It definitely made me think differently about what time I left my flat for class so I would be on time. I didn't want to be late the first week of classes! After the first few days, my legs and feet have definitely been a little sore, but one thing about walking is that it teaches me more about the area that I'm in so I know the city a bit better.
What surprises me is that even though Oxford is a rather large city, it isn't a compressed city like New York or other large U.S. cities. Twenty minutes to walk to class or the grocery store is very normal for people here, instead of everything being within reach like in major U.S. cities.
Walking is definitely connected to the culture and environment here. Oxford became a university in 1096 AD which was a really, really, really long time ago! Back then, all of the transportation available was walking. Therefore, a lot of the school's buildings are very close together. Nowadays, the city is much bigger, but the walking environment still exists because of how many students have lived here throughout the years. Pedestrians rule the streets here and people will just walk out in front of cars, expecting them to stop!
