It was a brilliant, blustery day. The honey sandstone walls bathed in its golden sheen and sparkles under the blue.

It was the final day in Oxford. The final day for a long, long time. So why not take a stroll around town? Why not capture, in my parting shots, the essence of Oxford?

But what is the essence of the place I've built my life for the last 4 year?

I strolled past every college. Every door opened or closed. These are the doors that guard the other-worldly world behind. These doors stood to separate the time-capsule within it and the ever changing world out there.

It was quiet. A Saturday where no one was really in the colleges. Perhaps that was the kind of life I led for four years, different from the busyness of a city, the city I lived in for most of my life. The pace is slow. There is nothing much else to do other than the people you see, building and hearing interesting relationships and ideas. There is time to consider what to do. Sure, this sounds like typical student life, but Oxford gave the air of aloofness and perfection. It is a predictability that sounded more optimistic than the roiling mess at home.

I miss such simplicity.

Those doors reflect the character of each college. And these doors will defend those worlds for centuries to come.