Hello and welcome to the Queen's Access podcast. It's so lovely to have you here.
And I hope you find this a useful resource in learning more about life at Oxford.
But more specifically about life at the Queen's College.
My guests this week are Charlotte Murphy, a second year German student, and Katie Ballock, a second year studying English and French.
And they are The Food Wrap's for the JCR. This year we'll have a chat about all things food at Queen's.
My apologies for any poor audio. These interviews have all been conducted over Zoome and the Internet connexion isn't always completely reliable.
For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Queen's website. I hope you enjoy.
Hi, guys. It's a lovely to you here. Tell us off. I was hoping each of you could tell me a little bit about your queen's journey.
So how you ended up in college. Katie, do you want to start us off?
Yes. I mean, I. So Queen's on an open day.
And I think what attracts me to it first was just like, obviously, it's a really pretty college.
It's very true.
And when I kind of got home and did some more research, I realised it has like a focus for my core switches, like English in one languages.
And also I had everywhere that it was just a really, really friendly college, which obviously to me sounded like a really good thing.
So then you applied to Queen directly. Did you get pulled the whole interview?
Yes. Yes, I just had interviews at Queen's. Yeah.
And I stayed here. The interviews, frail, shallow about you so much.
Kind of a funny story because basically at the end of year 10,
my school did Mock's and then just kind of randomly they decided who did what and then sent them on the September open day in Oxford.
And we didn't have any idea what was going on. I had no idea about the college system, about anything stimulus.
And so me and my friend were really scared. We just wander around Oxford aimlessly.
And then we saw balloons outside of Queens and we thought, well, let's just go through this gate and we just like take you on a tour of Queens.
And that was kind of the only college that I saw that day. And it was like the only thing that I was aware of to do with Oxford.
And then when I actually started to think about seriously applying, Queens came up again like I met a teacher from my class.
And it just seemed like really perfect. And yeah, it was just really nice.
Oh, lovely. So when were you the same as Katie? You apply directly to Queen? Yes.
OK. So each of you then you just give me an idea of what a week looks like for you in Oxford.
Academically, socially, personally, any of that kind of thing.
So, Charlotte, you want to start the fun? Yes. So every week I have an essay or two depending on the week.
And in my first term, I had two essays a week, which was really fun.
And second term, it got a bit a bit lighter.
And then every week I also have two translations, one into English and one one from Germany, English, someone from investors, German.
And then I have four tutorials and then two lectures and then just one class.
So there's like I say, there's quite a few contact towers, but there's not as many as sciences or anything like that.
And so you still have plenty of punch to site work by yourself and just do what you want me to do, which I really like.
I mean, socially, I just spent a lot of time with friends and go out quite a lot at night.
Yeah. And obviously every single day I go to whole I have my lunch and whole.
That's, that's pretty nice because it's quite social. And then JCR to you at four o'clock.
I do. Every day hopefully. Katie, how about you.
Yes, so workwise probably pretty similar.
Maggie's in a week translations and reading a tweet that she and a few classes and lectures and stuff and then kind of outside of that.
Yeah. Guy going out a couple of times a week. Just.
Yeah. Spending time with friends a lot.
And so we do like a lot of movie nights and stuff like going to bed centre, which is our college bar and where you can play pool and stuff.
So they have like a bit of a pool rivalry. Good news is just home.
Yeah, there was one guy, those like him. It was a Saturday night, so there was quite a few families.
And I mean, in case you had the pool table for like half an hour and all these like were watching us a lot,
trying to share zone because we couldn't if it was awful. I would say about like one of the bathrooms.
Not only very dark, sort of my chemistry knowledge increased my ability to play pool.
I mean, it was a big wave, but it got off just to be safe.
Definitely capable of solved.
You mentioned eating in whole so that well, Frank was quite nicely onto what the main topic of this episode is, which is all things food queens.
So I want to ask you both, how do males, a male choices generally work at Queens?
Okay. If you want to stop. Yeah. Say breakfast and lunch, I'll kind of like a canteen style.
So you just choose what you want and it's empty.
So you, like, queue up and everything and then you pay at the end and then dinner is kind of done is like a booking on the system.
So you can book on to dinner and that's quite nice.
Kids actually serve to you. Like you all sit down and then you'll see it comes out.
So it's kind of cheesing that you can choose like either veggie or a meat meal when you book on or if you have,
like, specific diet, your kindness that you've eaten or free or something.
And the kitchen will already know about that and that of Apache, something solid.
Do you have anything you want to put that? I think cases could be quite a lot.
But I guess in terms of food next year and whole, we so because there's a new chef arriving.
So, yeah, it's gonna be nice to see what new food he introduces.
But yeah, I do love food and it's really good. Yeah, it is.
So we talked then briefly about dietary requirements. So what's it like eating it clean as somebody with a dietary requirements so solid.
Do you want to a. So n at breakfast and lunch where you have like the canteen style thing and in front of every kind of food option,
there's allergy cards so people can see if it's suitable for them to eat.
And then also and that's always stuff that surfie the food when you ask for it.
So you can always ask them if it's suitable for you and they're usually ready.
Good like and some of my friends, I'll be gone and stuff like no now.
And they they just I've gotten to what speaker and what is it.
But they're really good with helping to figure it out and then and see at dinner, like Katie said,
the kitchen will already know if you have the actual crime, it's because you inform them before you arrive.
So and it just whenever you are constantly you what you'll be seen.
Sex is suitable for you. Katie, do you have anything you want to put in there?
No, I think it's pretty much covered everything. Okay. Well, I'd like to just add in, but I do have a nut allergy, which makes me so far at meals.
But one of the things that I said about the fact people in the kitchen is also really good because of the study.
I got given a call. It says my name. And I said, no, no. So every served male I go to, I just put that down in front of me.
And it means that, like, the servers know not to serve me anything.
We're not fun and things like that. So it's like a very reassuring system.
I know I'm not gonna eat anything that's going to cause anything dangerous to happen, which is which is brilliant.
You got wrong jcr k every diet for. Can you explain what that is on why it's so amazing.
So Casey you want to star. Yeah. So I use it every day at 4:00 p.m. everyone comes into the JCR,
which is like a common room because we sound Lozano's of snacks at cost price and including cheese and taste,
which is a bit of like a queen's favourite. And it's just it's just kind of like a really fun kind of social break from work.
And then because it happens every day, it's like you can just see your friends.
It's also quite nice. You can see because everyone comes from college, so you'll see people from other years and stuff.
So it's really nice to kind of like make friends with, like, audience,
which I think kind of contributes to like the friendly vibe that Queens is kind of known for what sounds like lots of nice robotic snacks,
which are really fun tonight. We selected dogs and slumps and stuff.
So, you know, it's just it's just really nice. Yeah, definitely. I love it.
Charlotte, you want to play it again?
I think one of the great things about GST at Queen's is that we have it every single day and like ends and things.
And I think most colleges have a welfare to like once a week or something.
And I honestly don't know how they cope. Like, I just love my days there. And it's just great because I.
I mean, sometimes I miss lunch and things like that. And you can always, you know, if you're hungry and that's always guaranteed you get food.
And it's just nice to see your friends. Like sometimes you don't see people in some places.
I just it's pretty nice way to, like, guarantee to see people go and see the homeless.
And also a great thing about JSC is that you can work it.
So you actually do get quite a good wage.
I think it works out and I think it's six pounds now, five pounds half an hour or something, and which is really good.
I went to it last, Herman. It's just a really good way of just like getting a little bit of money in.
Yeah, definitely. Because I think some people get put off by the fact that you can't get a job if you're not confident.
But there are loads of opportunities for things like working KSA, working behind the bar and the big fella there,
I mean, a student, ambassadors for interviews and open days get paid.
So that can be a lot of experiences, full time work that very easily fit into your schedule.
So one of the things Oxford very famous for is informal dinners.
So what are these like at Queen Charlotte? Do you want to go? Yes.
At Queen's, we have formal dinner every single week. So it's every Saturday.
And it's really nice because you can just sit with your friends,
you can have a nice meal and the food is a little bit more like fancy than dinner and lunch.
And so you get to try new things that you might not have tried any time before, like I think there was.
What was it like? Guinea fowl, one sausage and a duck duck who's on as well.
And it's not fun, but I've never heard that before. And so, yeah, formal dinner is a little bit more expensive than normal.
Holderness So Holderness are about four pound and formals about eight pounds.
But also you can bring family and friends from outside of boxwoods formals,
which is really cute because you can like introduce them to like the quaint little sides of Oxford that not a lot of people get to say.
And yeah, it's just really nice. One tough thing they say is you want to add anything.
Oh, maybe just after. We'll know who those people are going to be a seller.
So that's always really fun, even if you haven't been to formal. I like the jukebox is always like playing something like that, chatting.
It's just a really nice kind of vibe. Yeah. Do you have anything about the box, the remake.
Oh yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So the battery sells bottles of wine.
Yeah. And you're free to like buy those beforehand and then you can take Mentzer formal.
Yeah, I drink that with the meal which is very nice. Which means that you could take them down to their cell afterwards.
And I think now they've introduced a rule that you can take one bottle of your own alcohol from outside and formal.
You can't pick up the beer, but you can take it in formal, reasonably priced.
Yeah, especially if I say I think what's key about it, it's all I like Queens branding on it.
So, yeah, if my dog with a bottle of that, like, he'd probably stay in the kitchen also.
I love. I love that. Forget forgot by ox. Get the queen on both.
Yeah. Just another form of formal dinner that we have is we have subject and Hillary tab.
So what would your experience of these cases you want to start.
Yeah. So yeah, these are so much fun.
So it's kind of everyone from your subjects, including your cheater's, and you'll get dressed up and you have kind of like a fancy meal.
So yeah, it's kind of like we're to like socialise with your tutors and stuff outside of
kind of contact towers and also like get drunk with your tutors is very nice.
It's really fun. So I went to the Met languages once together where the 40 year old finalist, they said,
was kind of like the main cheater's app, like a different table, which is reading Kinkade's.
They've like done like four years together. It's their last. And some people kind of take speeches.
And then afterwards, you guys see Bucella Classic as I one English as well.
Which is called the Yule Feast, because it's kind of they have it around Christmas.
And it's like a traditional mediaeval themed feast, which feels very, very oxfords have so much fun.
They had like traditional food songs and traditions and stuff.
Yeah. That was a good. Nice solid. Do you have anything you want to add in there?
I think Kate is for me. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well yeah.
I remember one of my favourite things Diana was watching two of my teachers get really competitive at pool,
orientating and mahaba carrying them on depending on whose self-discipline, you know, the thing over.
So I think we've kind of really covered quite a lot of the food aspect of life at Queen's.
So just the clothes. I'd like to ask you each a question I ask everybody,
because I think that it's a really nice way of getting to know more about the college of each of you.
What is your favourite thing about college and why? Charlotte?
Do you want to go far? So I know that everyone from every college and every uni says this,
but I think Queens has to be like sort of the friendliest people that I've ever met.
It's just so nice and welcoming. And I really can't imagine being anywhere else.
Like, I just made so many friends here and met so many nice people.
And I just think it really is what makes Queen so special, because it just the people really do make Queens feel like I'm home.
And it made me settle in so much quicker. I was just so lovely. And yeah, I just I just think that that makes Queens really different and special.
Lovely. Casey, how about you? Yeah. I mean, yeah, it sounds a bit crazy, but I would say definitely the people as well.
I think like there's like a perception of Oxford as like very elitist or whatever.
The Queen's is just. I immediately felt at ease when I kind of got to uni because everyone is just so lovely.
People are just so friendly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I would I would agree. I think that yeah.
Like that's a really common thing that people say about Queens is it's super friendly college and it has a really nice vibe,
which I think I think is definitely true, even though obviously we're not biased in any way for us.
So thank you so much for speaking to me.
You guys have been really interesting and I'm sure everybody who listened feels they really have the eight that affected Queens now, which is perfect.
Yeah. Thank you so much for being here. And I'll see you both.
Thanks. Thanks. Thank you so much to Charlotte and Katie for that interesting conversation and a massive thank you to all of you who listened.
There are loads more access resources on the Queen's College website at W w w dot Queen's Dot Orkestar,
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