent singer - to quote Antonia, ‘elle chante tout le temps’ (we tend to speak exclusively in French in our free time, by the way[2])). Nell studies French and Italian, but enjoys keeping herself busy with lacrosse, acapella and DMCs with Tuppy.
Francesca Fitzgerald is one part of the disappointing pair that doesn’t study French in our group (lucky her). She receives her linguistic stimulation through a combination of Spanish and Portuguese. Away from the books, Frankie lives for WNP (a very cool way of saying Wednesday Night Park End, one of Oxford’s major club nights), and will be captaining Oxford’s Mixed Lacrosse team next year. Strong.
Maddie ‘Maddie’ Farrell also enjoys a spot of Portuguese to accompany her studies of ‘le français’. In the recently-concluded ‘Describe Maddie Farrell in 3 Words’ survey, 98.4%[3] of people responded with the following: ‘Small. Nice. Eyebrows.’ You go, Maddie.
If you think that American English is just English with an American accent and a few silly words like ‘awesome’ and ‘cleats’, wait until you meet Madeleine ‘Madeleine’ Francis, speaker of a weird and wonderful dialect of American English that I like to call ‘Madeleinese’. In preparation for your linguistic training, you will have a vocab test on the following phrases when you arrive:
Madeleinese English
1.‘My b’My bad
2.‘No, you’re good’ No, it’s fine / Not to worry
3.‘I kid you not’[4] I’m being perfectly serious
So there you have it. If you have any questions or would like to get in touch, feel free to add us on Facebook or drop us an email whenever you want or need: , .
Can’t wait to see you all at the start of next term!
Madeleine and Tuppy xx
Here we are in Lyon, ‘improving our French’
[1] Disclaimer: if you don’t drink alcohol, non-alcoholic drinks will also be provided
[2] We never do this
[3] The survey was completed by 118 members of Christ Church, Oxford on 16th March 2017
[4] N.B. this can only come at the beginning of a sentence