God is Getting Really Annoying and Rightmove is My New Hinge

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Hi guys. I (Catja) keep writing in British English and not using an Oxford comma because school is brainwashing me and it makes me sad. I love Oxford commas. I just want to put that out there. Ok enjoy the blog!! This week-and-a-half update is full of flat hunting, hexagons, sunshine, and… circumcision? 

Monday June 17

C: Monday was a blur of stress prepping for my exhibition. I pretty much just sat in the back garden all day making the instagram promo for it on canva, continuing to build my hexagon army, and soaking up the sun. Zoe and I also filmed our realistic week in the life TikTok which makes me giggle watching it back. I think we should do more.

Z: I have no memory of this day. A classic start to an Offside post…you’re welcome. Apparently Catja and I went on a walk to the park. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to the other 13 hours in the day. 

Tuesday June 18 

Z: I went to class per usual on Tuesday and met with my group to finish up our group project afterwards. This entire group project experience was the bane of my existence, and I did proceed to rant about it for the last week as these people pushed every button I have. 

C: I went to the gym even though my body was feeling really blegh and I had no energy. It was pretty uneventful. My main goals are to get my cardio up, build back some muscle, and keep my splits because they were so damn hard to get in the first place. My hips and hamstrings are hella tight, but I discovered that I can still do a split up the wall which is fun (see photo album for proof). I made sure no one was around to judge my shenanigans. 

Yesterday on a whim, I bought a ticket to see English National Ballet’s “Swan Lake in the Round” at the Royal Albert Hall. When I was probably 14/15 years old and still an obsessive ballerina, I watched a documentary on YouTube called “Agony and Ecstasy A Year with English National Ballet.” It featured ENB rehearsing for this exact show, a nontraditional take on the classic ballet. 

I decided to finally check off my bucket list items of seeing ENB and going to the Royal Albert Hall, and it was so worth it! It genuinely was one of the best ballets I’ve seen. The staging for the round stage was precise and brilliant. Also, seeing 60+ swans running in perfect unison in various patterns was mesmerizing. It made me miss ballet the teensiest bit… with all the ups and downs, I miss the simple pleasure of dedicating my time to perfecting an art form. But I also don’t miss the body shaming, bloody bruised toenails, and dancer hierarchies!

Wednesday June 19 

C: We started our mornings at Divorced Dads with Callum. We had lunch at the cafe again, where I noticed that the pavers outside were a hexagon tessellation. We were all very locked into our work, so not much to report about that. Although Luke stumbled in at one point, fresh off a night shift, and took 10 seconds to process that Zoe and I were sitting in his living room… even though he was staring blankly at Zoe and I was waving eagerly at him.

Z: We head back home in the afternoon from the boys, and Catja and I got to work on a little crafternoon. Catja was working on her exhibition, and I had a dress that I got that needed to be dyed. The dress was originally a bright green, which is really not the vibe, so I got some navy dye to make it a bit more my style. Catja helped me prep everything and then I stood there and stirred the dress in a pot of dye on the stove for an hour (this was far too much time). The dress is not navy, but after a good wash and dry it is a lovely shade of dark green…so success!

C: It was very funny watching Zoe stir her cauldron of dye for an entire hour. She was committed, and it turned out great!

Anyway, we finally got together to watch Bridgerton part 2 on the rare night we all are free! We zoomed through episode one, where we were all on the edge of our seats and squealing. Callum had watched a YouTube recap of the first 2.5 seasons, so he mildly understood what was happening.

Z: I briefly interrupted our Bridgerton watching to record my group presentation. Right as I joined the call, the boys screamed from the living room as Scotland had scored…I had to politely remind them that I was doing a presentation. I will spare y’all the details, but predictably this presentation recording was an annoying experience and I am very glad it is over. Now back to Bridgerton!

C: I’d never seen Zoe as rageful as she was during this group project. When she returned, I think steam was still blowing out of her ears.

We only had time to watch the first 2 episodes of part 2 before we had to go to bed. It stays light out for so long here that we didn’t realize it was already 10pm!   

Thursday June 20 

C: To celebrate the solstice, I asked Zoe if she wanted to go bask in the sun in Hyde Park for a few hours. So we hopped on the train and laid on a blanket right by Serpentine Lake. So many people were out and about, and we were between two groups of people playing intense soccer games. Many people unintentionally were sliding around on the grass. We did a brief yoga sun salutation then spent the rest of our morning learning the correct NATO phonetic alphabet (after reading our last blog post, my dad kindly sent me a link to a website so I would stop saying “J as in jam”). I still prefer some of mine, like “U for umbrella” and “Y for yoyo.” But after spelling all of our friends full legal names using the alphabet, I’d say we’re pretty fluent now.

Next, we walked to M&S to buy new knickers (Z: ew Catja I hate this word please just say underwear)! Yes, this genuinely was an exciting activity for us. They had so many affordable styles. Plus we’ve worn our old ones for far too long, so we felt like grown women walking in comfort.

Z: After returning from our shopping adventure, I got to work on making some cake. I had seen this cake recipe on the website I was using to make sourdough starter, and I was instantly intrigued. It was a sourdough blueberry crumble cake that used sourdough starter to make the cake soft and fluffy. As I finally had some usable sourdough starter, I thought this would be a good first baked good attempt. It turned out delicious, and I highly recommend! Luke (ginger) said it was my best baked good so far, so clearly it was a crowd favorite and will of course be made again. 

C: We walked over to the boys’ place to watch England v Denmark. Callum ordered us all pizza, and we brought snacks to munch on. Harry Kane scored England’s only goal of the game, but it was otherwise another meh performance from the squad. Hoping Southgate switches things up for the next game. Otherwise, it’s not very exciting to root for England. Stockport star Phil Foden is absolutely smashing it though!

Z: We then headed back to ours with Luke (ginger) to finish the last two episodes of Bridgerton. We had tea and cake and laughed through what will be our final Bridgerton watch for quite a while :(. We estimated that with all the characters this show will not be finished until we’re all about 35, which is a terrifying thought. 

Friday June 21

Z: It was another beautiful day here, so I planned to sit outside in our back garden and get some work done. I realized after entering the garden that we had not weeded in quite a while and all the vines had grown back (yay). So, I delayed my work a bit to remove the weeds and get the garden looking good again as we head into solidly warmer weather. I then spent the rest of the day lounging outside and applying to jobs. Before heading to bed for the evening, I made my first batch of sourdough bread and left it to rise overnight. 

C: I sat in the garden painting Jordan Pickford and Mary Earps for my exhibition. I suck at painting faces, so this was a challenge. It was also so hot outside that my acrylic paint kept drying too quickly in the palette! Luckily, I finished them before the sun burnt me to a crisp. Spent the rest of the day exhibition prepping, writing descriptions and artist statements, etc.

Saturday June 22

Z: I woke up early to shape the sourdough and let it rise a bit longer before popping it in the oven. Catja and I had a viewing to get to at 12, so I had to make sure it was ready by then. It came out of the oven smelling fantastic, however it is a bit flat. Crossing my fingers that next time it will rise more. 

C: We zoomed over to Kilburn for a flat viewing. The place was a bit over budget, and the move in date was too early for us, so we didn’t have high hopes. Nonetheless, the agent was a fellow Asian girlboss, so I had good vibes going in. Zoe and I walked past a trio of young people also viewing the flat. The two girls were so well dressed that we got very intimidated. They had real adult purses and neutral color coordinated outfits, including a long denim jacket and a perfectly cropped white denim jacket. The guy with them was comparatively more casual, wearing jeans and a St. Louis Cardinals jersey which is a bit rogue. Then, two very artsy girls rolled up, so Zoe and I felt like a happy medium between the two groups. A trio of young men walked up late and started chatting up the well-dressed girls. It felt like watching a full-clothed intro episode of Love Island. 

Finally, the agent arrived and let us explore the flat. We quickly walked through, getting a feel for the place before asking the agent some questions. We put an offer in and walked away feeling like we just got off a wild roller coaster.

Later, I learned that the Evening Standard newspaper printed a collectors edition featuring a Tube map (Taylor’s version), so I made it my mission to find it. Zoe and I stopped by Sainsbury’s to pick up some ingredients, then I found the stack of free newspapers by the exit. Zoe grabbed a stack, and we texted all our Swiftie friends asking if they wanted a copy. I made a list of friends from around the UK to ship newspapers. Carrying a stack of newspapers and walking around reminded me of the good old TCV distribution days, when Zoe and I would walk around campus, get ink-stained hands, and deliver our paper to various buildings.

Z: Hebe told us she got tickets to see Taylor Swift for Saturday just two days before and we were SO excited for her!! We wanted to be able to chat all about it when she got home, so we decided to watch a live stream of the concert from our living room. A lovely man named Kevin (how we keep encountering Kevins the world will never know) monitored various live streams to find the best one, so we stuck to his stream. To our surprise he also was clearly a massive swiftie and had outfit changes and dances for each era. It was honestly so iconic. We had a lot of fun dancing about the living room, eating popcorn, and cheering on Kevin. 

Sunday June 23

Z: This is a bit of strange way to spend the day, but here goes nothing. Catja and I sat outside in the garden for most the day. She worked on her exhibition and I continued my reading of the Bible by working my way through Exodus. While I read this section and we discussed circumcision for the remainder of the day…we have so many questions. Most all of them can be summed up to “why on earth does this come up so frequently in the Bible????????” Also I feel, quite predictably, I found God rather annoying in this book. For example, God gave Moses this whole mission and then literally not two lines later tries to kill Moses for not circumcising his child who was not even raised Jewish. I really don’t understand His logic. Also also I now know the VERY in depth details of building a tabernacle, something I never really felt I needed to know. Oh and now that I have read the Ten Commandments I can say quite confidently that I don’t think they should be in every Louisiana school classroom. Alrighty, enough about the Bible for this week!

C: I was sitting outside putting finishing touches on my exhibition when Zoe joined me, Bible in hand. I was editing my soundscape audio file when I heard sporadic giggling and snorting from across the table. Every time, I would look up at her and raise an eyebrow, then she would read me a quote from Exodus. Honestly, I don’t remember any of this from Catholic school. I think they gave us the sanitized version at age 6 because I don’t recall ever talking about circumcision this much. But it did lead to some fascinating discussions between us about the role of religion in society and how religion often replaces proper mental health services. Oh, and also circumcision. Poor Zipporah had a rough run.

Unrelated but funny memory: Hebe invited us to join her monthly rewatch of Tangled later that night, so we all piled into the living room for the viewing. I sat in a corner organizing all 57 of my finished hexagons, and Zoe sat across the room working on a puzzle. As a result, we blocked Hebe on the couch, so instead of letting us move out of the way, she decided to squeeze under the table. I snapped an excellent image of this occurring.

Monday June 24

C: It’s finally exhibition day!! Zoe joined me on my longgggg commute to Roehampton and helped me set up. I’ve been experiencing constant low-grade anxiety for the past month, including vivid nightmares of dying and being hunted by Mikka, so I was ready to release it all. We got into the hot studio, opened windows, then tried to figure out the colorful stage lights. It took us 30 minutes to realize we just had to turn on all of the switches in the room. Then, I got to paint with colorful lights, layering cerulean and lime green to make a pleasant shade of grassy green on the floor. 

Next, I laid out alllll of the hexagons in two straight lines, and Zoe filmed a TikTok that she’d been planning for a few days. It involved her sprinting down the lines which was hilarious to see. She also went back to her ballet roots and started doing tendus and leaping around the room which was a joy to see. Girl’s got some moves!

Next, I arranged the hexagons on the floor, creating a path around the room for people to follow. The idea was to have the focus of the exhibition on the ground, so you can trace your own footwork while learning about the history and performance of football. I kept walking back and forth, trying to choreograph the space for people to seamlessly walk through in a few hours. I set up a little “halftime” reading nook by the window, where I put my OOF Magazines (including my article!) and football-related books and bookmarked relevant chapters. Surprisingly, this turned out to be the most popular part of the exhibition. I thought people would speedrun through the hexagons, but several visitors sat down and spent a long time reading through the material.

Finally, I set up the soundscape, which was an edit of several England chants and songs with an ambient crowd background. Soon after, my professors and classmates started to arrive. I think it all went pretty well! Everyone engaged with the subject, and some tried out my choreographic task at the end which was exciting to see. I’m working on a virtual version of the exhibition for anyone who couldn’t make it, so stay tuned for that.

Z: After finishing Catja’s exhibition we caught the bus to Richmond with the intention of going to our favorite pub for cake and tea. On the way there though we spotted some ice cream and decided that on this rather hot day that was a far better idea. So we detoured to Sainsbury’s to pick up some random bits and bobs as well as some ice cream and chips for the rise home. This time, we got some wooden spoons from Starbucks so we were prepared. The ride home was a whole mess and we ended up taking three trains and walking and waiting a bunch. Luckily that meant plenty of time to snack. 

C: After resting for an hour after that long,rough Tube journey, I went to a small park in central for a final Fulbright bbq. Several of my friends are flying back home this week, so it was a bittersweet time. But we’re already planning some road trips to visit each other all over the US soon!

Tuesday June 25

Z: I have been having a bit of a tough couple of days, so I decided to have a little day to myself in Central before class. I went down in the morning and staked out a spot in the student center at UCL, which is finally empty as all the undergrads have gone home for the summer. I worked for a couple hours on job applications and dissertation writing. I had packed my lunch, so I headed to Regent’s park to eat and people watch in the sun.

 I was not ready to go back inside just yet, so I walked up toward Primrose Hill, making a pit stop along the way at Primrose Bakery, which I have been meaning to try for a while now. They supposedly make fantastic cupcakes, and I can now confirm that they are very tasty. There is something about red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting that alters my brain chemistry to make me feel instantly better, so obviously that is what I got. I took my cupcake to go and walked up Primrose Hill to sit and enjoy my cupcake with a view. After getting my fill of sunshine, I headed back to UCL, which I forget is like a 40 minute walk from Primrose :). 

I finished up some work before class and headed off to do my final part for this horrible group presentation. Just my luck that only half my group showed up to answer questions…I love group projects if you could not tell! Anyways it is finally done done so yay.

C: I also had a day to myself, which was much needed to decompress from yesterday. I didn’t talk to a single person until a 3pm phone call which was blissful. I decided to sew a halter top out of my spare bed sheet fabric, which took me about 3 hours of cutting and editing and reworking since I made a pattern from scratch. I think I still need to fiddle with it, but I listened to Trixie and Katya’s podcasts for hours which was a win. I also discovered Trixie and Brittany Broski’s YouTube collabs which genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Later, I worked on my virtual exhibition. I set up a tripod and photographed all of my hexagons, then I edited the background out of them and uploaded them to Canva. I experimented with different display methods and ended up laying them out on a Canva slide. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a start! If anyone has any other recs (I’ve gotten Prezi as a suggestion) please lmk!

Wednesday June 26

Z: I spent today doing some cleaning around the house and applying to jobs. I fixed the kitchen sink handle which has been broken for like a month now. Restocked the tea. Unclogged the drain in the bathroom sink. Vacuumed. I even put my winter sweaters away so there is more room in my drawers. It was a grand ole time. 

C: I took the train down to Clapham, one of Zoe’s least favorite places, for a farewell brunch with my dear Fulbright friend, Selina. We sat near Clapham Common and chatted about her med school schedule, our year in London, and keeping in touch. She was one of the first people I met here, so it was hard to say goodbye.

Also, I realized that I actually like Clapham. At least from the 90 minutes I spent there. The common is gorgeous, the high street is popping, and it’s a fun vibe. Sorry Zoe!

To sign off, no hate to Southgate, but please step it up England. The last game was pretty blegh to watch. xoxo