Krishan (2024)

Krishan is a Magdalen first-year studying PPE who currently lives in the Waynflete. He’ll be one of the last students to ever live there.

He spoke about what it was like to arrive and find his room in the Waynflete, and it was heart warming to see that the Magdalen community is still thriving in the Waynflete after all this time.

How has it been arriving at Magdalen and settling in?

Coming from Birmingham, it was surreal to walk around the streets of Oxford and see all this magnificent architecture everywhere. But Magdalen, it topped it all.

When I came, I was greeted by these grand courtyards and the Magdalen Tower, which was like, whoa! I felt like I needed to be more sophisticated. But having spent two weeks here, I’ve found that It’s not really like that all. Plus, the most amazing this about Magdalen is the people here – everyone is so friendly!

What’s it like living in the Waynflete?

There’s a really nice sense of community in the Waynflete. I mean, we all complain about the shared bathrooms, but we’re all in it together. Everyone’s lovely, and it’s great to be surrounded by like-minded individuals.

Do you feel like there’s a sense of community in the Waynflete, then?

Yeah, for sure! We’ve really bonded well together, especially because we’re living so close together. There aren’t any big communal spaces for us to get together – but we’ve found ways around it.

What have you done to spend time together?

Well, we’ve sort of started a Waynflete Dinner Society, and everyone’s just been sitting down in the corridors, eating together, which goes to show how tight-knit Magdalen’s community really is.

What’s the Waynflete Dinner Society?

It’s basically a group of freshers who are led by Alessandro, who’s an international student from Italy. He’s been cooking up massive amounts of pasta with some of the other freshers… It’s been really lovely because everyone’s making friends and eating together. It wasn’t what I expected when I came to Oxford.

Are there any downsides to the Waynflete?

I mean, there’s the shared bathrooms, and the fact we don’t really have anywhere to spend time together, but the rooms aren’t too small, and you can make them nice with decorations and things. Also, even though you’re outside College and further away, you’re close to Cowley, the Iffley Road gym, and other things Oxford has to offer.

To be honest, though, all of us are really looking forward to being in College Walls next year. I’ve seen a couple of the rooms that are in New Buildings or in Grove—they are really nice, so I’m looking forward to that.