Catja’s very cool brother, Viggo, took London in stride the past week! For his first international adventure outside of the US, we gave him a very British cultural immersion including consuming copious amounts of dark chocolate digestives, frequenting pubs, and walking all over the city.
Saturday 5/11
Z: It was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday, so Catja, Hebe, Callum, and I headed out to have a day in Central. We started by taking the bus to Notting Hill where we wandered about the very crowded Portobello Market. We saw some cool old cameras, tea sets, and so many Americans. As we weren’t far from Kensington, we decided to grab a Meal Deal and sit in the park. We basked in the sun, enjoyed lunch, and Hebe and Catja demonstrated their excellent cartwheeling skills. After sitting in the grass for a while beneath a pollinating tree, we all got a bit sneezy and decided to have a walk around the park to cleanse our sinuses.
As we walked and chatted, we noticed the pedalo boats across the water. We decided that if it was under 10 pounds per person, we would rent a boat and spend some time on the water. It was exactly ten so we hopped in line. Catja and I were in charge of pedaling and steering. We pedaled about the lake, dodging birds and people who didn’t know how to steer. After returning to land, we found a spot in Hyde Park and lay in the sun for a bit longer. It was the first really warm sunny day we’ve had in London, so we wanted to make the most of it. We did learn our lesson though that a bit more sunscreen needs to be worn or we’ll all end up with Squashie tans.
Sunday 5/12
C: I had a very inauspicious start to a very annoying day. First, I was washing my dishes after breakfast and somehow broke yet another glass when it bumped a hanging mug. Then, as I was throwing out the shards of glass, I whacked my head on our boiler, which hangs very inconveniently low over our trash can. Later in the day, I got squeezed by the closing Tube doors when I decided to make a run for it a second too late. Finally, when I did laundry at the end of the day, I panicked when I couldn’t find my phone and was convinced I accidentally chucked it in the machine. Our laundry machine locks when it is in use and takes forever to unlock again, so I frantically pulled at the door swearing anxiously before realizing I just left it on top of the machine.
Z: Catja and I left fairly early to meet up with our friends Anna and Jake at a coffee shop near Baker Street. It’s been forever since we saw them, so we were eager to catch up. It was crazy busy, but we somehow managed to snag a few seats by the window. We got to fully debrief on the past few weeks and future plans, while enjoying the people watching from the window. Anna and Catja decided to continue their day by going swimming at Hampstead Health, which Jake and I both thought sounded terribly unpleasant. So, I headed home and spent the rest of the day lounging in the back garden with Hebe, Luke, and Callum.
C: I zoomed home with Zoe, changed into my swimsuit and Spurs shirt to support the women’s team in the FA cup, and hopped back on the trains to meet Anna at Hampstead Heath. We walked to the mixed gender swimming ponds, tucked our bags in the long grass under a bench, and jumped into the frigid water. My body went into slight shock at first and it felt like my lungs froze, but eventually, we swam to a nearby buoy to chat, tread water, float, and swim around the murky green pond. Eventually, we were too cold to stay in, so we dried off and walked to a local pub to warm up and catch the FA cup. Just like the men's team, the women were comically decimated by Man United, embarrassingly so. But I’m proud of the women for making it to the final for the first time! It was just mildly infuriating being booed at by a table of Arsenal men waiting for the men’s game to start afterwards. Oh well. What a spursy sort of day.
Monday 5/13
C: I woke up at 6:45am for absolutely no reason and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I made a lovely scrambled egg and bean breakfast, did some work, and hopped on the 90 minute Tube to pick VIGGO up from the airport! I have now successfully lured all three of my siblings across the pond, and I was so excited to hang out with my favorite little bro. He walked out of the gate in his chic monochromatic beige sweatsuit with a matching fanny pack and shoes, and I knew my strange beige-loving sibling was truly here.
After getting coffee and riding back to my place, we walked to Lidl to grocery shop for the week. Viggo took in the sights of the Willesden suburbs, marveling at the small differences from back home. We took a pit stop at the outdoor gym so he could try out all the equipment, then we got home, unpacked, and started cooking. I had to run to my late night rehearsal, so I left him at home with my flatmates for company and came back to find out that he had taken several naps. This was just the start of his wacky sleep schedule.
Tuesday 5/14
C: I had rehearsal in the morning, so I left Viggo asleep and told him to meet me at Waterloo station at 12:30. After a productive morning of dancing, I got to Waterloo right at 12:30. Viggo had not replied to any of my texts, and when I called, he had just woken up. Oops. So I met Zoe on a bench by the Thames, ate a meal deal, people watched (saw a teenage boy clearly on his gap year with a massive backpack taking a photo of an empty staircase…), and enjoyed the gray, damp weather.
Finally, Viggo marched up to us, and we began our tried-and-true walk from Trafalgar to Buckingham to St. James Park through the Household Cavalry Museum to 10 Downing to Westminster to Big Ben. We saw film trailers set up along the Mall, and Viggo asked a security guard what he was guarding them for (apparently an Apple TV show). At this point, Zoe departed us to head off to her night class, and Viggo and I walked to Covent Garden to watch a very odd street performer mildly harass children and passersby while squeezing his body through a tennis racket. Of course, this all took about 45 minutes of build up and crowd work. I jokingly told Viggo at the beginning that these sorts of shows typically end up with the middle aged male performer nearly naked, and I was unfortunately right. Viggo gave him a $5 bill and the guy yelled something about American money. We headed home shortly after to take some meetings and prep for the Spurs game at 8.
Z: After class ended, I rushed to the Tube to make it back home before the start of the Spurs game. For the first time ever, I got stuck on the Metropolitan line. The driver kept rebooting the train system trying to get the train to move, but with very little success. We slowly crept into Baker Street Station, where I should have just transferred to the Jubilee Line, but did not. The driver announced he would be going into manual, which got the train moving…for all of 20 seconds before it stopped again. Eventually, I made it to Finchley Road and finally home, only missing the first few minutes.
Wednesday 5/15
C: I didn’t have rehearsal today, so Viggo and I started our day at the Tower of London, one of my favorite spots in the city. I’m the type of person who wants to read every sign and see every exhibit at museums, but Viggo is more of a big picture speedrunner, so we made it all around the Tower in record time. We got up close and personal with one of the ravens sitting on the wall, who looked like it was happy to chat to all the guests in its home. Viggo posed like a dad outside of the Crown Jewels exhibit (see photo album for proof) and mimicked the poses of tiny knights and weird looking lions. We stopped to look at Henry VIII’s full body armor sitting atop a horse, and Viggo said, “Yo, that metal skirt goes hard.” 10/10 recommend going to historical sites with this boy, he’s got the best commentary.
We were quite famished after our medieval jaunt, so we grabbed some coffee and took the Tube to Camden Market. When I first went to Camden in October 2021, I always knew I wanted to take Viggo to a very specific store, one which I kept calling the “adult toy store” which is not the best wording. I was trying to describe OddBalls, the oldest dedicated juggling company in England. Viggo can juggle different types of balls and rings, unicycle, skateboard, dance, and more random talents, which is exactly why I thought he’d love this place. It is covered floor-to-ceiling in all sorts of professional quality flow arts toys. Viggo juggled with the employee before trying out the Diablo yoyo. He got a purple one to bring home.
All that juggling made us even more famished, so we grabbed food at the market and walked to Primrose Hill to eat, sunbathe, and catch up on life. We ended up getting very sleepy and went back home to take a fat nap. Viggo woke up energized and decided to take the train down to Brixton to play volleyball. I attempted to do work but ended up being woefully unproductive.
Z: I have just been applying to jobs and doing school work. I believe I spent part of the afternoon chatting with Hebe.
Thursday 5/16
C: Another day, another rehearsal. Today was tech rehearsal, which means we head to the theatre to sort out lighting, sound, spacing, and costume. I love these rehearsals because you can really see the piece come together for the first time. Lucy’s projections and lighting choices enhanced the choreography and storyline, and dancing in costume under the bright stage lights made everything feel otherworldly. Until today, I’d only rehearsed this dance in a bright, sunny studio, which counteracted the heavy subject matter. In the darkness, replicating images of hysteria from medical textbooks felt more intense and isolating. I was physically and emotionally drained after running through the dance a few times in the new space.
I rushed home to satiate my post-rehearsal munchies and chatted with Zoe about feminism. My brain was clearly fried from the long day because she asked me if I’d heard of microfeminism. I immediately, enthusiastically said, “Mike Rowe feminism?! As in Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe? I love Mike Rowe!” (For the uncultured reader, Mike Rowe is my childhood idol and star of reality show, Dirty Jobs, in which he traveled around the US doing the dirtiest, messiest, grossest jobs out there. So naturally, in a moment of self-soothing, I thought Zoe was referring to host of my obscure comfort show. She was not.).
We hopped back on the train to head to a pub quiz, which apparently had been canceled without our knowledge. I was sad, but Viggo took it in stride. He did say he wanted to “get drunk and talk to British people,” so this was a start. He ate a classic fish and chips and got a classy Moscow Mule before chatting with Hebe, Zoe, Luke, and Callum. I kept absentmindedly eating his fries. Afterwards, Luke was going to hit the gym since he has gone nocturnal this week, and since Viggo’s sleep schedule has become pretty damn close to nocturnal too, he joined in the late night gym sesh. The rest of us got dessert from Sainsbury’s and went home to watch Bridgerton season 2.
Z: I believe I did the same thing as yesterday.
Friday 5/17
C: Today was show day! I hopped on the train, picked up some pink roses for my choreographer Lucy and dancer partner Steffi, and scurried to the theatre for dress rehearsal. It was my first time seeing the other MFA Choreography students’ works, and it was fascinating to see how different they all were! Lucy put up her exhibition in the entrance, which included photos of me recreating the textbook poses next to the original source drawings. Additionally, Steffi sketched her own versions of my poses, and it was powerful to see her drawings next to the textbook scans.
Viggo, Zoe, Hebe, and Juan all trekked out to watch me perform later in the day. Having friends and family in the audience makes performing even more special, but I also get more nervous. Dancing is a whole other side of my personality that feels vulnerable to reveal to people who only usually see the everyday side of me. Luckily, Viggo and I have been dancing since we were in diapers, and Zoe has seen me do the weirdest things on stage and is still my friend, so I felt a bit less nervous!
Z: We all really enjoyed getting to see Catja dance, even if there were a couple of performances that were rather strange and confusing. We all headed back home after the performance for Friday night pizza. Over pizza, we debated whether or not we would want to run into a bear or man in the woods. Unsurprisingly all the women in the room voted bear. We spent the rest of the evening playing the “ick” game where we debated whether something was an “ick”. For our non-Gen Z readers, an ick is like a dealbreaker, but more insignificant.
Saturday 5/18
C: My body hurt after my show yesterday, so Viggo and I slept in a bit before going to Battersea Power Station, a former working power station converted into a shopping center. We walked around and shopped for a new jacket and earrings for Viggo before stopping by Bounce to play several rounds of ping pong, just like we used to back home. Viggo used to coach Mikka and me during covid isolation, giving us drills and challenging us to be more confident in our hits. We got back into it, and I eventually beat Viggo once! It was very fun and I would love to go back to play.
We got poke bowls for lunch, where we experienced a bit of reverse sexism. Viggo was building his bowl with veggies and protein, but the employee kept questioning him. Did he really only want three vegetables? Was he sure? Does he really not want any sauce? Does he know it can be quite dry without sauce? Viggo ended up getting more vegetables than planned and a good dollop of sauce on top, luckily for no additional cost or else that would have been an aggressive scam. Viggo was puzzled by the interrogation as we went to check out. As I paid for my food, the employee looked at me and complimented my eye color. I was flattered and thanked her. She said nothing more to Viggo after. We both left a bit baffled by what just happened.
Z: Catja and Viggo returned home with a tub of ice cream for milkshakes, so I quickly whipped up my dinner before beginning to make shakes. Catja made homemade caramel sauce, so we had some lovely salted caramel milkshakes. We took them to the back garden to chat until it was too cold to be outside any longer. We then headed in to play some Mario Kart. Viggo has some of the deluxe maps, so we enjoyed exploring the new tracks, including a London map, which was not very accurate.
Sunday 5/19
Z: We all woke up bright and early to catch the train to Hackney, to go see Callum finish a half marathon. We planned it out so that we would get there in time to see him cross the finish line, however the overground had other plans. We ended up having to ride the train all the way to Stratford and back to Hackney Wick, which took far longer than intended. We started speed walking to the finish, but soon got a text that Callum was already done (he obviously ran too fast). We finally found everyone and got to congratulate Callum, even though we missed the actual race.
C: Callum and I both bought Viggo a drink, lucky boy. Although it was my fault for not hearing that Callum said he’d buy him a Guinness, then my fault again for not realizing when Callum said they weren’t serving Guinness in proper glass pint glasses he was referring to Viggo’s drink. My mind was a bit hysterical this week, forgive me. So Viggo had a pint of Camden Hells and a pint of Guinness, both in lovely plastic cups. He’ll just have to come back to visit so we can go to Dublin one day and get the best version of Guinness.
Viggo, Zoe, and I walked to Stratford Westfield Mall to give Viggo one more taste of Britain before he had to leave: a Greggs sausage roll. We passed by Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, home to West Ham’s London Stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit Slide, the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide. We got a little lost trying to find Greggs, but the sausage rolls were obtained and consumed as we rode the Jubilee train for 45 minutes. Viggo packed his things, hugged me goodbye, and set off to Heathrow. Me being me, I cried. Just a little tiny bit. For only like a minute. I miss my fam.
What didn’t make me cry for once was the last Spurs game of the season. It wasn’t the most riveting considering they were playing the relegated Sheffield United, but a win is a win, and Arsenal didn’t win the league. Life goes on.
Anyway, stay tuned next week as my performing career shifts from hysteria to straitjackets!
Comments