First classes, officially an Oxonian :o)

Off to my first day of classes.. 

First class was incredible, the man who taught the class on 'Fundamentals of Human Rights Law was interesting, enthusiastic and captivating.

This man was Prof Frederic Megret - Associate-Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University; Canada Research Chair in the Law of Human Rights and Legal Pluralism

I had my first class in my chosen elective for this summer programme 'Human Rights in the Marketplace'. It was a provoking class about where human rights are situated in the economy.

This was taught by Prof David Kinley - Chair in Human Rights Law, Sydney Law School, Sydney University

Baronness Helena Kennedy Q.C

The afternoon brought a pleasing surprise of having the privilege of listening to an impressive speaker.

This woman is inspiring, Lady Kennedy is a British barrister, broadcaster and Labour member of the House of Lords. A former chair of the Human Genetics Commission which advises the UK government on ethical, social and legal issues arising from developments in genetic science. Lady Kennedy is also a mother of 3 children... Baroness Kennedy has an endless bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Kennedy,_Baroness_Kennedy_of_The_Shaws 

I have been inspired. The speech consisted of many different topics. The main focus was of course on human rights law. One interesting thing that was spoken of by the Baroness was her personal opinion about what human rights are. The common theme amongst human rights that Lady Kennedy sees re-occurring is the right to love and to be loved. Other topics covered were the universalism of human rights, controversy of who gets the right to criticise who (state vs state) and how do we hold the power above Nation States accountable (World Trade Organisation, multinational corporations etc). I managed to talk with her after her moving speech and catch the below shot :o) 

I am just inspired.. I will leave you and continue studying and look forward to what tomorrow will bring.. goodnight avid readers..

jogging around New College, Oxford University ♥

It was 645am.. bright as and beautiful..

Day 2 in Oxford, tours of our campus ♥

Hey guys busy day today,

New College

The photos are lacking what it feels like to take in these absolute marvels of mankind. We walked around a tour of the college we are staying at, 'New College' our motto is 'manners makyth man'. New College was founded in 1379.

We have on our campus grounds a chapel.

When William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, founded New College at the end of the fourteenth century, he placed the service of God at the heart of College life.: http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/chapel 

It was either really bright outside or really dark inside, so my poor camera which was already struggling with the vastness of what I was trying to capture couldn't really adjust to the light.

harry potter scene was filmed in this courtyard where we were today :o) in New College!

Bodleian Library

Largest university library system in the UK. It is a legal deposit library, which means that it is entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the UK. As such, its collection is growing at a rate of over three miles (five kilometres) of shelving every year: Wikipedia. 

Part of my registration and attendance with the summer programme entitled me to a library card to the Bodleian library here right next to New College. You cannot take books out of this library. I tried to take pics quickly on the tour but the smell was like all resting places of ancient books. To describe the feeling as you walked around, it was a mix of old paper dust and stillness.. 

Hiring Bicycles

Afterwards we will be venturing back into the city itself with all its winding roads and identical buildings to try and hire bicycles. This seems the preferred way to get around. I shall of course keep you updated.

For now adieu dear readers. 

♥ FIRST DAY in Oxford! ♥

Hi dreamers,

It is a dream! I keep expecting that its all not real! Mikayla, Tom and I were whisked away via coach from Heathrow airport to Oxford City where we walked along cobbled streets with old cottage style housing all around us. The University itself is all sandstone and old architecture which can only be described as romantic.

The looming turrets of Oxford University were considerably impressive. We registered and got our room keys. My room is exactly the way I pictured it, the video below is a little of the building I am residing in and the layout of my room.

I have also laid out on the desk the textbooks and information we were given upon registration. I have been told my bedroom looks quite small in the video, the dimension are roughly 5 metres by 6 metres without including my bathroom, with my ceiling being 6 metres up. :o)

After we settled in and unpacked a bit Mikayla, Tom and I explored a little through Oxford City.. Breathtaking! Old cobblestone streets with history and art just everywhere. Lewis Carroll the author of Alice in Wonderland was to be an Oxonian but alas was enrolled and only able to attend 2 days before returning home due to an illness his mother had died from.

This has meant lots of Alice in Wonderland themed shops and little attractions, there is also loads of Harry Potter referencing and merchandise due to parts of Harry Potter being filmed on the Oxford campus.

I have also met some of the most interesting people in the world! As there are professionals just doing this course to contribute to their career, the people here have incredible backgrounds.

One lady in particular from South Carolina did her undergraduate degree, became a police officer then decided to make her own business being a police adviser, did her law degree and had a successful career advising the police on the correct legal behaviour expected of them. Her ability and knowledge brought her renowned fame and respect to the point where she became a policy adviser in Afganistan. This meant she was giving policy advise about the way the police were being run all the way to the way to how courts were treating prisoners. Like I said interesting!

I would also like to mention there has been historic weather here, it got up to 30 degrees today! We are expecting sunny weather all week :o)

For now it is too late to tell you anymore, kisses.

p.s thankyou for all the support!

Good Morning, London ♥

We have arrived safe and a tad excited at the Heathrow airport in London. Mikayla and I walked down and around up and down the airport to find the Sofitel. After 24 hours of travelling the hotel became our oasis in the desert.

I COULD NOT WAIT TO LAY DOWN FLAT.

We unpacked in very uncivilised exhausted ways in our pristine room. One would have described the scene afterwards like 2 teenage girls had lived there for a long long time...

To celebrate our arrival into London we dressed casually and bravely went back into the busiest airport in the world, to go eat at the only restaurant in the airport called Carluccio's.. Tom another attendee of the Oxford programme also met up with us and joined us for food and wine. We did a cheers with a lovely Moscato to the future adventures awaiting us.

We had a lovely buffet breakfast this morning which was included in our hotel package.

It is now the morning and not many people can say, 

"We are on our way to Oxford University, this day".

Our travels via Malaysia Airlines ♥

Hey Y'all,

Here are some pics from our 24 hour travel with Malaysia airlines :) and our stop off in Kuala Lumpur.  

Kisses Brisbane, see you in 4 weeks!

Our first flight.

Our second flight we had this view of us taking off!

nothing like fish snacks to keep you feeling full and fresh haha 

Kuala Lumpur airport! God sent us Starbucks!

 

 We arrived in London phew!

T'was the night before Oxford..

T'was the night before travelling, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The suitcases were packed to bursting with great care,

In hopes that after 30 hours of travel we would get there.

The two of them will be nestled snug in plane beds,

While visions of great authors danced in their heads.

Mikayla in her gorgeous trench coat, and I with my map,

Will need to settle down for a long air ride nap. 

Suitcases, passports and a sprinkling of excitement!

I am sitting at the Brisbane International Airport quivering with anticipation.. I am wearing jeans, a loose top, a coat, and my never-let-me-down ankle boots...

I am armed to deal with the arduous journey with my laptop/kindle/camera/book/journal and MOST IMPORTANTLY A COMFY NECK PILLOW.

One thing I forgot to mention, there is the loveliest girl going on this crazy adventure with me.. Mikayla Kuhne, you may see her in the next few posts as she is more photogenic than I. :o) Mikayla is the reason I even applied to go on this journey, so I owe her many many thanks!

We have arduous travelling ahead of us with our first flight departing from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur where we shall stay there for approximately 4 hours. Then we are on our second flight to Heathrow, London. We will start our travelling from Brisbane at 11:20pm and arrive at Heathrow at 4:20pm on the 6th.... The time difference is about 9 hours in the past.

BEFORE YOU ALL SAY IT! Yes, I will be really safe.

One last little note, my darling boyfriend/love of my life gave me the absolute best last day with him. Without him and his calming powers over me, I would never have arrived in such a good place at the airport and in life generally. He gets 4 weeks of blissful free reign over our little housey and it is well earned. I hope he gets all the staying up late and sugar and boyish fun he can handle whilst I am away... I made him about 5 dinners and 5 huge triple choc muffins to tie him over for at least the next 2 days.. 

For now dear readers "Happy travelling to all, and to all a goodnight."

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.