As Associate Members and Visiting Students are in Oxford for a relatively short time, we make a special effort to encourage as much social and cultural integration as possible. (Many of these activities will be organized by your College, by individual British common rooms, by clubs and sports teams, by individual British friends, etc.).We organize welcoming receptions of various sorts so that you all will have an opportunity to meet each other and some of your dons at the earliest possible moment. We organize informal parties--as ice-breakers--so you may meet other Associate Members and some of your British classmates. We also organize educational tours to places in Britain you should see--Cambridge University, Stratford-upon-Avon, London, etc. We also have, in the past, secured admission for JYA students to some of the leading private clubs in London, which are an important part of the way of life of the British Establishment or leadership. We thought that you ought to meet Oxbridge graduates while in England, because all of you (since you will be graduates in leading U.S. universities as well as alumni of Oxford colleges) will be associating with your trans-Atlantic equivalents during most of your professional careers. A good number of past JYA students have been elected to membership in the United Oxford and Cambridge University Club in London, for instance, which exchanges with similar clubs (the Harvard Club, etc.) in about 20 North American cities. If anyone wishes to join this club (student dues are about £80 a year) let us know and we will arrange the proper recommendations. (You are also eligible for membership in the Oxford Society which has many alumni clubs through North America). In order for the tours to work smoothly, it is naturally necessary for everyone to cooperate. Most importantly, you should be sure to let our office know as soon as possible if you have to cancel. This will enable us to invite another student (or at least to cancel the ticket reservation, etc.) to avoid the waste of a place or money. Sometimes in order to get somewhere on time we will have to leave at 10 AM Saturday morning...this means planning your schedule accordingly. While on a tour it is necessary for everyone to stick together and not to leave the group. If you do leave the group, we naturally cannot be responsible for getting you back with the tour. For this reason (since getting "lost" is always possible) you should always carry £20 in cash with you for emergencies (return bus fare etc.) A credit card is always helpful just in case. The average cost of all tours (almost no students will participate in every tour) is included in the over-all fees. For this reason there is naturally no refund for any offered opportunity of any kind which a student does not accept. Needless to say, you should always pay due attention to your British hosts (we will invite Britons to take part in our activities); it would not be courteous simply to chat among yourselves and not to mix with the British people who have (in part) invited you to a tour, reception, dinner, etc. If we all cooperate, in the ways outlined in this handbook, you will find you will get a great deal more out of your stay in Britain and you will make friends and enjoy yourself. Some students will naturally be a bit less outgoing than others and these students will see the merit of making a special effort to mix with the British and exchange ideas. "Excellent academic programme - spent two terms with Dr. Andrew Welburn from New College, and cannot say enough about how friendly, insightful, challenging and beneficial his guidance has been. Guided tours (like Cambridge, Trinity Term) were the most beneficial and fun." MH, Hamilton College