Monday 6/10
Z: Catja and I headed over to the boys in the morning for a little time at the Divorced Divorced Dads Coworking Space ®. We spent the morning working away on our respective dissertations and chatting with Callum and Luke. At around noon, we went out for our mandatory walk in the park. We stopped at the cafe so Callum could get some lunch and then had a little wander about to stretch our legs before heading back inside. Luke had made some cheesecake, so we settled in with tea and cake before getting back to work. The cheesecake was delicious, thank you Luke!
C: My exhibition is in 2 weeks, and I am stressed beyond belief. But I’m full sending on my hexagon idea. It’s an odd visual art concept that only currently exists in my head, but it’s basically a deconstruction of football as a movement language and connecting the elements of performing identity at a national level. Stay tuned for two blog posts from now when I can show pictures and hopefully succeed in this mission. Zoe helped me paint 32 hexagons white (Z: I emerged from my room the next day to see another stack of 32 and I think I shed a small tear). I started painting portraits of key moments from Euro 2020.
Tuesday 6/11
Z: Catja and I spent the morning calling all the estate agents in the West Hampstead area, which was truly a sad experience. There is basically nothing on the market currently, so it is really a waiting game at this point. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us pleaseeeee.
C: Well, I’m over my phone anxiety now. I also learned I need to learn the phonetic alphabet (aka alpha, bravo, charlie, etc.) because spelling my name was a hoot and a half (““t as in tree, j as in jam, a as in apple… it’s just spelled cat-ja!!”) All those phone calls did help me mentally prep for an interview I scheduled later. I’m writing an article for Pointe Magazine, and I was interviewing two dancers from Sarasota Ballet who were performing at the Royal Opera House. I forgot how much I missed interviewing people. It was a lovely chat, and I’m excited to write the story!
Z: I went to UCL for class, which was interesting per usual and headed back home for some dinner.
C: While Zoe was at school, I went to Lord’s Cricket Ground with Callum (big cricket nerd), Luke, and Hebe to catch the Middlesex v. Somerset game. I’d never seen a game of cricket before, and I was excited to see what all the hype was about. We got exorbitantly priced drinks in the green and chatted for a while about life. Luke and I made guesses on how expensive a bottle of Veuve Clicquot would be from the pop up stand, and it was well into 4 figures. Hebe was stopped at the gate on the way in because security thought she was under 16 (!!!) and asked if she had a responsible adult with her. She was not happy about that.
The game was fun! It reminded me a lot of a lowkey baseball atmosphere, with a host interacting with the crowd on a jumbotron and the first mascot I’ve seen in this country giving kids high fives. The big differences from baseball were the fact that people brought full bottles of wine into the stands and that they had pyrotechnic displays after big hits (big boxes shooting big flames into the air like we were at a wild concert - apparently this is called a flame projector). I enjoyed learning the hand motions for when batters hit a 4 or a 6. Thanks to Callum for giving me a crash course in cricket culture.
Oh, I also stress cut and painted 27 more hexagons at midnight. Zoe was very concerned when they appeared in the living room the next day.
Wednesday 6/12
Z: I started the day doing some school work for my class later in the day and then began organizing my data for my dissertation. I am up to 14 survey responses, so y’all can look forward to some real groundbreaking work. I forgot how much of a love/hate relationship I have with quantitative data…mostly hate at this moment because cleaning and organizing data is a pain. After organizing though, I excitingly realized that despite the sample size being VERY small, I do in fact have statistically significant correlations, so I had a little dance party over that.
C: Zoe kindly accompanied me all the way up to Tottenham to visit OOF Gallery, an art gallery attached to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was the opening night of their new exhibition: “Tops Off: A Century of Football Shirt Art.” We didn’t feel artsy enough for the crowd, but we enjoyed looking at all of the artistic renditions of football kits and the actual designs from around the world! It was honestly very fascinating and inspiring.
We walked into a room which turned out to be a small gift shop and info desk, and I saw that the newest copy of OOF Magazine was on display! I’d written a piece about Arjen Robben and the choreography of diving, and I didn’t know it had been published already. I ran over to grab a copy and asked Zoe to take a picture since it was my first time being published in print since our newspaper days at Conn. It was a really cool surprise, and I’m happy I’ve found my extremely niche interest in dance-football content.
Z: After spending some time wandering about the gallery, we headed out onto the streets of Tottenham looking for a way to pass a bit more time before returning home. We decided on making a loop around the stadium. We popped into the Sainsbury’s because obviously the only way to celebrate Catja being a published UK author is with small cups of ice cream. Catja went searching for spoons, but I was convinced that all ice cream that comes in a to-go cup must have the tiny little wooden spoons. We found a spot on the steps of the stadium to chat and enjoy. Unfortunately, my optimism about the presence of small wooden spoons was very misplaced…there were no wooden spoons. I had a small rant about how they are vital to the experience of eating those tiny cups of ice cream and that of course England would force you to eat them with a real spoon. How is a girl supposed to go on a nice friend date with tiny ice creams without a wooden spoon?? (C: Zoe was going off about her deep passion for wooden spoons. She even declared, "If I'm going on a date, I need a tiny wooden spoon!") I was later informed that the small wooden spoons do exist and that it was surprising to even the British that they were not in the ice cream lid. Anyways, we ate the ice cream with the lid as a spoon and watched as people jogged around the stadium.
Thursday 6/13
Z: We headed back to the Divorced Dad’s Coworking Space ® on Thursday morning. I had some group project meetings, so I joined the group a little later. We chatted with Callum per usual as Catja and I applied for jobs. After a rather slow couple of hours, we had some tea and watched clips from old seasons of Love Island to get us all up and moving again.
C: While deep in thought at Divorced Dads, I got a call from a few estate agents. One asked if we were available at 2:30 today to view a flat we’d inquired about. So, after a quick trip to the park cafe, we stopped back home to change into slacks to look more professional and less like students. Zoe put her glasses on to help actually look her age since that has been an issue in the past. She and Hebe are cut from the same youthful cloth.
We got to the flat, walked around the beautiful West Hampstead area for a bit, then met with the estate agent. Unfortunately, the flat was not for us. One of the bedrooms was a literal closet (Z: this is not GenZ exaggerating it was a closet) with a slanted ceiling. And the kitchen was, as Zoe described it, “Straight out of the 1940s.” So, the hunt continues. Please pray for us.
Later, I went to LSE for a Fulbright drinks and networking event. I chatted with my fellow scholars about how stressed we are about dissertations and ate many mysterious canapes. I could not tell you what they were, but they were delicious. I sipped on sparkling wine and talked to many real adults about their illustrious careers.
Friday 6/14
Z: I had some random life admin things to get done this morning, so I opted to stay at home. I realized once emerging from my room in the morning that I had forgotten to buy cereal and had nothing to eat for breakfast, so I walked to Sainsbury’s only slightly (very) annoyed. Luckily on my way there, my lock screen changed to the greatest picture of Ben JD ever taken that without fail always makes me die laughing, so the day was already getting better (thank you Ben for gifting me that image, it brings me so much joy). While there I picked up some ingredients to finally start my sourdough starter that I have been talking about for weeks. I scurried home and decided that I was also going to make bagels because what else are you supposed to do while waiting for your laundry? They did not turn out great…they are bread and round, but turned out very large and a bit gummy. I’ll have to try again. I then made my sourdough starter whose name is Knead (/ned/) the Bread (thank you Hebe and Callum for your assistance in naming). If you would like to follow his journey it is on our Instagram :).
C: I knew I would not be productive if I sat in my room all day, so I trekked over to Harlesden to co-work with Callum. He had some spicy meetings all day, so it was a fun background noise to the hexagonal hellscape I am plotting. T-10 days until my exhibition. Callum kept checking in on me to make sure I didn’t keel over with stress which was very kind. He even pried me up from the sofa for a mandatory mid-afternoon dance party to get me out of my head. It was very fun, although he is trying to make me a 1975 fan, which feels very unfeminist of me. But then we ended with Olivia Rodrigo who picked up the energy.
Luke emerged to join us for lunch in the park cafe, where I saw a cute baby and an even cuter dog. We talked about the importance of romance in life, and Luke actually very eloquently described a young woman’s desire to be wooed, asking me to correct him if needed to avoid mansplaining. Now those are the words of a man in a happy, healthy relationship (Hebe, you’re a lucky gal). Gentlemen reading the blog: some women just want to be wooed!! Also Bridgerton is trendy, and don’t we all want a little regency courtship in our lives?
Later, Zoe, Luke, Hebe, and I went to the West End to see Tom Holland in Romeo and Juliet! We were all very excited, and it had been a while since we had seen live theater. After the most rollercoaster-like, slightly (Z: slightly?? We were thrown about the train…Hebe how is this your favorite tube line?) terrifying experience on the Bakerloo line (in which I literally flew into Luke, Luke nearly fell out of the Tube because the doors opened in the tunnel WHILE WE WERE STILL MOVING, and Hebe and Zoe clung desperately to the handrails), we found our slightly obstructed view seats in the circle tier. I’d woken up early months ago to secure these highly coveted seats, so we didn’t mind not seeing a tiny part of the stage!
Little did we know we would hardly see the actual show. Although the acting from the star-studded cast (which included Martha from Doctor Who (Z: also known as Larrissa from the Carrie Diaries) and the French teacher from Heartstopper) was phenomenal, the staging and directing was terrible in my opinion. There was hardly any physical acting. During the balcony scene and death scene, two of the most emotional and important parts of the story, Romeo and Juliet were just sitting next to each other, so far downstage that even though our entire tier leaned forward, we still couldn’t see. Hebe said it was more like an audiobook than a theatrical production, and I couldn’t agree more.
Z: They did have a cool live filming element, which they used to project conversations happening in different spaces around the theater. It helped to show parallel plot lines, but it was also the best part of the show because it was the only part we could see really well. We all decided it would have been a better short film.
Saturday 6/15
C: Zoe kindly offered to help me with my exhibition crafterhell, so we spent the morning and afternoon catching up on Love Island and putting together my hexagon collage. Love Island is really disappointing this season. Harriet is the most annoying person on earth, and Ronnie is a walking red flag with a bad toupé.
Later, I was craving warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies, so Zoe and I walked to Sainsburys to get the ingredients. We used the hand scanner thing for the first time which was exciting. We stopped by the library to print more exhibition related images, then we went back home to bake. To be honest, Zoe did most of the baking and I did some measuring.
Z: Saturday was the second night of the Euros, so we invited Callum over for pizza and football. I prepped and rolled out the dough and then we each decorated our pizzas and popped them in the oven. Lucy joined us for dinner, and we all watched the Italy v. Albania game. We all started to get a bit sluggish by halftime, so Catja instructed us to all get up and have a dance party. We each picked a song and we all looked to Callum to learn some new moves. He showed us some nice swaying and his little leg thing (I really don’t know how to describe it). We also got to witness what he calls the Peacock, which had all three of us dying laughing. He claimed it was from a celebrity, but we’re all convinced it is an original. I highly recommend you ask him about it next time you see him. After dancing off the tiredness, we watched the rest of the game before heading to bed.
Sunday 6/16
C: I met a Fulbright friend’s sister in the morning to chat about our shared academic careers in the performing arts. We grabbed a coffee and walked around Bloomsbury and Regent’s Park because it’s finally sunny and warm again! The past few days have had every single type of weather in them, from sunny to cloudy to thunderstorms to sunny again then sunny and rainy then cloudy and on and on. So we made the most of the morning and stayed outside. It was a lovely way to start the day!
I learned that one of my favorite artists, Ruth Speer, was presenting her work at the UCL Slade School of Fine Art MA/MFA show, so I stopped by to see her work in person. She was sitting by her exhibition, and I introduced myself. I tried to play it cool while walking around, but then I returned and told her that I’m a really big fan and asked her for a photo. She said no one had asked her for a photo before, so I hope that made her feel famous! She asked me what I was doing in London, and I told her about my research. She was surprised but said it sounded exciting, then she told me about her friend who painted the Lionesses last year. Unintentional networking! She was absolutely lovely, and I highly recommend checking out her work on Instagram @septemberwildflowers.
Z: I spent the morning cleaning my room, checking on my sourdough starter, and just relaxing. Catja then came back from her morning in Central and we headed off to do our weekly Lidl shop. This week we’re making burritos. So exciting! Later, we are meeting Callum and Luke at a pub in West Hampstead to watch the first England game of the Euros, which should be far more exciting.
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