Embark your flying brooms and come with us to experience the Harry Potter atmosphere in a live college. At First, the visit of Christ Church College in Oxford didn’t mean anything special.  When we came into the college, went past the cloister and up the stairs, it immediately rang a bell : we were arriving at Hogwarts, following the most famous wizards in the world : Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy! Was Professor MacGonogall going to welcome us upstairs, near the entrance of the dining-hall? No, she wasn’t, but we imagined her strict look upon us! It was very impressive, we felt like being actors playing a part in the film !

And then we came into the famous dining-hall ! At first, we were quite disappointed, because it looked quite small compared to the dining hall in the film. But we immediately had the feeling that we were being watched : were there ghosts in this dining hall too? Or were there cameras watching the visitors like everywhere in Oxford? We walked towards the end of the hall, where Henry VIII, the king of England who founded Christchurch college in 1529, was looking at us. But it seemed that all eyes were on us. There were portraits on either sides of the hall, they represent all the famous former students at Christ Chrurch college. When we looked closer at the paintings, we discovered that it was as if their eyes were following us : but there was nothing magic in that, it was only a technique in painting !

What brought us back to reality was the smell from the kitchen next to the dining hall : the students at Christ Church College had just had lunch, and the tables were already laid for dinner! We finally realized that Christ Church was not only an impressive film set and a place to visit, it was above all a college where real students lived and studied ! How lucky they are !

Oxford, the city that looks like a film set

When you arrive in Oxford, the first thing you notice are the colleges : there are so many different colleges that you first think there is nothing else. And they are so old you feel like travelling in the past, or being on a film set, acting in a historic film !

Merton College, Balliol College and University College were built in the Middle-Ages, between 1249 and 1280. The most recent colleges in Oxford, Hertford College and Keble College, were built between 1870 and 1874 ! When you walk along these buildings in the small back streets, you feel confused about the dates : you no longer know which century you are in! And then, you arrive in the High Street and you see all the modern shops, the shopping malls… and you fell even more confused : you are suddenly back in the 21^st century.

The second thing that strikes you are the CCTV cameras : they are  watching over you in every street. In fact, Oxford looks like a film set ! When we visited Oxford last year, we really felt like evolving on a set ! And the set changed at every corner of the street, depending on where you were. It was quite a strange experience, but we loved it!

Article paru dans les Reportages d’Europe N°5, 2010

Rédigé par Lorile, Julie et  Samantha du collège Louise Michel de Paimboeuf.