Oxford
I thought this would be an easy page to write. There is so much to say about Oxford as a city, university or extended suburb of London. That's the problem- where should I start?!
A
good place may be the University since
this is what you will be chiefly interested in and it does rather dominate
the city. The University was founded over 800 years ago and has always had
a collegiate system. There are now over 30 colleges and private halls in
the city. Each student is a member of a college and every college has it's
own identity. However the University acts as a central administrative body
over all the colleges and departments. Generally speaking, as a postgraduate,
your department will organise all teaching etc and your college will provide
housing, socials and an interface between you and the university.
The city itself is quite small with about 100,000 inhabitants but the student
populations 
from
both Oxford and Brookes swell the numbers considerably and mean that the
range of shops is good. When you are not working you will find plenty to
amuse in the city from the famous covered
market to the excellent Ashmolean, Modern
Art, Natural History, Science and Pitts
Rivers museums as well as well as many coffee houses and pleasant walks.
Oxford night life tends to centre around the college bars and the numerous
town pubs. There are of course clubs but apart from the Zodiac and Brookes
University which are good for live gigs, they are fairly mediocre.
Getting
out of the city is easy; there are very regular buses
and trains to London and elsewhere, and the Oxfordshire countryside
is only a short cycle ride away for the more adventurous. Of course the
proximity to london and the large and prestigious student community has
led to Oxford being one of the most expensive cities in the UK (after London)
which is certainly a problem to some people living in the city. More information
about being a student in the city is available on the Oxford
University Student Union pages.
Take a virtual tour of Oxford which shows you some of the walks and sites.