Idle Fancy

Standing on the grounds of Oxford, I felt two things simultaneously:  overwhelming admiration for and desire to be a part of this center for learning and incredible intimidation.  One of the students from another group made the comment to me as I was photographing details on one of the buildings that all the structures looked like castles.  I told him that they were.  They were castles dedicated to knowledge instead of warfare.

What would it be like to be a part of that rarefied air? Those heavy layers of tradition?  To have the right to walk those grounds like one who belongs instead of a tourist?  Could that ever be me?  Could I ever be a part of that culture of knowledge?

Both Trinity College and Oxford made me feel that way, that same yearning, but could I hack it at that level?  Those schools call to me in ways that no university on American soil seems to be able to do.  I have never been intrigued by Ivy League prestige.  Maybe it's the age of TC and Oxford.  Maybe it's those I know have been through them.  Maybe it's where they are, those locations that pull me like iron filings to their great magnetic hearts.  

I wish I could have the opportunity to prove myself in one or the other, to take something other than photographs, postcards, and t-shirt souvenirs away.  While I know this is just an idle fancy, something improbable and shiny to turn over in my mind from time to time, it is one I can't quite bring myself to let go of just yet.