Hi, I'm Andrew, a third-year Modern Languages student at Anne's (French and Spanish). When it comes to Oxford colleges, it doesn't really get any more unique than this one: firstly, we have a reputation for fostering a particularly forward-thinking, down to earth atmosphere; secondly, here you won't find century-old buildings and cloisters, but an array of markedly different and interesting buildings from the last hundred years, and plenty of green areas. As a relatively young college (by Oxford standards, anyway) St Anne's has a perfect mixture of tradition and innovation: it's not afraid to go against the grain and stand out, but you'll still feel like you're a part of the University. The academic atmosphere is more relaxed than, say, Merton or St John's, leaving plenty of time to explore in detail areas of interest both within and outside of your course.

The Modern Languages course differs from student to student, depending on whether you're studying one language, two, or a language in conjunction with another subject (English, History and Philosophy are all popular examples). At St Anne's, the tutors from each subject area communicate very well with each other (especially between languages), so there's no reason to worry about feeling like you have no control over your timetable or workload; there are also occasional subject family seminars and dinners to encourage a little bit of intellectual stimulation between the arts and humanities. St Anne's is one of the closest colleges to the Taylor Institution (home to the Taylorian languages library and where you'll have lectures) the Maison Française (a library for those interested in French), Wellington Square and the Language Centre (where you'll have your language classes); they're all more or less five minutes' walk away. In your first year, your literature tutes will probably only be held in college, but when you start the Finals course in your second year and branch out a bit, you'll most likely have more tutes and seminars at other colleges (again, it depends what combination of languages/subjects you're doing). Compared with other subjects, you do have quite a bit of contact time: on top of translation, grammar and literature classes (one per week per language) you'll also have about five hours of lectures a week, but it's certainly bearable (enjoyable, you might even say). You'll by no means be surrendering your life to your studies: there's more than enough time to partake in various extracurricular activities. It's true that the course is directed towards literature, and you do have to do extra reading in term time and during the holidays, but you'll find that this way you'll both inform and draw upon your knowledge of the history, philosophy, and popular culture of the language(s) you're studying. Modules on film, linguistics and even advanced translation can also be taken; whoever you are, you won't be short of choices.

Whatever you're studying, be it languages or Classics or Metaphysics, St Anne's is a great place to be.