Thirty Reasons to Stay

15 Things I LOVE about England

1. The posh British accents
2. The grounds at Chatsworth House
3. One word: crepes!
4. The catch-all phrase to say hello, goodbye and thank-you all in one word: "Cheers!”
5. Salt & vinegar chips and crisps (aka fries and chips)
6. The one thing that the English can never screw up: fish & chips
7. British slang like uni, ace, dodgy, and posh
8. The countryside
9. Cobblestone roads
10. The connection you feel to British authors like Austen, Lewis, and Tolkien
11. People find me fascinating and want to talk to me simply because I’m American
12. The fashion
13. Primark – good clothes for cheap prices.
14. The 2,240 people in the UK with the surname Darcy
15. How easy it is to travel.

15 Thinks I LOVE about Oxford

1. The bops
2. One-on-one tutorials with a don.
3. A free schedule – no classes, tests or projects to stress someone out.
4. Being forced to think and create my own opinions.
5. Ordering library books from the underground stacks.
6. The incredible architecture; walking through ancient stone buildings built centuries ago. (The inside of the town hall is more beautiful than the inside of most American churches).
7. Formal dinners and wearing the Oxford robes.
8. Being asked difficult questions by my don.
9. Street names like Banbury Road and Beaumont Street.
10. Walking behind tourists into a building and seeing a porter stop them, denying access, but a simple flash of a card and I’m given the nod to stroll right in. Now that’s power.
11. The diversity (30% of the students are international)
12. City center (Broad, Cornmarket, High, and Queen Street)
13. Being able to walk everywhere – no car needed.
14. The weekly Market
15. The uniqueness of each college – Magdalen’s deer park, New’s garden & mound, and Christ Church’s dining hall (aka the Great Hall in Harry Potter).