Page 35 - Mansfield 2019/20

Jacob Kaufhold VSP Representative
When I consider the uncertainty we find ourselves in today, I am comforted thinking about what this past year’s Visiting Student cohort has confronted and the challenges we rose to meet. We took a huge step, searching for a fulfilling and challenging experience as students abroad, leaving behind our friends and families at home. As we arrived one by one before Michaelmas term began – exchanging our stories and asking if anyone had perhaps known ‘a friend of ours at your school... Yes, we went to high school together!’ – we slowly began to form a community, shaped by our shared experience of undertaking this risk.
The bonds created by such an experience are unique. We journeyed not only to a new country and a new academic system, but across time, to the ancient and recent past, learning about the early Church fathers and current conflicts in the Middle East. We flew – and sometimes trudged – through the pages of the Brontë sisters, Foucault, and Sartre, cutting-edge research and ancient classics. New friends were found
in the UK and from elsewhere as we mixed into the community, through sports,
societies, and the ever-popular formal dinners. Late nights were enjoyed in town or at College events, and many more were spent working, with coffee and tea breaks together to share a brief moment of rest.
Then it all came to a crashing halt, as what had first seemed like a small problem on the other side of the world grew progressively closer and closer: first across China, then Korea and Japan, before eventually reaching Europe and the United States. On top of everything else we were dealing with, we
now had a global pandemic – and a quick departure – to handle. One by one the calls came to return home, and as Hilary term ended so too did our time in Oxford.
But Oxford came home with us as well, and Mansfield – there to support us in our physical and mental journey from the very beginning – did not turn us out. We were able to continue our work remotely with the full support of College and with the accommodation of wonderful tutors. I am particularly thankful for Mansfield’s reassuring presence and assistance at a time when many of our home institutions and governments were scrambling to deal with the pandemic.
This abrupt transition has sharpened my recollections of the wonderful times we had before the crisis began: of Christmas carols in the Sheldonian, the Mansfield Thanksgiving dinner, our ill-fated rowing season, and even in-person JCR meetings. These memories
– of the strength and enjoyment we found with one another, in a challenging situation – give me hope for the future, and I am immeasurably grateful to Mansfield for helping us create them together.
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