Allegra Molkenthin ‘19.5 was sitting in the basement of Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, conducting research for an essay about medieval Wales when an unfamiliar woman started shuffling towards her. Other students in the library had to scoot their chairs in to allow the woman to pass. Molkenthin unplugged her computer charger so that the stranger wouldn’t trip on it as she made her way to the seat next to Molkethin. When the woman finally plopped down in the open chair, she pointed at the book Molkenthin had in front of her and whispered, “that’s mine. I wrote that.”
Among Molkenthin’s favorite parts of the year she spent studying abroad in the United Kingdom through the Middlebury College-CMRS Oxford Humanities Program was the “intellectual buzz” ingrained in the city of Oxford. Even among those not affiliated with the university, there was an academic fervor about the place. As a history student, Molkenthin found that this buzz and the city’s “living museum” qualities helped her keep her intesterests new and exciting.
In the classroom, Oxford’s tutorial system helped Molkenthin develop as a thinker and as a writer. Instead of having classes with other students that meet for several hours per week, students meet with professors individually to discuss their readings and their analysis of them. Molkethin’s courses covered a broad array of topics, from Liturgical Music to Old Norse Literature to Gender and Sexuality in 20th Century Britain, and because of the tutorial system she felt that she could steer the classes in the direction of her unique interests. At the same time, she missed the emphasis Middlebury courses place on class discussion and the ability to learn from her peers.
Back at Middlebury, Molkenthin recently finishing writing her senior thesis on official responses to cholera outbreaks in early to mid-19th century in British Colonial India and London, England. Her experience abroad allowed her to explore her interest in the power dynamics of imperialism and colonialism, and upon her return wanted to continue to analyze those relationships in the British context. Although living in England did not create this passion out of thin air, studying at Oxford gave her the opportunity to delve into the subject through a British lens.
When asked about the advice she would give to other history students considering studying abroad, Molkenthin praised the experience as a chance to do something different and be exposed to a different culture. She closed with a reminder to history students, both those studying abroad and at Middlebury, to continue to use history as a tool to ask interesting questions and attempt to understand the world.