Oxford the Wizarding Academy

04/13/20

I start my classes at the University of Oxford tomorrow morning. I arrived in town last week to get settled into my small studio apartment near campus. I can walk or take one of the shuttles they use here in this town. I have yet to get onto one of the shuttles. They scare me a bit, it we’re being honest. Everything here does. It’s too big, too many people. It’s overwhelming. I’d almost rather be back in Llanwrtyd, my small town back in Wales. This, however, isn’t an option. It wasn’t cheap for my admittance into this school, as well as the travel from home to here. My fellow townsmen, all 805 of them, chipped in with whatever they could into a collective fund for me to come out here for my education. I can’t ditch out now and waste all their money and hopes for me. They were so generous and kind, all of them believing me. It would be bloody wrong of me to quit now. I say all this as it I do not want to be here at all, though. This is not the case. While I do wish I was back at home, I am also quite excited about the prospects of this new journey. I’ve never been in such a large city. The amounts of people is overwhelming. So many of them talk with such different accents and dress funny. I’m excited to experience this new part of the world, as well as start my new track of learning.

I’m going on and on about my education bound to start here at Oxford. I should probably explain what I will be studying and why this is my chosen path. See, starting tomorrow, I will be studying magic, here in England. I know, it seems popostrous. But magic really does exist. You know those miracles in hospitals when someone has medically died but somehow came back to life and had stories of what they saw in death like seeing God or Hell? They lived because of the ever present magic in our world, though most people deny its existence. The people of my town, though, know it’s real, though we haven’t had any magic carriers in Llanwrtyd in about 15 years. I was only 3, so I don’t really remember much about the magic carrier we had amount us. Supposedly he came back to visit 12 years ago, though. That was the last time our famously acclaimed Horse vs Man races were won by a human, rather than the horse. We have the races every year. It’s been that way since 1980. Maybe not the longest tradition you’ll find in the world, but it brings a sense of community and cheer during the season each year and is quite entertaining.

The races are actually the reason my town has decided to scrounge up enough money to send me here to study magic. See, very few men have won the races since its creation, and it appears only the magic carriers are capable of beating the horse. We’ve been desperate for years now for another victory, but with no luck. I suppose it was time to Change that, and my townsmen voted to send me. Not only am I one of the more fit people in the town, but I am young, and therefore, will fit in slightly better with the other students at the university, and, in addition, I am female. So far only men magic carriers have entered and won. Part of this, I’m sure, is due to the fact that most magic users are male already. It is a field much dominated by men. It’s been a dream of mine since I was young to study magic here. It is the most well known school for magic in the world, after all. So, my town helped me get here to fulfill my dreams and win the races.

It’s been about a week since classes have started, and I am struggling immensely. Nothing the professors say makes any kind of sense. They sound like they are s[eaking in tounges or in foreign languages. Of course, maybe they are. But every time I try to replicate the sounds emulating from their mouths, all I can do is stutter and blanch. It is rather embarrassing when attempting our practical pronounciation sessions with our classmates. My classmates seem to have learned this strange dialect better than I, though you can tell some still struggle a little. I think I will go to the library later after class to see if it is possible to find assistance anywhere, whether it be another person studying or proficient, or one of the texts.

Well, I think I may have found the answer to my problem I am having. Then again, I may have just created another dilemma to be dealt with. I’m not entirely sure yet. See, there is this large text I found in one of the stacks called The Oxford Dictionary. It is full of the incantations we have been learning. I know this because the spells are written out with their uses and outcomes listed next to it. The reason this book makes sense, though, is because it has a section next to each of the spells where it breaks the spell into parts that teach you how it is meant to be pronounced. This is life altering for my education because these pronounciations are not the ones my professors use when teaching. They sound like they are speaking nonsense. This book, however, suggests these spells are much easier to wield than it has previously seemed. The only question I have know is what will happen if I start pronouncing the incantations as the book suggests, since it is not what my professors are teaching. I am worried that it will not work or I will risk upsetting one of my professors or classmates for my discrepensy. I suppose there is only one way to find out though.