Get Your Head Out of Your Ass and Register for Your Genny Lex

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Monday 6/3

C: We started our morning by popping over to Harlesden, where Callum has renamed the boys’ flat the “Divorced Dad’s Co-Working Space ®” in honor of some recently single bachelors who are deep in their feels. Callum’s Icelandic friend was in town for a few days, so we chatted for a while about our respective Masters programs and convinced Callum to sneak the word “yeet” into his work video recording. 

After a productive few hours, we walked to a cafe in Roundwood Park for lunch, enjoying the sunny weather. Eventually, Zoe and I were burned out of work, so we walked home, dropped off our bags, then walked to Lidl to grocery shop for the week. We were halfway there when I remembered I would be out of town for most of the week and didn’t need to meal prep. Oops!

We ended the day watching the first episode of Love Island and judging all of the new hot singles in the villa. I needed to turn captions on for a very exuberant Welsh girl.

Tuesday 6/4

Z: I spent most of the day working from home, which entailed applying to jobs and doing my classwork. I also sat in the living room scrolling Instagram with Catja where I realized that people here are calling the General Election the “Genny Lex,” which we think is incredible. This seems like a good time to tell everyone to register to vote in your respective Genny Lex! I then headed to school for my evening class. 

C: I sat in my room for several hours struggling through a massive creative block, intense imposter syndrome, and tumultuous waves of anxiety. Eventually, I finally thought of an idea for my exhibition that I didn’t hate and actually thought had potential. So I sat in my room cutting many cardboard hexagons.

Oh also an attractive young man named Dan with one earring knocked on the door to fundraise for a children’s cancer charity. He was not very good at his job because he only realized I was too young to donate (the minimum age is 25 for some reason) five minutes into his chaotic spiel. But he was funny and I do hope he calls again.

Wednesday 6/5

Z: Wednesday was a life admin day. I did my laundry, cleaned my room, and worked on my dissertation. I attended a virtual careers panel for my program, which ended up being not very helpful, but c’est la vie. I then spent half an hour trying to replace the hose on our shower. I was very unsuccessful, as I could not unscrew the old hose that had probably been on there for ages. Shout out to Luke (ginger) who was able to replace it!

C: I woke up early to catch a train up to Lancaster for my final Fulbright forum. However, the day had other plans for me. My friend texted me at 7 saying that Euston Station was down due to an incident on the rails, and all trains were either severely delayed or canceled. So instead of going to Euston, I met some friends at King’s Cross to find an alternative route. I started vlogging my day at that point because I had a feeling things were going to get wild.

We caught a train to Leeds, just northeast of Manchester, and grabbed lunch. Then, we hopped on a train to Preston, which is in between Leeds and Lancaster. As our poor luck would have it, the trains at Preston stopped because of an electrical rail malfunction, so we were stuck on the platform for an hour. We met up with the US–UK Fulbright commission team at Leeds, so we all hung out at Preston chatting about our adventures. Despite being in transit for 5+ hours at this point, we were in surprisingly good spirits! My friends and I gave each other our research presentations on the train since we missed the actual event at Lancaster Uni. The Commission talked about current UK politics ahead of the election, teaching us a lot about what to expect in the genny lex. 

Finally, a diesel train arrived (yay fossil fuels) to help with the delays from the electric trains, and we eventually made it to Lancaster! The Commission bought us a taxi so we didn’t have to walk to the bus stop, and we drove through city center to get to the Lancaster University campus. We arrived just in time to miss the final presentations and eat leftovers from lunch before checking into our guest rooms. Later, we attended a lovely dinner consisting of a chicken breast, half of a carrot, and broccoli. There was a bar for us, but a bottle of wine was £18!! So we passed on that. We received cute little Fulbright alumni pins, took a group photo, then retired to our bedchambers. 

I attempted to watch Love Island, but the wifi autocorrected my name to “Carjacking” (that’s a new one) and wouldn’t let me stream ITVX or even go on Spotify. My hotspot took the L and tried its best to accommodate my screen time needs. 

Thursday 6/6

Z: This week I was on the career grind, so I went to UCL for another career evening and networking event. To be completely honest I really did not want to go because I can be painfully awkward at networking events, but I hyped myself up and went. It was not at all worth it. I arrived and somehow ended up being the first person in this massive room. There were two sides of the room, one had tables with chairs and the other rows. Naturally, since it was a presentation, I opted for the rows. No one else did. I was sitting alone all the way on the other side of the space in a room full of people. Obviously I could not move because somehow that would be more embarrassing. Luckily, we moved to another space and I found a seat next to other people. Most of the panel was on freelance work, which is one of the few things I am legally unable to do on my visa (yay), so after all of that, the panel was also super unhelpful. So rather than forcing myself to socialize further, I opted to head home, make myself a tea, and watch Love Island until my social anxiety subsided. 

C: We went on a Fulbright field trip to the Lake District today! We went on a boat tour around Lake Windermere of Taylor Swift’s “The Lakes” fame. Fighter jets were flying low overhead, and I didn’t realize how thrilled I was by military planes until I realized how many videos I took of them. It felt like Top Gun. On the boat, we passed by several cool landmarks, including an inlet where local military training camps practiced D-Day landings (fitting for the 80th anniversary today), William Wordsworth’s family home, Rydal Mount, and “Millionaire’s Row.” 

Later, we hopped back on the coach bus to drive up to Grasmere, a small village known for Wordsworth’s grave and a 170 year old gingerbread recipe invented by Sarah Nelson. We pottered around for a few hours, eating gingerbread, visiting a Tea Garden, stopping by a Peter Rabbit shop, and observing local artisans’ wares. We climbed back onto the bus for our 90 minute drive back to Lancaster. The winding, bumpy roads plus the hot, stuffy bus resulted in nearly everyone suffering from acute motion sickness. We passed Dramamine down the seats. Later, we went into the small city for an Italian dinner and McFlurries for dessert. All in all an excellent day.

Friday 6/7

Z: I texted Callum on Thursday to see if the Divorced Dad’s Co-Working Space ® was open and arranged to spend the day there. So I headed over after my group project meeting. After unsuccessfully trying to open the door to their flat building, I turned around looking for help and met the eyes of a “trained killer”...Ethan King. I knew he was making a trip up for the weekend, but it was a nice surprise to see him. Callum and I spent the morning working and chatting with Ethan about his army experience so far, which included learning how to salute and properly do this turning step. Callum had a bunch of meetings in the afternoon, so Ethan showed me pictures from school and we just sat and hung out for most of the afternoon. Callum and Ethan had plans to meet some of Ethan’s Sandhurst friends who were also in London for the rest of the afternoon and evening and very kindly invited me to join. 

After many outfit changes (none of which were mine), we headed out to Spitalfields Market. We met four of Ethan’s platoonmates, one of whom, Kadin, is an American from Northern Virginia (what are the chances‽). Everyone was really nice and it was fun to hear about Sandhurst and see who Ethan is training with. After spending some time in Spitalfields we decided to make our way toward Angel, stopping at a couple pubs along the way. I chatted with Callum about how I could never live in Hackney, but how it’s the perfect place for him, swapped stories about high school with the fellow NoVa native, and even heard a quite memorable story about one platoonmate’s time on an oil rig. 

After many hours of chatting, we parted ways with the Army boys for dinner. Ethan kindly invited me to tag along to their dinner plans with Callum, Luke, and Hebe at the restaurant where Ethan used to work. I had heard many stories about this place and how incredible the food was and it truly did exceed expectations. As Luke said, “I would sell you all into slavery to get food from the Tamil Prince,” and although I might not go that far it was amazing. 

Hebe and I headed home after dinner as Luke (blonde) had been locked out of the house and wandering the streets of Dollis Hill. 

C: We started the morning with a Fulbright debrief, in which we discussed the highs and lows of the past 9 months, our takeaways from this year, and our future plans. Then, those of us who missed the presentations on Wednesday because of the train delays got to present our research. I got a good laugh when I made a joke about being all tied up during my straitjacket show, and a lot of people were intrigued by how I was documenting football as choreography.

I really bonded with a brilliant, lovely group of gals on this trip, and we spent the afternoon exploring Lancaster, stopping by the castle first. Apparently it was an active prison from 1952 to 2011. I got really excited because I learned that the female penitentiary was a panopticon aka FOUCAULT! The number of times I used the panopticon as a metaphor in my undergrad English essays… big fan. We stopped by a cute Scandinavian cafe called Holm, and I found a book on a shelf called, “Feminism as Therapy.” It had said £2 on the inside cover, but when I asked if it was for sale, it was not. :( 

We returned to campus to get ready for our final dinner and networking reception. I was blown away by the incredible projects my friends were working on. From dance science to prosthetics development to sports therapy to global health to theater and math and beyond - I’m lucky to be around these really cool people.

Also I am unbelievably jealous that the London crew ate at the Tamil Prince!!!

Saturday 6/8

Z: After having a bit of a lie in, I got ready for the day and did some grocery shopping. Since we are not staying in our flat for another year, the estate agent came round for a viewing in the early afternoon. I awkwardly stood in my room as the people wandered through the house. They said they were going to take it, so hopefully that was the first and final viewing. 

I then got a text from Hebe inviting me to join her, Callum, Ethan, and Kadin at a pub in Notting Hill. I met up with them just as they were leaving one pub and heading to the next (perfect timing is my speciality obviously). We sat and chatted about what to do for the evening and played a question game. Callum so kindly took a series of photos to remember the afternoon, which Catja finds hilarious. 

C: Oh my gosh when I saw these photos I cackled. Hebe looks like she’s perpetually mid-sneeze because of the sun, Ethan looks like he’s auditioning for the role of high school jock on a Disney Channel original movie, Zoe looks like she drank citric acid mixed with vodka, and Kadin looks like he’s about to fight Callum/the camera or solve an unsolvable math problem. See photo album for proof.

Z: We then headed back home, Hebe and I on the bus and Ethan and Kadin on Lime bikes. We had a cup of tea, ate some dinner, added Kadin to the height chart, and prepared to go out again. 

After having a little hype-up boogie in the living room, we left for West Hampstead to meet Luke (ginger) at a pub. We chatted about universities in the US vs. UK, contemplating which uni each of us would go to if we lived in the opposite country. Luke very proudly stated he would go to BYU before us Americans could even put out options, but I will not be sharing the reasons why. We landed on Hebe going to a small liberal arts school in the Northwest and Ethan going to a Big 10 Southern school where he could watch football, listen to country music, and tailgate. They closed the outdoor space at the pub, so we meandered down the street to find another spot for one last drink. We ended up at a Czech pub talking about American politics for the rest of the evening. 

C: My friend Juan and I hopped on a train to Liverpool for the day. Ever since I learned about Liverpool being a cultural capital in my KCL Arts and Culture of European Integration class, I’ve always wanted to visit. We lucked out with sun all week in Lancaster, and Liverpool didn’t let us down. We dropped our bags off at a nearby locker then began our adventure. Bold Street was lively, with loud music, rowdy bars, and lots of restaurants popping at 11am. There was a surprising amount of American influence, and we ended up at a Texas barbeque restaurant there for lunch, where I had proper Southern sweet tea for the first time. They also had ranch, which made Juan, a true Texan, very happy.

We spent most of our time by Alberts Docks on the water. We speed-ran museums, starting at Tate Liverpool, then taking a photo of the Beatles statue outside, learning about the Liverpool/Everton FC rivalry at the Museum of Liverpool, stopping by the Maritime Museum/International Slavery Museum, and dashing through the Museum of the World. 

Our final stop was the gorgeous Cathedral, where we arrived just as the bells were tolling. We laid down on some large concrete slabs, sunbathed, and chatted about life and traveling until the bells stopped. We stayed a bit longer before heading off to collect our bags. Juan was staying overnight at a hostel, but I decided to head home because my social battery was quite depleted. Juan sat with me in the station until my train arrived, and we talked about dance research and philosophy. It’s always so nice to nerd out about dance with another dancer.

I had an uneventful train ride and kept reading All in Her Head, a page-turner of a book about “the truth and lies early medicine taught us about women’s bodies and why it matters today.” The thing is, early medicine doesn’t just mean medieval bloodletting. It also means 19th and 20th sexist misconceptions about women’s bodies. A personal favorite absurd belief held by a male doctor was that masturbation leads to scoliosis… BRUH. I’m not finished yet but I already 10/10 recommend this to literally anyone who will listen.

Anyway, I made it home around 10:30 pm, unpacked, washed up, and stayed up until Hebe, Zoe, Luke, and Ethan came round for a late night tea. When I heard that Ethan had a last minute weekend away from Sandhurst literally the one time I’m out of town, I was afraid I’d miss reuniting with my favorite army cadet. I missed two days worth of catching up, but I got the highlights from everyone’s weekend pub crawling adventures. As much as I love traveling around, nothing beats tea and storytime with my pals. Miss ya lots E-boy, I want to see more pics next time you visit!

Sunday 6/9

C:  Lest future me reads the blog and thinks everything was always sunshine and roses, here’s a wee little mental health update. As Zoe and I have mentioned, we’re quite anxious about everything, but especially dissertations and jobs and life stuff. But sometimes one day I’m at a 10 then 12 hours later I’m at a 2. Anxiety and depression are a fun combo, you can’t have rainbows without rain, the sun’ll come out tomorrow, blah blah blah. I was having a rough one for no reason this morning. One of the hardest in a while. Luckily, I had a slow morning to myself to process and release things. Zoe, the angel that she is, checked in on me later and kept me afloat. I got better as the day went on luckily, and after some Gilmore Girls and painting, I was in a much better state. Apparently Mental Health Awareness Week is in May, but this was just a reminder that life has a lot of peaks and troughs at the moment. And it’s ok to ask for help. Ok enough about my brain now.

Z: We headed over to the boys’ place in the afternoon to say farewell to Ethan before he returned to school. We spent the afternoon catching up on Catja’s whereabouts and what Ethan has next in training. I looked on as Ethan and Callum frantically Googled for a description of what Ethan needed to wear for an event this coming week. Hebe joined us later on for tea. Ethan then packed up his bag, put on his suit, and we all said our goodbyes.

C: Twas sad to say farewell to Ethan after less than 24 hours, but it was good to see him doing well, hella sleep-deprived but thriving. After he left, Hebe, Callum, Zoe, and I started discussing military balls and if Ethan would even be allowed to have 5 plus ones. We decided that we’d find a way in somehow, and that if we were going to represent the King himself, we would have to practice our dancing skills.

So that’s how we ended up ballroom dancing in the living room! Hebe and Zoe danced together, which was a fun pairing since they both are natural leaders. I love the flair of a follower, so I taught Callum how to lead and do a basic waltz step. He’s a natural!