Lalou
Geography, 2nd Year
I am originally from Canada, however I have lived in London for a while now. Although my school really wanted me to apply to Oxbridge, it wasn’t something that I was interested in until a few days before the deadline. I remember having a conversation with my Geography teacher a few days before and she inspired me to proceed with my application to Oxford – which I did… and now I’m here. My school was really supportive, they helped me with the application and also to prepare for the interview which I am grateful for.
Geography is so multifaceted and has so much to it that it is hard to find something you are not interested in within the discipline. Oxford’s tutorial system has allowed me to delve deeper into certain areas of Geography and cultivate my interest for those topics. Recently, I have particularly enjoyed the climate module and the various human geography topics we have explored. Some of the topics covered in lectures include things that I have never been introduced to before and so I am constantly discovering things that interest me. Geography was a very male dominated discipline and so a lot of the authors on the reading list (depending on the topics) are male. However, alongside tutors varying the reading list, it is now very inspiring to be taught by some women who are leading researchers in their field.
Although I am mainly involved in college activities, there are many societies and clubs to join on a university level. I have really enjoyed being a part of the women’s football team as it has allowed me to make friends in other years as well as incorporating exercise into my week. Oxford can be stressful sometimes so I find that going to yoga helps with mindfulness and helps me to focus better when I’m doing work which is helpful. Although there are so many people around you in university, it is sometimes hard to find ‘your people’ but having these clubs, events and societies has helped me find my feet a bit better.
After my degree, I’m not quite yet sure what I would like to do, I’m just trying to get a degree first and then I can think about it after! Although I definitely want to do something related to sustainability (typical geography student). Traveling a bit or living somewhere different could be cool too – we will have to wait and see…
Everyone standing up on their chair at Christmas dinner and singing ‘Wonder-hall’ is always an iconic moment in the year. But some of my best memories are also things like playing Just Dance in the common room with my friends at 2am!
What do you think when you hear ‘Women of the Hall’?
I think there is definitely a big sense of community amongst all the women in Teddy. As a fresher, when I was first exposed to WOTH (Women of the Hall event), I was pretty amazed to see the ‘Hall spirit’ that we had here which I just don’t think many other colleges have.