Formal Dinner

Last night I went to formal dinner at New College.

Dinner is served to you (3 courses) and the food is a little better at dinner than it is for lunch. Our dessert was sticky pudding - can't get more British than that!

The college has two times to dine in hall for dinner: Early which is informal and Late which is formal. To formal dinner you wear your Oxford robes and the overhead lights are out so the lamps on the table are the only lighting.

The Oxford robes say a lot about your position. The length of the robe indicates if you are an undergraduate or graduate student. Undergraduate students have robes that come down to their hands while graduate student's robes are longer. The Oxford robe also comes with a cap which is used in formal ceremonies (people don't wear their caps to formal dinner). Wearing the cap or carrying it also is a symbol for what educational level a person is at. Say an undergraduate student who is still earning their degree wears their cap instead of carrying it: THEY GET FINED! No joke!

I never bought robes so I borrowed my housemates robes when I go to formal dinner. (Shh, don't tell! She's a graduate student and I could get fined for dressing above my status!)

This is me just wanting to show off my new red hair.