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Tips from Previous Program Participants

A collection of tips from students who have attended the Dartmouth-Oxford Program.

Dining Plans

Eating in at Keble

  • The Hall—keep in mind that the Hall has limited hours and cooking is not permitted in your room. For meal booking at Keble, booking three courses every time is recommended, since we do tend to eat more here than they do. But if you get soup, the main course, sides and desert you should be fine for the rest of the night.
  • You can also get discounts on Domino's delivery with an Oxford student ID.
  • Keep the refrigerator in your room stocked with food. There is a Sainsbury's approximately five minutes from campus where you can acquire groceries.

Dining Out

  • You can get quite a few different types of food in town. It's much more expensive than eating at Keble, which is already paid for. But if you ask around among the students, or look online at Oxford tourist sites, you can find a lot of good places to eat.
  • There's a cheap Chinese take out place that's open late called Wok n Roll which is about a four-minute walk from Keble. A lot of people go there if they don't like what's being served at Keble that night, or if they need a late night meal.
  • The one thing to remember if you're not planning on eating at Keble is that a lot of places that serve food in town close early. Many people eat in pubs, but their kitchens will close around 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. usually. So don't expect to find much food past 8:00 p.m. or so. There are a lot of good restaurants on George Street, which is near town center and only about a seven-minute walk from Keble. Late at night there are Kebab stands open all over the place.

Travel

  • You need to arrange your own travel to and from Keble.
  • Flying into Heathrow is highly recommended.
  • Take the Oxford Bus to the last stop on the bus line, and there will be taxis that can take you to Keble for about five pounds. Be sure and have a little extra cash on you before you leave the airport. Normally you won't need to take a cab from this bus stop since it's only a five-or-so-minute walk to the back of Keble from there, but if you're carrying large bags you'll want to get a cab.

Formal Wear

  • You will most likely end up attending more than one formal event.
  • For men, if you own a tux or suit, take it along.
  • For women, take a formal dress.
  • The Porters' Lodge has gowns for all the Dartmouth students as long as you ask.
  • If you decide you want to purchase your own, you can go to the "Varsity Store" on Broad Street just after Blackwell's Book Store. They sell them for 25 pounds.

Student Organizations

  • Go out of your way to get involved with every organization you can.
  • British students are more than willing to accept American students for even just one term.

Bodleian Library and other Libraries

  • Make sure to visit the Bodleian Library, and many of Oxford's other libraries, as you can generally only visit these with University ID cards, and they are each special and worth visiting.

ID Cards

  • When they send you the paperwork for your ID card, send it back as soon as possible in order to ensure that it's available when you arrive.
  • Make sure you have relevant travel documents (i.e. Passport) well in advance, with appropriate expiration dates. And make sure to bring such documents on any international travel away from Oxford.

Credit Cards

  • Before you leave, notify your credit card company(s) that you will be abroad, so they will let your charges go through.

Tutorials

  • Two classes (tutorials) are allowed a term.
  • They have been known to be from 2:00-4:00 p.m. or from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

 

Medical Care

  • Try to avoid avoidable illnesses, if possible.
  • Make sure your insurance covers international health insurance.
  • Dartmouth Health Plan does cover this, but some others do not.

 

Accommodations

  • You will have a single room at Keble. The room is fully furnished with bed and mattress, pillows, desk, study chair, easy chair(s), bookcase and a reading lamp. Linens, including hand and bath towels, will be provided, although you may, if you wish, take your own. You will need to take tea-towels. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are eaten in the Hall, but for your own use in your room, take whatever crockery, cutlery, etc. you want—note: cooking is not permitted in your room.
  • There are vending machines which dispense cold drinks.
  • Keble will provide a refrigerator and a kettle. See the College Regulations and Information booklet (a copy will be included in the summer mailing) for requirements about any electrical apparatus you may take. Europe is 240 volts rather than the U.S. 110 volt system, so many electrical appliances will not work there - ideally, try to arrive with a UK electrical converter, and an international electrical converter.

 

Mail

  • Mail addressed to you at the College will be put in your individual pigeon-hole in the Post-room of the Porters' Lodge.
  • The address is Keble College, Oxford, OX1 3PG UK. Urgent brief phone messages will also be taken by the Lodge Staff: Tel +44 1865 272727.

 

Computers

  • Each room is equipped with a high speed network connection giving access to the Internet, college and university networks. Wifi is now available, via Eduroam.
  • If you have a laptop, you can take it along and they will try to connect it into the network. If they cannot connect you, there are computer rooms at Keble with PCs and Macs.
  • There are also lots of computer terminals around the college, and central printers are available over the network. Most Dartmouth students find it easy to access their Dartmouth email account. You can have an Oxford account if you want one. It will be in the form of firstname.lastname@keble.oxford.ac.uk
  • You may not be able to connect your computer to the Internet until you pass the security program.
  • Students used to bring their own LAN cable, though with wifi/Eduroam, this is generally no longer be necessary.

 

Cell Phones

  • Most cell phone carriers have international plans, and most cell phones work internationally.  Many carriers have a monthly plan for international use (e.g. $100 a month), which is cheaper than paying the daily international use fee (e.g. $10 a day). Work with your cell phone carrier before leaving to set up such a plan.
  • You can also purchase a new cheap phone with a new SIM card and cheap plan once in the UK, at a range of High Street retailers, or at the Westgate shopping mall.

Going to Town

  • The fastest way to get into town from Keble is to go out the Pusey Quad exit and take a right. If you stay straight, you'll walk down the "lamb and flag passage." You'll come to a main road, St. Giles Road. From there you can take a left and cross the road to get to Sainsbury's and if you keep walking you'll run into High Street and Corn-Market Street where most of the stores are.

Miscellaneous

  • For most other things, the incoming students can just ask other people at Keble where they should go. Everyone is usually quite receptive and the Porters at the Lodge are a very good resource as well. They know pretty much everything there is to know about Oxford.
  • Check out the Keble Exchange Toolkit for more tips.