Alice: Hey, Tom! Long time no see, how are you?

Tom: Alice, what a pleasant surprise! I am doing great, what about yourself?

Alice: I’m well, too. What have you been doing all this time?

Tom: Well, I’ve been studying at a boarding school in Oxford.

Alice: Wow, it’s not the famous one for boys, is it?

Tom: Yes, that’s the one.

Alice: How do you like it? How is it different from our old school?

Tom: I like it ok. The studies are very rigorous. We have five classes a day before lunch and four after we eat. Of course, one of the classes each day is a sport but it’s still a rather hard day.

Alice: Sounds intense, if you ask me. Do they give you homework, too?

Tom: Well, some. We usually have reading for our lit classes and homework in foreign languages  — some vocabulary learning and grammar exercises.

Alice: How many foreign languages are you studying?

Tom: Two modern languages and Latin. You have a choice of foreign languages: French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Latin is compulsory.

Alice: Which ones are you taking right now? I think I’d go for Arabic and Chinese since those are really popular these days.

Tom: I am studying Chinese and French. You see, my Dad has a business in France, so if I ever decide to follow in his steps, I’ll definitely need French. And Arabic, as you say, is very popular nowadays.

Alice: With all that studying do you ever have fun? Have you made any good friends?

Tom: Of course, I have! I’ve got a small circle of close friends, three boys we hang out with. At weekends we have some free time to play games, go for walks or into town.

Alice: That’s good. What do you do when you go into town? I’ve been to Oxford and there isn’t much to do there it seems.

Tom: Are you kidding? There is a nice cinema complex there and a shopping centre. There are also some nice coffee shops and cheap restaurants. There is one coffee place that has a poetry contest every Saturday night where anyone can have stage time to recite their poetry. So, we do that with friends.

Alice: Are you serious? You recite poetry for fun? You even write your own poetry? That’s pretty amazing. You were always into books, so I guess this school is a good match for you.

Tom: It really is. I’m rather happy here. The only drawback is that I don’t see my parents during the term, only on holidays and sometimes they come up to see me at weekends.