Do What You Love

19 June 2013

Dr. Hoffmire showed up to class today in his Stanford Graduate Robes.  Today all the professors at Oxford wear their Alma Mater Robes around Oxford and attend parties where they reconnect with all the Oxford greats…

Oxford attracts many successful Entrepreneurs and CEOs from India to its MBA program at Said. Dr. Hoffmire has made it quite apparent how much he loves and respects the Indian Students he teaches. Many of them hold some of the most powerful positions in Indian business, most working in the energy industry such as oil. By successful I mean billionaires, and yet they interact as through they are on the same playing field as us undergraduates. Dr. Hoffmire interrupted their Executive MBA debate class and brought the group into us so that we could sing for them. I guess they are known for their great singing within the walls of the business school, and Dr. Hoffmire wanted to show them how musically inclined BYU students are as well. As we all joined in singing Nearer My God to Thee, the room was instantly filled with angelic sounds. I have never been a part of something so beautiful that brought the Spirit into a place so instantaneously. I literally saw several of the Indian Executive’s jaws drop as our voices filled the room, and they pulled out their phones and started recording our performance. When I looked to the corner of the room and saw Dr. Hoffmire wiping the tears from under his eyes, I knew why we were here. The Spirit that abounds in each of our lives as a result of how we have chosen to live is stronger than any of us have the capacity to understand. In the week and a half we have been studying at Oxford it has been shared with person after person here at Oxford and touched their lives. When the leaders of Said Business School say they will see us BYU students back in a couple years, they are being completely honest. The gap between BYU and Oxford is being bridged by our 44 person social innovation class. Not only are we filled with intellectual, well-versed, determined, hard-working, and socially-savy, we offer an extra element of love, perseverance, persuasion, and kindness that is manifest simply by who we are. Oxford, an institution built on the framework of the Church of England, and BYU, a school based on the Principles of the LDS church, both strive to prepare students to go forth and serve the world…So let’s go do it.

MY LIFE IS CRAZY BUSY AND I LOVE IT!!!

Outside of the party where all the Oxford Professors from FOREVER were hanging out…we wanted to go in so bad!

Dean Tufano, the Dean of the Business School here at Oxford, came and spoke to us today about how much BYU has proven itself as a school of high caliber students. He spoke of three schools, Oxford, Harvard, and BYU. In his eyes, and many others, there three schools are different from most other schools in the world because they thrive on culture rather than programs. Oxford as a University strives to connect all the colleges and academias of study into a unified body. As a student of Oxford you are expected to implement yourself into every field of study. Where most other undergraduate and graduate business schools run themselves in isolation from other academias of study, Oxford strives to offer a more well-rounded education. During the last few minutes of his time we had a short Q&A and I asked him a question pertaining to how students should best prepare themselves to study at Oxford University. He gave a very simple answer, and this was it…

Do what you love and do it well.

Don’t wait to find out what motivates you. You must be competitive in your pursuits but realize that life is given meaning by how willing we are to give back because nothing we have is actually ours. One of my favorite things about Oxford is that every person that is part of the University understands what their greater purpose is.

The writing of Albert Einstein that was saved on this chalkboard, and now it is display in the Natural History and Science Museum.  It is really cool!

Did you know Penicillin was discovered and created at Oxford University.  We were able to tour the entire exhibit.  Pretty incredible.

The last known Dodo bird was burned alive at Oxford University but a rebel student who thought it would be funny to rid the earth of the LAST Dodo ever.  Now all that is left is this picture and the Dodo’s feet and beak that are somewhere nobody knows…

This is the best time of year to be a temporary student at Oxford because it is right during the time of their finals and end of the term celebrations. I may have already described what it is like to be a student here, but I am going to explain it again because I think it is so interesting. When a student arrives to Oxford one of the first things they do is undergo the process of matriculation into the University. This happens through a formal process that involves parading through the Sheldonian Theater, receiving your robes, and taking oaths in front of the heads of the University. Oxford is made up of three 8 week semesters and programs range from Undergraduate degrees to PHD programs. Students study for years before taking their final exams because Oxford only tests their students at the end of their programs. There are no grades at Oxford but people graduate with different honors depending on how well they do on their exams. Most people who attend Oxford graduate, but very VERY few graduate with distinctions. During exam week all students must dress up in black and white dresses and tuxes, over which the Exam robes are worn. Depending on one’s progress in their exams they wear a different color of carnation adorned on their robes. When the final exam is taken and the student is finally finished with their program it is customary for their friends to attach them with alcohol and confetti as they exit the exam hall. As we have been walking through the streets of Oxford I honestly feel like I am walking through Hogwarts. Everyone is wearing these long black flowing robes…it is kind of surreal.

We attended a procession of distinguished Oxford Graduates that happens only a couple times each year. The most interesting thing about it were the protesters arguing for animal rights. They had signs saying that the animal abuse at Oxford University is horrid and that animals should not be used in science… It was quite crazy!

Did you know that the Mad Hatters Tea Party was patterned after the yearly garden party that happens at Oxford at the closing of the school year. All of the professors gather in their alma mater robes and frolic through the gardens chatting and drinking tea…If only…

I did my first bit of shopping today! Primark is an incredible store with everything you would ever need as far as clothing and accessories go. Luckily I only came with 33 pounds in my pocket or I would of spent a lot more than I wanted to! Of course when I left my pocket was empty…but in exchange I had a shopping back filled with a really cute dress, a new swimsuit, and some cute brown Oxford shoes! Two of my souvenir goals were to purchase an Oxford University sweatshirt and some cute Oxford shoes. Oxfords from Oxford…it cannot get any better than that!

We ended the day with a barbecue held and Said Business School bringing all of us BYU students together with several local members here in Oxford. The food was incredible, as it always is, and the company was fantastic.