Matriculation

Blimey! Oxford has been a busy place lately! A couple weekends ago I went through matriculation. It is the formal process of entering the University, and it is required in order to be a student at Oxford. It consists of gathering all the new students in the college together in the dining hall, both grad and undergrad (collectively called freshers), taking a class photo, then heading over to the Sheldonian, where we were greeted by the Vice Chancellor in both Latin and English. Students are required to wear the official academic dress, called subfusc. The Sheldonian, built in 1668, is used mainly for matriculation and graduation.
I had to do a google search to figure out how my subfusc was supposed to look, because I was unsure what to do with the flappy things on my gown:

Malorie (another rhodie in Balliol) and I, along with the other Balliol freshers in our dining hall:

The class photo, and the freshers on our way to the Sheldonian:

The outside of the Sheldoinian, along with the scary sculpture than hung above my head as I sat through matriculation:

It's an odd feeling to be sitting in such a gorgeous building, surrounded by a brilliant and diverse group, and realizing that this has occurred each year for the last 800 years. The ceremony was formal, often in Latin, and surprisingly short. Afterward we were released into the streets, as official students of Oxford, to party the day away. I stopped off at Magdalen college with some fellow rhodies to take in some champagne and brunch, then returned to Holywell Manor to continue in the festivities with the Balliol group.
Inside the Sheldonian:

Filing out of matriculation, and back at Holywell Manor:

And of course, to top the day off, matriculation was the first time I had left my swine flu quarantined room in about 2.5 days!