It is the people that make all the difference

Channukah celebration, Mansfield College

 I arrived at Oxford at the end of summer when the sun was still setting at a reasonable hour and the skies were in beautiful shades of blue. It smoothed the transition for me from the busy beaches of Tel Aviv to the evergreen streets of my temporal home. But before I knew it, the days became shorter and colder and school became the main essence of my days.

As an Israeli studying the Middle East, I faced a lot of difficult questions that at times made me feel alienated from my coursemates and professors. Even though I moved here with my partner I couldn’t help but feel lonely and my mood gradually started to match the gloomy weather that took over the streets.

I hoped that the winter break would provide me with some necessary relief from the immense pressure I felt I was under. However, within a week of the winter break, the busy and bustling streets of Oxford became quiet, and the skies turned even darker. Christmas trees and decorations were the biggest sources of warmth and cheerfulness across the chilly pavements. Some days were so sombre it was literally quite difficult to get out of bed.

Then, at these very dark moments I found comfort within my WHT cohort, not as a cliché, but as a fact of life, I realized I have an overseas family that I could rely on when no one else is left in Oxford. Suddenly I had friends that were looking forward to seeing me, even though there were no classes and temperatures were well below zero Celsius degrees.

I thought I had lost the joy of studying during my first very overwhelming term in Oxford, but with Ammu, a WHT scholar by my side, I regained the initial enthusiasm that brought me here in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, some mornings during the break were still very difficult and full of self-doubts and fears, nevertheless, I had people that I could confide in and who could relate to what I was going through.

It is thanks to my new-found friendships that I could catch up with my studies, explore the city through its different cafes, libraries and MCRs and even organize a small Channukah celebration with the few graduate students that were still around Oxford during the holidays thanks to Mansfield College.

I am cherishing every moment of kindness I experienced during the break and know it is the fuel that will keep me warm until the sun rises again over Oxford.