Aparna (2024)

Aparna is a first-year Human Sciences student at Magdalen. She is one of the last students to live in the Waynflete, so we wanted to hear more about what it’s like living there.

Aparna talked about how the Magdalen community really lends itself to collective experiences and communal living. While the Waynflete may be changing, the new updates will allow these parts of Magdalen life to flourish.

How are you settling in?

I would say that settling into Oxford is hectic for everyone, but the people here have made it so that any advice I need, or any emotional crisis I might be feeling (haha!) there’s always someone I can go to.

So how did you find arriving at Magdalen?

Well, Magdalen is, in my very unbiased opinion, the prettiest college, so when I found out that my accommodation was about two minutes up the street in a very not-so-Magdalen-looking building, it wasn’t the best, I would say, but it has its perks.

What kind of perks have you experienced at the Waynflete?

I think it actually has a really lovely social aspect. We have breakfast together and we cook together, and things like getting ready for balls and other events are so communal and collective. I’ll just invite a couple of girls into my room and be like, let’s all get ready together, and it’s just a really cute thing that we can do.  It has definitely made making friends feel a bit easier.

What do you hope will change in the new building?

There aren’t any real communal spaces in the Waynflete at the moment. It would be so nice to have a place to hang out together, like a common room or something like that. I just think that because the community is so strong, we would benefit from something like that.