My name is Safiya Karsan and I am a current second-year student (EC) at Harvard Business School. I am sharing a glimpse into our incredible experience in London where roughly 50 ECs spent two weeks on an Immersive Field Course on Real Estate and Private Equity.

Most of the days were action-packed with site visits, presentations from and panels with industry experts, and time at the offices of our project partners. However, I am sharing details from a day where we got to travel outside of London and see a few of the UK’s cultural treasures.

We started with a visit to Oxford and were blown away by the gorgeous campus.

We were able to meet with some students at the Said Business School who took us on a tour of Oxford’s campus and the various colleges. Here are a couple of Said and HBS students in front of the Sheldonian, an iconic building in the University which houses the students’ matriculation and graduation ceremonies.

We also got to visit the famous Christ Church Hall. You might recognize some of the portraits on the walls which include Queen Elizabeth and Henry VIII, the founder of Christ Church. Or you might recognize the space as the Hogwarts dining hall in Harry Potter!

After our Oxford visit, we went to Waddesdon Manor, a beautiful estate which was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 19th century to display his expansive art collection. We visited the Flint House, Windmill Hill, the Main Manor House and were even treated to a Rothschild wine tasting.

After our wine tasting, Lord Rothschild hosted us for dinner. He spent time speaking to us about his thoughts on the future of the UK and Europe in a post-Brexit environment as well as some of his personal investment philosophies.  Below is a picture of a few of us with Lord Rothschild.

 

After a delicious meal, we were all exhausted from a long day and retired to the Hartwell House in Buckhinghamshire, a former coach house that has been restored to be a hotel.