1 00:00:00,090 --> 00:00:04,540 Hello and welcome to the Queen's Access podcast. It's so lovely to have you here. 2 00:00:04,540 --> 00:00:08,430 And I hope you find this a useful resource in learning more about life at Oxford. 3 00:00:08,430 --> 00:00:11,580 But more specifically about life at the Queen's College. 4 00:00:11,580 --> 00:00:18,540 My guests this week are Charlotte Murphy, a second year German student, and Katie Ballock, a second year studying English and French. 5 00:00:18,540 --> 00:00:24,420 And they are The Food Wrap's for the JCR. This year we'll have a chat about all things food at Queen's. 6 00:00:24,420 --> 00:00:31,350 My apologies for any poor audio. These interviews have all been conducted over Zoome and the Internet connexion isn't always completely reliable. 7 00:00:31,350 --> 00:00:45,920 For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Queen's website. I hope you enjoy. 8 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:51,650 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. 9 00:00:51,650 --> 00:00:56,330 So how you ended up in college. Katie, do you want to start us off? 10 00:00:56,330 --> 00:01:01,760 Yes. I mean, I. So Queen's on an open day. 11 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:08,420 And I think what attracts me to it first was just like, obviously, it's a really pretty college. 12 00:01:08,420 --> 00:01:10,610 It's very true. 13 00:01:10,610 --> 00:01:19,670 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. 14 00:01:19,670 --> 00:01:27,310 And also I had everywhere that it was just a really, really friendly college, which obviously to me sounded like a really good thing. 15 00:01:27,310 --> 00:01:31,640 So then you applied to Queen directly. Did you get pulled the whole interview? 16 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,200 Yes. Yes, I just had interviews at Queen's. Yeah. 17 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,930 And I stayed here. The interviews, frail, shallow about you so much. 18 00:01:38,930 --> 00:01:42,470 Kind of a funny story because basically at the end of year 10, 19 00:01:42,470 --> 00:01:50,900 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. 20 00:01:50,900 --> 00:01:56,120 And we didn't have any idea what was going on. I had no idea about the college system, about anything stimulus. 21 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:01,100 And so me and my friend were really scared. We just wander around Oxford aimlessly. 22 00:02:01,100 --> 00:02:09,110 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. 23 00:02:09,110 --> 00:02:15,920 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. 24 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:24,200 And then when I actually started to think about seriously applying, Queens came up again like I met a teacher from my class. 25 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,920 And it just seemed like really perfect. And yeah, it was just really nice. 26 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:32,270 Oh, lovely. So when were you the same as Katie? You apply directly to Queen? Yes. 27 00:02:32,270 --> 00:02:37,640 OK. So each of you then you just give me an idea of what a week looks like for you in Oxford. 28 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:41,150 Academically, socially, personally, any of that kind of thing. 29 00:02:41,150 --> 00:02:48,170 So, Charlotte, you want to start the fun? Yes. So every week I have an essay or two depending on the week. 30 00:02:48,170 --> 00:02:54,830 And in my first term, I had two essays a week, which was really fun. 31 00:02:54,830 --> 00:02:57,320 And second term, it got a bit a bit lighter. 32 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:04,160 And then every week I also have two translations, one into English and one one from Germany, English, someone from investors, German. 33 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:12,080 And then I have four tutorials and then two lectures and then just one class. 34 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:17,240 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. 35 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:23,460 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. 36 00:03:23,460 --> 00:03:30,710 I mean, socially, I just spent a lot of time with friends and go out quite a lot at night. 37 00:03:30,710 --> 00:03:35,360 Yeah. And obviously every single day I go to whole I have my lunch and whole. 38 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:39,830 That's, that's pretty nice because it's quite social. And then JCR to you at four o'clock. 39 00:03:39,830 --> 00:03:45,500 I do. Every day hopefully. Katie, how about you. 40 00:03:45,500 --> 00:03:49,130 Yes, so workwise probably pretty similar. 41 00:03:49,130 --> 00:03:59,570 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. 42 00:03:59,570 --> 00:04:03,460 Yeah. Guy going out a couple of times a week. Just. 43 00:04:03,460 --> 00:04:05,500 Yeah. Spending time with friends a lot. 44 00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:13,240 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. 45 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:20,370 So they have like a bit of a pool rivalry. Good news is just home. 46 00:04:20,370 --> 00:04:25,340 Yeah, there was one guy, those like him. It was a Saturday night, so there was quite a few families. 47 00:04:25,340 --> 00:04:31,430 And I mean, in case you had the pool table for like half an hour and all these like were watching us a lot, 48 00:04:31,430 --> 00:04:40,340 trying to share zone because we couldn't if it was awful. I would say about like one of the bathrooms. 49 00:04:40,340 --> 00:04:44,540 Not only very dark, sort of my chemistry knowledge increased my ability to play pool. 50 00:04:44,540 --> 00:04:51,320 I mean, it was a big wave, but it got off just to be safe. 51 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,390 Definitely capable of solved. 52 00:04:53,390 --> 00:05:04,280 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. 53 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:11,180 So I want to ask you both, how do males, a male choices generally work at Queens? 54 00:05:11,180 --> 00:05:19,070 Okay. If you want to stop. Yeah. Say breakfast and lunch, I'll kind of like a canteen style. 55 00:05:19,070 --> 00:05:22,040 So you just choose what you want and it's empty. 56 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:29,540 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. 57 00:05:29,540 --> 00:05:33,590 So you can book on to dinner and that's quite nice. 58 00:05:33,590 --> 00:05:38,150 Kids actually serve to you. Like you all sit down and then you'll see it comes out. 59 00:05:38,150 --> 00:05:45,500 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, 60 00:05:45,500 --> 00:05:49,580 like, specific diet, your kindness that you've eaten or free or something. 61 00:05:49,580 --> 00:05:55,450 And the kitchen will already know about that and that of Apache, something solid. 62 00:05:55,450 --> 00:05:59,450 Do you have anything you want to put that? I think cases could be quite a lot. 63 00:05:59,450 --> 00:06:05,780 But I guess in terms of food next year and whole, we so because there's a new chef arriving. 64 00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:09,990 So, yeah, it's gonna be nice to see what new food he introduces. 65 00:06:09,990 --> 00:06:14,510 But yeah, I do love food and it's really good. Yeah, it is. 66 00:06:14,510 --> 00:06:22,850 So we talked then briefly about dietary requirements. So what's it like eating it clean as somebody with a dietary requirements so solid. 67 00:06:22,850 --> 00:06:33,340 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, 68 00:06:33,340 --> 00:06:37,610 there's allergy cards so people can see if it's suitable for them to eat. 69 00:06:37,610 --> 00:06:42,050 And then also and that's always stuff that surfie the food when you ask for it. 70 00:06:42,050 --> 00:06:45,770 So you can always ask them if it's suitable for you and they're usually ready. 71 00:06:45,770 --> 00:06:50,720 Good like and some of my friends, I'll be gone and stuff like no now. 72 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,320 And they they just I've gotten to what speaker and what is it. 73 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:58,520 But they're really good with helping to figure it out and then and see at dinner, like Katie said, 74 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,960 the kitchen will already know if you have the actual crime, it's because you inform them before you arrive. 75 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,660 So and it just whenever you are constantly you what you'll be seen. 76 00:07:06,660 --> 00:07:11,520 Sex is suitable for you. Katie, do you have anything you want to put in there? 77 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:21,980 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. 78 00:07:21,980 --> 00:07:27,110 But one of the things that I said about the fact people in the kitchen is also really good because of the study. 79 00:07:27,110 --> 00:07:34,280 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. 80 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,990 And it means that, like, the servers know not to serve me anything. 81 00:07:38,990 --> 00:07:42,830 We're not fun and things like that. So it's like a very reassuring system. 82 00:07:42,830 --> 00:07:48,590 I know I'm not gonna eat anything that's going to cause anything dangerous to happen, which is which is brilliant. 83 00:07:48,590 --> 00:07:55,880 You got wrong jcr k every diet for. Can you explain what that is on why it's so amazing. 84 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:03,050 So Casey you want to star. Yeah. So I use it every day at 4:00 p.m. everyone comes into the JCR, 85 00:08:03,050 --> 00:08:10,370 which is like a common room because we sound Lozano's of snacks at cost price and including cheese and taste, 86 00:08:10,370 --> 00:08:18,740 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. 87 00:08:18,740 --> 00:08:23,360 And then because it happens every day, it's like you can just see your friends. 88 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:29,060 It's also quite nice. You can see because everyone comes from college, so you'll see people from other years and stuff. 89 00:08:29,060 --> 00:08:34,790 So it's really nice to kind of like make friends with, like, audience, 90 00:08:34,790 --> 00:08:43,490 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, 91 00:08:43,490 --> 00:08:48,240 which are really fun tonight. We selected dogs and slumps and stuff. 92 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:52,650 So, you know, it's just it's just really nice. Yeah, definitely. I love it. 93 00:08:52,650 --> 00:08:54,600 Charlotte, you want to play it again? 94 00:08:54,600 --> 00:09:01,550 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. 95 00:09:01,550 --> 00:09:05,890 And I think most colleges have a welfare to like once a week or something. 96 00:09:05,890 --> 00:09:11,730 And I honestly don't know how they cope. Like, I just love my days there. And it's just great because I. 97 00:09:11,730 --> 00:09:20,470 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. 98 00:09:20,470 --> 00:09:25,120 And it's just nice to see your friends. Like sometimes you don't see people in some places. 99 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:30,550 I just it's pretty nice way to, like, guarantee to see people go and see the homeless. 100 00:09:30,550 --> 00:09:34,410 And also a great thing about JSC is that you can work it. 101 00:09:34,410 --> 00:09:37,500 So you actually do get quite a good wage. 102 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:45,940 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. 103 00:09:45,940 --> 00:09:52,800 I went to it last, Herman. It's just a really good way of just like getting a little bit of money in. 104 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:57,960 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. 105 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:03,640 But there are loads of opportunities for things like working KSA, working behind the bar and the big fella there, 106 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,140 I mean, a student, ambassadors for interviews and open days get paid. 107 00:10:07,140 --> 00:10:14,640 So that can be a lot of experiences, full time work that very easily fit into your schedule. 108 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,870 So one of the things Oxford very famous for is informal dinners. 109 00:10:18,870 --> 00:10:23,130 So what are these like at Queen Charlotte? Do you want to go? Yes. 110 00:10:23,130 --> 00:10:28,520 At Queen's, we have formal dinner every single week. So it's every Saturday. 111 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,810 And it's really nice because you can just sit with your friends, 112 00:10:30,810 --> 00:10:36,740 you can have a nice meal and the food is a little bit more like fancy than dinner and lunch. 113 00:10:36,740 --> 00:10:42,780 And so you get to try new things that you might not have tried any time before, like I think there was. 114 00:10:42,780 --> 00:10:49,940 What was it like? Guinea fowl, one sausage and a duck duck who's on as well. 115 00:10:49,940 --> 00:10:55,680 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. 116 00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:01,020 Holderness So Holderness are about four pound and formals about eight pounds. 117 00:11:01,020 --> 00:11:05,400 But also you can bring family and friends from outside of boxwoods formals, 118 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:13,080 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. 119 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:21,140 And yeah, it's just really nice. One tough thing they say is you want to add anything. 120 00:11:21,140 --> 00:11:25,200 Oh, maybe just after. We'll know who those people are going to be a seller. 121 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:33,900 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. 122 00:11:33,900 --> 00:11:39,930 It's just a really nice kind of vibe. Yeah. Do you have anything about the box, the remake. 123 00:11:39,930 --> 00:11:46,340 Oh yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So the battery sells bottles of wine. 124 00:11:46,340 --> 00:11:51,660 Yeah. And you're free to like buy those beforehand and then you can take Mentzer formal. 125 00:11:51,660 --> 00:11:59,240 Yeah, I drink that with the meal which is very nice. Which means that you could take them down to their cell afterwards. 126 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:04,800 And I think now they've introduced a rule that you can take one bottle of your own alcohol from outside and formal. 127 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:09,150 You can't pick up the beer, but you can take it in formal, reasonably priced. 128 00:12:09,150 --> 00:12:13,830 Yeah, especially if I say I think what's key about it, it's all I like Queens branding on it. 129 00:12:13,830 --> 00:12:21,820 So, yeah, if my dog with a bottle of that, like, he'd probably stay in the kitchen also. 130 00:12:21,820 --> 00:12:26,580 I love. I love that. Forget forgot by ox. Get the queen on both. 131 00:12:26,580 --> 00:12:34,800 Yeah. Just another form of formal dinner that we have is we have subject and Hillary tab. 132 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:39,180 So what would your experience of these cases you want to start. 133 00:12:39,180 --> 00:12:41,670 Yeah. So yeah, these are so much fun. 134 00:12:41,670 --> 00:12:49,540 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. 135 00:12:49,540 --> 00:12:55,500 So yeah, it's kind of like we're to like socialise with your tutors and stuff outside of 136 00:12:55,500 --> 00:13:01,590 kind of contact towers and also like get drunk with your tutors is very nice. 137 00:13:01,590 --> 00:13:09,240 It's really fun. So I went to the Met languages once together where the 40 year old finalist, they said, 138 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:14,090 was kind of like the main cheater's app, like a different table, which is reading Kinkade's. 139 00:13:14,090 --> 00:13:20,520 They've like done like four years together. It's their last. And some people kind of take speeches. 140 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:29,760 And then afterwards, you guys see Bucella Classic as I one English as well. 141 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:34,260 Which is called the Yule Feast, because it's kind of they have it around Christmas. 142 00:13:34,260 --> 00:13:41,100 And it's like a traditional mediaeval themed feast, which feels very, very oxfords have so much fun. 143 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:44,520 They had like traditional food songs and traditions and stuff. 144 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:49,450 Yeah. That was a good. Nice solid. Do you have anything you want to add in there? 145 00:13:49,450 --> 00:13:53,220 I think Kate is for me. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well yeah. 146 00:13:53,220 --> 00:14:00,410 I remember one of my favourite things Diana was watching two of my teachers get really competitive at pool, 147 00:14:00,410 --> 00:14:09,000 orientating and mahaba carrying them on depending on whose self-discipline, you know, the thing over. 148 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:15,620 So I think we've kind of really covered quite a lot of the food aspect of life at Queen's. 149 00:14:15,620 --> 00:14:19,380 So just the clothes. I'd like to ask you each a question I ask everybody, 150 00:14:19,380 --> 00:14:24,780 because I think that it's a really nice way of getting to know more about the college of each of you. 151 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:28,280 What is your favourite thing about college and why? Charlotte? 152 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:33,400 Do you want to go far? So I know that everyone from every college and every uni says this, 153 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:38,700 but I think Queens has to be like sort of the friendliest people that I've ever met. 154 00:14:38,700 --> 00:14:44,080 It's just so nice and welcoming. And I really can't imagine being anywhere else. 155 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:48,540 Like, I just made so many friends here and met so many nice people. 156 00:14:48,540 --> 00:14:56,370 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. 157 00:14:56,370 --> 00:15:05,320 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. 158 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:13,720 Lovely. Casey, how about you? Yeah. I mean, yeah, it sounds a bit crazy, but I would say definitely the people as well. 159 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:20,250 I think like there's like a perception of Oxford as like very elitist or whatever. 160 00:15:20,250 --> 00:15:28,720 The Queen's is just. I immediately felt at ease when I kind of got to uni because everyone is just so lovely. 161 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,580 People are just so friendly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 162 00:15:33,580 --> 00:15:36,520 Yeah. I would I would agree. I think that yeah. 163 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:42,280 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, 164 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:49,600 which I think I think is definitely true, even though obviously we're not biased in any way for us. 165 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,640 So thank you so much for speaking to me. 166 00:15:51,640 --> 00:16:00,180 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. 167 00:16:00,180 --> 00:16:04,110 Yeah. Thank you so much for being here. And I'll see you both. 168 00:16:04,110 --> 00:16:22,090 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. 169 00:16:22,090 --> 00:16:27,540 There are loads more access resources on the Queen's College website at W w w dot Queen's Dot Orkestar, 170 00:16:27,540 --> 00:16:33,970 Acey Dot UK Forward slash access dash outreach. And you can find out more about the college in general through its website, 171 00:16:33,970 --> 00:16:41,952 Twitter and Instagram, including on the Access Twitter at Queen's Outreach.