A Nostalgic Return to Oxford’s Beauty and Inspiration
Written by Kaelie Piscitello
One of my professors in Oxford once assigned me an exercise: to sit in a coffee shop somewhere in the world and write down what I saw there. Unfortunately, I have only done this exercise once, when he made me do it four years ago for a grade.
I have travelled all over the world since coming to Oxford and have forgotten about the coffee shop assignment until this moment, when I have returned to the place where my teachers encouraged me to write about the world as I see it. So, when I sat down in my favorite Oxford cafe, Barefoot Bakery, I felt so called to do it again.
It seems too silly to say that I have changed and this place hasn’t, but it seems like an inevitable statement. Oxford has retained its allure and prestige for centuries and will continue to foster its scholarly atmosphere long after I have passed from the world.
Changes
And yet, I can’t help but notice the differences all around me. I know Oxford like the back of my hand, but it feels foreign in many ways. As I try to think about what I notice around me in the coffee shop, I can’t help but reflect on what I’ve noticed in Oxford this morning.
Students still run around in their tweed coats, but now they appear much younger to me. A new business school has sprung up near the train station. Or, at least I think it’s new. The Eagle and Child, famous as the hangout spot for writers like Tolkien and Lewis Caroll, lay empty when I last stayed here, a casualty of the pandemic. Now, Oxford has it under construction. What will it look like in a few months?
Across the narrow coffee shop, a professor and student share a coffee, and I am transported back to when these meetings were a regular occasion for me. When I returned to college back home in the states, no one socialized with teachers outside of class, and I wouldn’t think about doing so with my young students now. Is this an activity special to Oxford?
North Parade seems much emptier than when I frequented the teensy alleyway; many of the students stop in for breakfast, but something feels missing.
The Past
The girl next to me jiggles her foot and name-drops supposed future diplomats and how they owe her a favor on a Zoom call with some small group of people. She can’t be much older than 20. She has so much more time than she thinks she does.
This shop seems quieter than when I was last here. It looks the same and has the cupcakes I returned for. As a student, I usually got takeaway because the rest of the tables were occupied. Others fill the tables now, but it seems more peaceful than I remember it.
What I Enjoy Now
I’m more surprised than anything about how normal it feels to walk around on my own. I expected to see ghosts and look for my friends who now live all over the world, but instead I feel more excited about how beautiful the yellow Gothic buildings look against the red and orange leaves.
Oxford looks gorgeous in the fall, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. After traveling to some of the largest cities in the world, Oxford seems much smaller to the girl who had never seen Europe before. To me, it’s still a city for dreamers and those excited about the rest of their lives.
