1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:06,570 Hello, I'm Kyla. I'm a second year chemist and I'm the access and outreach rap for the Queens College, Oxford. 2 00:00:06,570 --> 00:00:11,520 Welcome to the pilot episode of the Queen's Access podcast. It's so lovely to have you here. 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,720 And I hope you find this a useful resource and learning more about life at Oxford. 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,750 But more specifically, about life at the Queen's College. 5 00:00:18,750 --> 00:00:27,270 My guest this week is Saren Ford, who's just finished her first year studying biochemistry and who acts as the female welfare app for the Queen's JCR. 6 00:00:27,270 --> 00:00:34,110 She'll talk us through some aspects of her life at Oxford, and we'll have a chat about how Queen supports the welfare of its students. 7 00:00:34,110 --> 00:00:48,310 I hope you enjoy. Hi, Sara. 8 00:00:48,310 --> 00:00:52,420 How are you? I'm doing well, thank you. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. 9 00:00:52,420 --> 00:00:57,440 Thanks so much for agreeing to talk to me. That's their problem. 10 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:05,650 So I think to Star, if you could just tell me a little bit about yourself, please, kind of, you know, way off from what your background is. 11 00:01:05,650 --> 00:01:14,910 Yeah, sure. So I live in the southeast of England in Kent, and I went to a selective state grammar for both. 12 00:01:14,910 --> 00:01:20,350 Yes, seven to eleven. And I changed school for sick form to a different state. 13 00:01:20,350 --> 00:01:29,200 Selective grammar in London. So that sick for school was like very competitive to get in. 14 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,150 You have to set a paper for each subject. You want to do in a level in well. 15 00:01:33,150 --> 00:01:44,560 And they had about 20 people go to Oxbridge every year because anyone from all over London where I live, which isn't in London, could get to it. 16 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,510 It was quite easy to travel to. 17 00:01:46,510 --> 00:01:54,990 People came from all over to go there because I knew like a good track record with getting people into, like, group unis. 18 00:01:54,990 --> 00:02:03,670 Yes. So I had quite a bit of support from school and could speak to people who had applied to Oxbridge. 19 00:02:03,670 --> 00:02:09,250 I think no one in the past year had done biochemistry, which is the subject that I'm currently doing. 20 00:02:09,250 --> 00:02:17,320 And I've just finished my first year. But still, the school had experience with people going off to do interviews and things like that. 21 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:22,600 Yes. You had kind of those resources available to access, if that's what you wanted to do. 22 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,920 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, so tell me about your queen's journey. 23 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:31,900 So not just Oxford, but how did you specifically end up at Queen's? 24 00:02:31,900 --> 00:02:39,340 So I came to Queen's via a quite interesting route, so I didn't apply to Queen's in the first place. 25 00:02:39,340 --> 00:02:45,940 I applied to St John's because I couldn't really decide what college to go to and it was closed to the by chem department. 26 00:02:45,940 --> 00:02:50,800 It had accommodation for all four years. So Queen's does this as well. 27 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,180 But some colleges you have to like, find a house in second year. 28 00:02:55,180 --> 00:02:59,770 So I like that about St John's. And I thought the queen still does. 29 00:02:59,770 --> 00:03:08,230 So I had an interview at St John's and maudlin. It's quite common for subjects to have an interview at more than one college. 30 00:03:08,230 --> 00:03:13,390 Like for biochemistry, currently that happens for almost everyone. 31 00:03:13,390 --> 00:03:17,830 And then I got an open offer underwritten by St John's. 32 00:03:17,830 --> 00:03:23,050 So that basically means that I could have ended up at any college. 33 00:03:23,050 --> 00:03:29,500 But if every space was full, St John's would have to take me kind of thing. 34 00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:37,870 So then on results day, I found out I go into Queen's. So I hadn't even had the chance to look around Queen's on one of the open days. 35 00:03:37,870 --> 00:03:44,470 So my first day of fresher's was the first time I'd even stepped foot into Queen's. 36 00:03:44,470 --> 00:03:55,210 Well, I'm so glad I've ended up here. My college parents, they send everyone a letter in the welcome email you receive if you met your offer. 37 00:03:55,210 --> 00:04:00,100 And then they answered all of my questions I had about the college or my subject 38 00:04:00,100 --> 00:04:05,860 and helped me learn more about life at Queen's and made me feel really welcome. So I'm so glad I've ended up here. 39 00:04:05,860 --> 00:04:06,970 Oh, that's lovely. 40 00:04:06,970 --> 00:04:14,080 I think it's important to talk about that as well, because I don't think a lot of people are kind of fully aware how the OpenOffice system works. 41 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:19,510 I think it's really interesting to see your perspective from the definitely and my school. 42 00:04:19,510 --> 00:04:20,410 So as I said, 43 00:04:20,410 --> 00:04:29,560 I have quite a few people go to Oxbridge every year and my director of sexual thought teacher hadn't ever encountered anyone with an open offer. 44 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:36,670 They didn't know what that was or what it meant, really. So there is information about it online, but not a lot. 45 00:04:36,670 --> 00:04:45,430 Well, thank you for. Thank you for sharing that with us with us today. So what do you think is the best thing about studying biochemistry at Oxford? 46 00:04:45,430 --> 00:04:50,950 Because as you say, you were the first person like nobody in the air above you applied for biochem. 47 00:04:50,950 --> 00:04:55,990 So what do you think makes biochem special? Oxford so the boy can. 48 00:04:55,990 --> 00:05:01,070 Department of Oxford is so good and it's reading really big as well. 49 00:05:01,070 --> 00:05:07,390 I know a lot of other unis by chemistry sort of seen as a bit of a niche subject. 50 00:05:07,390 --> 00:05:16,300 But here the department is so big. And also there are a lot of contact hours, others with almost all the STEM degrees the Oxford does. 51 00:05:16,300 --> 00:05:20,580 So you have like lectures, classes, tutorials and practicals. 52 00:05:20,580 --> 00:05:26,370 And that allows you, even though it is quite hectic at times and you do have quite a lot of work, 53 00:05:26,370 --> 00:05:31,630 it allows you to develop and develop a really good understanding of the subject. 54 00:05:31,630 --> 00:05:34,090 And I think that's really one of the strengths of the class. 55 00:05:34,090 --> 00:05:42,730 The amount of different things that you do like different subject areas, because biochemistry isn't just like biology plus chemistry. 56 00:05:42,730 --> 00:05:47,860 It's a whole lot of other things. And you get to learn in all sorts of different ways. 57 00:05:47,860 --> 00:05:53,770 And every Friday and first you have like basically a whole day in the lab. 58 00:05:53,770 --> 00:06:01,570 So by Chemistry Oxford, it's definitely someone I'd recommend to study biochemistry specifically. 59 00:06:01,570 --> 00:06:05,120 Brilliant. So we were talking then about contract hours and how you. 60 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:13,260 It was a split, so you give me an idea of kind of what does a week look like in your life, both academically and personally at Oxford? 61 00:06:13,260 --> 00:06:23,940 Yeah, sure. So the typical week varies quite a lot between the different years in the biochemistry course the first year. 62 00:06:23,940 --> 00:06:29,820 Every Friday, I had a lab day, so that was sort of four or five hours in the lab. 63 00:06:29,820 --> 00:06:39,390 I had about two classes a week, which is went to different colleges that biochem students get together and go over the answers 64 00:06:39,390 --> 00:06:47,700 to a problem sheet that could be on mats or biological chemistry or biophysical chemistry. 65 00:06:47,700 --> 00:06:51,660 And then I had about 10 lectures every week. 66 00:06:51,660 --> 00:07:02,010 It did vary a little bit. Sometimes it was more like twelve. And then about one tutorial I had some weeks with, like, no tutorials. 67 00:07:02,010 --> 00:07:05,340 And then one week in the town that's just gone. 68 00:07:05,340 --> 00:07:09,660 I had three in one week. So it sort of averages out to about one a week. 69 00:07:09,660 --> 00:07:16,500 And that's quite standard for biochemistry. Mm hmm. And then around this is like social things. 70 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:21,180 I started learning to row in classic Oxford fashion. 71 00:07:21,180 --> 00:07:25,470 The river was really high during this past academic year. 72 00:07:25,470 --> 00:07:31,350 So it was a lot of just during the whole of rowing machine. But we didn't get to go out a couple of times. 73 00:07:31,350 --> 00:07:38,430 Did you enjoy learning to row? Yeah. It was really, really welcoming because some sports at Oxford, 74 00:07:38,430 --> 00:07:44,970 they have very competitive teams and things like that where people have been doing 75 00:07:44,970 --> 00:07:49,650 that sport all their lives and they come to Oxford to sort of continue doing it. 76 00:07:49,650 --> 00:07:53,070 But with rowing, it's something that almost no one has done before. 77 00:07:53,070 --> 00:08:02,740 So it's you don't have the sort of pressure, like if you want to try something new. 78 00:08:02,740 --> 00:08:09,520 And that's what I really enjoyed about it. Like, I haven't done that much sport before coming to Oxford, so getting involved in something like that. 79 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:14,060 Or sorry. So again, a friendly was really nice. Yeah, definitely. 80 00:08:14,060 --> 00:08:18,110 And then what do you kind of what do you fit in in your downtime. 81 00:08:18,110 --> 00:08:25,190 So when you're not, when you're not rowing, when you're not doing academics, kind of when you're not doing structured social events. 82 00:08:25,190 --> 00:08:27,110 How do you how do you relax? 83 00:08:27,110 --> 00:08:36,320 So one of the things I did do during a second term, which is known as Hillary of Oxford all the time to help Strange Night, 84 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:42,590 is that I learnt to knit as part of a project that was making a blanket for charity. 85 00:08:42,590 --> 00:08:45,740 So I learnt how to do that. So that was quite cool. 86 00:08:45,740 --> 00:08:58,040 And as part of the LGBTQ plus Çok, I met friends that we like, watched wrinkles, dry greys and stuff like Bob. 87 00:08:58,040 --> 00:08:59,360 So that was really nice. 88 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:09,950 So societies are a good way to meet people from all the colleges that have similar interests as yourself and the college ball. 89 00:09:09,950 --> 00:09:16,700 Even though I don't drink, alcohol was a really nice place to go in the evenings and meet up with friends and have a chat. 90 00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:20,690 And the same for the JCR Common Room. Yeah. 91 00:09:20,690 --> 00:09:29,300 So just I'll just quickly explain for those of you who are listening who might not be familiar with the term JCR Starns Virginia Common Room, 92 00:09:29,300 --> 00:09:33,860 and it represents both a body of people and a physical room that happens in college. 93 00:09:33,860 --> 00:09:40,940 So the Genea Common Room is room in college that has like we've got a TV and a 94 00:09:40,940 --> 00:09:45,940 PlayStation thing and a kitchen and sofas and it's just a nice social space. 95 00:09:45,940 --> 00:09:50,780 It's always open. But the JCR is also a body of students. 96 00:09:50,780 --> 00:10:00,200 So the JCR represents all of the undergraduates in the college. I believe you can opt in or opt out, but the majority of students opt into JCR. 97 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,510 There's a committee called the JCR executive where there's different rep. 98 00:10:04,510 --> 00:10:12,000 So one of the things that I'm talking about with Seren later on in this episode is that Saren acts as the female welfare rep. 99 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:17,030 I act as the access and outreach rep. So their positions that you can run for within the JCR. 100 00:10:17,030 --> 00:10:23,910 So I just thought I cleared up because I remember being quite confused about what the JCR actually was before I got to work with. 101 00:10:23,910 --> 00:10:27,900 Yeah, there's a lot of folks with specific language, but you want your hair. 102 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:32,610 You do get to grips with it very quickly. It's just quite disorientating at first. 103 00:10:32,610 --> 00:10:36,440 Yeah, definitely. Well, moving on then, given that we've just talked about it. 104 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:41,850 So you as I said, the female welfare for JCR. So what does that job entail? 105 00:10:41,850 --> 00:10:53,400 What are your responsibilities within that role? So the term occiput is eight weeks long and in fifth week for all across the universe. 106 00:10:53,400 --> 00:11:00,150 That's known as Welfare Week. So what am I alone with a male welfare rep? 107 00:11:00,150 --> 00:11:08,460 Do is help run events to give people some like added downtime and different ways to enjoy themselves. 108 00:11:08,460 --> 00:11:19,020 So we work, run like JTR, dance in the morning and JCR sort of t's like 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon and movie nights and hot 109 00:11:19,020 --> 00:11:27,540 chocolate and different things like that because the term is shorter than most other universities. 110 00:11:27,540 --> 00:11:32,020 So the workload is quite compressed. So you have a lot going on. 111 00:11:32,020 --> 00:11:38,340 So it's nice to have that sort of halfway mark. So like you, you're more than halfway. 112 00:11:38,340 --> 00:11:43,140 And just to give people a bit of a breather. Yeah, definitely. 113 00:11:43,140 --> 00:11:51,870 As well as running that, my main job is sort of to signpost people to the qualified people, 114 00:11:51,870 --> 00:12:00,060 like the welfare officer in Queens as well as other sort of staff who was specific for welfare or different issues, 115 00:12:00,060 --> 00:12:05,880 as well as just to be that to like have a chat with people if they want that. 116 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:11,940 And also in terms of like specific places for people to get help. 117 00:12:11,940 --> 00:12:21,420 The Humans of Queens Facebook page has a couple of posts where people talk about how Queens supported them with mental health issues. 118 00:12:21,420 --> 00:12:28,380 So that's a good place to look like people have talked about their experience with the disability advisory service expert. 119 00:12:28,380 --> 00:12:35,880 So that's a unique Y thing to help discuss different options and put things in place early. 120 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:44,880 So you will have support when you arrive here and they can continue to support you throughout your whole time at Oxford. 121 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:51,570 For example, encouraging you to apply for funding for disabled students and things like that. 122 00:12:51,570 --> 00:12:57,180 Yeah, no, it's it's it's really nice. I think a point to mention as well would be. 123 00:12:57,180 --> 00:13:04,090 So Sarah and I are quite good friends and we have gone on quite a few welfare dog walks that she's organised. 124 00:13:04,090 --> 00:13:07,680 So do you want to tell the podcast about Bailey, the border collie? 125 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:18,210 Yeah. So it started when my the previous female welfare rep for the Queen's JCR. 126 00:13:18,210 --> 00:13:25,140 There's a website called Borrow My Doggy and you can basically just take someone's dog who signed up to this. 127 00:13:25,140 --> 00:13:28,620 Go meet them at their house and take the dog for a walk. 128 00:13:28,620 --> 00:13:39,240 So then during the past, before Cobh and I did it sort of like every other week, basically taking a valy, 129 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:45,480 the border collie who was really, really sweet for a walk or on the Christchurch Meadows so anyone could come. 130 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:53,160 We have a JCR Facebook page, and I just put a little post on there saying if you want to come of this time, gonna go for a walk. 131 00:13:53,160 --> 00:14:01,540 And people really, really enjoyed that. And I was so glad because some colleges do have like a college cap or college torture's or something. 132 00:14:01,540 --> 00:14:03,920 The queen doesn't have any college pads. 133 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:11,760 So it was nice to do something like this for people who do miss their pets and also just want to get out in Christchurch Meadows, 134 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,160 which is a really lovely place to walk around. 135 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:22,470 Yeah, it was really nice and it was really nice to have that kind of set time to decompress because it stopped you. 136 00:14:22,470 --> 00:14:27,810 You know, I know personally I can spend a couple of hours kind of scrolling aimlessly through Instagram. 137 00:14:27,810 --> 00:14:37,710 I think it was really nice to be able to have a dedicated kind of two hours where we did just go for a walk with a very, very cute dog. 138 00:14:37,710 --> 00:14:40,770 Have a nice time. So when we were talking about stress earlier. 139 00:14:40,770 --> 00:14:47,430 So Oxford's an academic powerhouse and it's often viewed from the outside as like it would be a very stressful environment. 140 00:14:47,430 --> 00:14:52,340 So how important do you think the university considers student welfare? 141 00:14:52,340 --> 00:14:57,770 So I think Oxford as an institution could still be doing a lot more. 142 00:14:57,770 --> 00:15:02,360 But the atmosphere between the students is very supportive. 143 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:07,360 It doesn't really feel like competitive in a way. 144 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,270 And there is also a lot of support on offer. 145 00:15:11,270 --> 00:15:17,870 So we have the JCR welfare reps like me. Everyone has a moral sheesha. 146 00:15:17,870 --> 00:15:22,370 So this term varies in name between the different colleges. 147 00:15:22,370 --> 00:15:28,670 But what it basically means, it's one of the tutors at Queens who does your subjects, 148 00:15:28,670 --> 00:15:38,180 who may or may not necessarily give you tutorials, but they are someone who you go show you if you have any problems. 149 00:15:38,180 --> 00:15:47,420 Queens has a dedicated welfare officer and we also have a dean who is the head of sort of discipline on welfare. 150 00:15:47,420 --> 00:15:53,270 You go to as well as the junior deans who are DFL students. 151 00:15:53,270 --> 00:15:59,570 So they're sort of currently doing a P.H. day at Oxford. So they're a little bit older and they have training. 152 00:15:59,570 --> 00:16:06,350 So from, I think eight p.m. to eight a.m. So if someone's had like a mental health crisis in the night, 153 00:16:06,350 --> 00:16:11,330 you can phone them via the lodge and the lodge. 154 00:16:11,330 --> 00:16:16,790 I don't know. Carla, do you want to sort of explain what that is? And then I can talk about how it sort of links to welfare. 155 00:16:16,790 --> 00:16:25,940 Yeah, of course. So the largest, the porter's lodge. So Queen's, as with all Oxford colleges, has a dedicated rota of porters. 156 00:16:25,940 --> 00:16:30,830 They are in the lodge 24 hours every day, including Christmas. 157 00:16:30,830 --> 00:16:35,300 They're very committed and they deal with a lot of things in Queens. 158 00:16:35,300 --> 00:16:40,640 So they deal with a lot of the security. So they watch the security cameras. 159 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,000 They make sure that nobody comes into Queens who isn't supposed to. 160 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:51,350 So Queens is closed to tourists. So they kind of they patrolled the they so everybody's post that. 161 00:16:51,350 --> 00:16:58,760 People you go to if you've lost your key. If you've got a university card that just generally kind of the first port of call if anything's gone wrong. 162 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:06,140 But one of the main things about the courses is if you have any kind of issue, you can always contact them and they'll sign posted to some people. 163 00:17:06,140 --> 00:17:10,910 So to give an example of kind of how important the lodge are in the running of college 164 00:17:10,910 --> 00:17:16,880 is if something happens and you have an accident and you need to call an ambulance. 165 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:21,020 One of your friends calls nine nine nine while the other calls the Lodge like they're all very important. 166 00:17:21,020 --> 00:17:25,940 They help to sign post. If any medical needs to come into college, they can tell them exactly where you are. 167 00:17:25,940 --> 00:17:32,870 They can take you to them. Everybody has the largest number in their phone and they're also really good in that you can call them. 168 00:17:32,870 --> 00:17:37,580 If you're generally having a bit of a crisis, you can call them even if you're not in Queens at the time. 169 00:17:37,580 --> 00:17:44,060 So if any kind of event happens outside of college and you need to be picked up, you can ring the lodge. 170 00:17:44,060 --> 00:17:50,180 They're very accessible. Another thing to mention as well, which isn't strictly welfare related sort of is, 171 00:17:50,180 --> 00:17:54,590 is the pool of the lodges in Oxford are open to all Oxford students. 172 00:17:54,590 --> 00:18:00,710 So even though you kind of it's not necessarily, you know, you're wandering in and out of colleges all the time. 173 00:18:00,710 --> 00:18:06,620 What it does mean is that if you're in a situation where you feel that you're in danger or you feel that you need immediate health, 174 00:18:06,620 --> 00:18:10,380 you can go into the nearest college, which realistically is probably very near. 175 00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:17,000 The colleges are everywhere. You can go into the nearest college, speak to that porters, and they will contact the queen's porters. 176 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,360 They'll give you any help you need. So the porters are really good resources. 177 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:27,260 Arzamas saying you can contact the Dunedin's via the lodge and they can help with mental health crisis's. 178 00:18:27,260 --> 00:18:30,170 They can help with any kind of problems you're having. 179 00:18:30,170 --> 00:18:35,720 They can also help if people have perhaps had too much to drink and they're not exactly in the safe situation. 180 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:39,470 So what kind of things to seran? Do you want to take over from them? Yeah, sure. 181 00:18:39,470 --> 00:18:43,640 Thanks. I was really good explanation of how the lodge runs. 182 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:51,840 So as Carla said, everyone has the Queen's Lodge mobile phone number so you can phone them at any time. 183 00:18:51,840 --> 00:19:02,370 And for example, in a case of assault or something like that, they can phone you a taxi if you need to go to the hospital or a specific place. 184 00:19:02,370 --> 00:19:07,610 And again, as Carla said, that's how you can get in contact with the junior deans. 185 00:19:07,610 --> 00:19:19,190 So they all so wonderful that all such lovely people and they all, I think, may be kind of a sort of underrated welfare resource like they are. 186 00:19:19,190 --> 00:19:24,890 They know exactly what's going on in college. They know how to get you the help you need. 187 00:19:24,890 --> 00:19:30,680 Mm hmm. Yeah. Know, definitely. I think that's true. I don't imagine Eighteens got enough kind of appreciation on. 188 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:36,320 I didn't know they even existed until I go into Freshers Week and we had to acquire them. 189 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:44,060 And I mean, I personally have never called them. But there's certainly been times where I've been glad that they are there in a situation. 190 00:19:44,060 --> 00:19:49,580 It's kind of been like I think this can be dealt with with the people who are in this situation. 191 00:19:49,580 --> 00:19:56,160 But as a backup, we know that we can. Eighteens on one June 18 lives in each of the queen's buildings. 192 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:02,010 So they are very, very, very accessible. So one lives in Carrodus Quad one lives and all dates will miss and call it out. 193 00:20:02,010 --> 00:20:07,080 So no matter what year of college you're in, if you're in a queen's building as a junior, Jane. 194 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,960 Very, very close to you. So they're always there to help. 195 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:15,120 So I think well, I was going to ask kind of what support is available to somebody struggling at Queen's. 196 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,480 But I feel like we've probably covered that. Is there anything else you'd want to offer? 197 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,170 So in terms of just a couple of things to add. 198 00:20:22,170 --> 00:20:33,690 There was also a college nurse and the college is linked to like a GP service on Beaumont Street that you can go to. 199 00:20:33,690 --> 00:20:41,070 And then there's also the Disability Advisory Service, which can which is a union wide thing I mentioned earlier, 200 00:20:41,070 --> 00:20:51,240 that can help in terms of like mental health, like long term problems, and then getting you sort of disability funding and things like that. 201 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,270 Yeah. Now, I think they're both really important resources. 202 00:20:54,270 --> 00:21:00,690 I know I've certainly hit up Beaumont Street a couple of times with some pretty rough cases of freshers flu. 203 00:21:00,690 --> 00:21:04,470 So, yeah, is a very useful resource. And also I fall over a lot. 204 00:21:04,470 --> 00:21:10,410 So by college man, this is probably need me to bandage my knee know. So it's been so lovely talking to you. 205 00:21:10,410 --> 00:21:18,280 I feel as my last question, I'd ask you a bit of a general thing. So what is your favourite thing about college and why? 206 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,350 So there are so many things I like about Queens. 207 00:21:21,350 --> 00:21:31,190 One of the things that I found most useful in first year was how much the second Jesus supported us and got to know us. 208 00:21:31,190 --> 00:21:37,520 So that was really great to find all sorts of bits of advice because Precious Week is only a week long, 209 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:43,430 but it isn't really long enough to tell you sort of all the workings of the university and the college 210 00:21:43,430 --> 00:21:49,520 and how we don't sort of subject works and all the different things going on like the end of term event, 211 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:59,660 for example. So that was really lovely to be a seller of a college ball, as I mentioned earlier, even for people who don't drink. 212 00:21:59,660 --> 00:22:03,910 It's a really nice place to go and like, chill out in the evenings. 213 00:22:03,910 --> 00:22:08,510 And I know that alcohol is sometimes something that people are quite concerned about. 214 00:22:08,510 --> 00:22:16,220 So I don't drink alcohol and I've never felt pressured to drink alcohol, even though the vast majority of my friends do drink. 215 00:22:16,220 --> 00:22:23,030 So I thought something that you are concerned about, I would I sort of don't worry too much about it. 216 00:22:23,030 --> 00:22:25,670 And you could people so always come speak to us. 217 00:22:25,670 --> 00:22:33,950 One of the welfare reps or the welfare officer or anybody like that, if you do have concerns about that sort of thing. 218 00:22:33,950 --> 00:22:42,250 But yeah, the second year were so useful for us and I hope that we won't be useful for you to this group. 219 00:22:42,250 --> 00:22:46,670 So, yeah, I think college parenting is a really important resource as well. 220 00:22:46,670 --> 00:22:48,200 It's Lee always talk about. 221 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:55,020 I relied on my college parents a law that was a topic I was struggling with and I told my college father I was struggling with it. 222 00:22:55,020 --> 00:23:00,560 And about three days later, he sent me about five different links to PowerPoint presentations, explained it. 223 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:01,900 And he was like, Oh, I don't even study this. 224 00:23:01,900 --> 00:23:07,000 Vanimo but I went online and found some stuff because yes, I know that because I didn't take his A-levels. 225 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:13,250 So he hit me with a lot of this as its content. And that was I was reading off. Well, thank you so much for talking to me. 226 00:23:13,250 --> 00:23:18,090 I really appreciate that. I've really enjoyed this little chat and I think it's been really useful. 227 00:23:18,090 --> 00:23:23,190 Oh, me, too. Thank you so much for having me. No problem. Have a lovely week. 228 00:23:23,190 --> 00:23:42,270 You too. OK. I'll speak to you soon. Bye. Thank you so much to seran for that insightful conversation. 229 00:23:42,270 --> 00:23:44,970 And a massive thank you to all of you who listened. 230 00:23:44,970 --> 00:23:55,230 There are loads more access resources on the Queen's College website at W W W Dot Queen's Dot Oxford or AC Dot UK Forward slash access dash outreach. 231 00:23:55,230 --> 00:24:04,288 And you can find out more about the college in general through its website, Twitter and Instagram.