Dare to Dream: My Oxford University Experience

Prestigious, elite and daunting.... 

For those reading this, let me breathe life into the words written across this page. I applied (with trepidation) for the Oxford University Summer Programme on International Human Rights Law. This meant searching my soul and coming up with a 500 word personal statement to convince those reading it to let me, the little mouse into their Programme. 

This is a quote from that statement:

I have a particular interest in industrial relations and the effects it has on the increasingly confusing arena of employee and employer. I believe how we are treated in the workplace has a major impact on our basic rights, ergo the way labor is bought and sold dictates a person’s quality of life. I believe there needs to be additional mechanisms implemented in Australia to prevent workplace injustice.

My approach was to show how I could contribute. To show where I thought human rights stemmed from in my world. After I submitted my application with my personal statement. What ensued was 2 weeks of nail biting, forever in the dentist's chair waiting.

Every email was a potential life changer. 9:17pm on a Tuesday my Gmail brought the following:

"Your application for a place on the Oxford/George Washington International Human Rights Law Summer School 2013 has now been considered and I am delighted to let you know that we would like to offer you a place."

I completely screamed the house down after reading the word delighted... My now deaf boyfriend had to read the remainder of the email for fear of premature delight.

I had done the whole application process in secret so when I called my parents (my ever supportive admirers) they were so impressed. I called my mother and asked to be on speaker phone and told my mother and my step dad that I had applied for the Oxford University Summer School on International Human Rights Law. Both of them were ecstatic and shouted through the small speaker of my iPhone sounds of joy and elation. I kept trying to interrupt and say that is not the only good news. 

If I could hardly understand them before, telling them I had gotten in had the effect of only audible static one hears when the phone cannot differentiate sound because of the volume of noise from the other end. 

I then spent the next few weeks trying to focus on my uni exams that were coming up and planning/preparing/dying for the upcoming experience. I will share my experiences and my dare to dream with you my avid reader. 

Kisses for now.