Monday 3/18:
C: I started my day at school with a group meeting for a dance film. Our shoot day was set for Saturday, and it was decided that I would take on the role of anxious-paranoid-spiraling dancer. For those of you who know me well and/or have witnessed one of my panic attacks, you know that I was BORN to play this role! Anyway, what followed was a rehearsal with choreographer Mel, in which I meditated to get more into an anxious mindset, which was a new one for me. However, it was a gorgeous sunny day, so I was in a stellar mood, but I slipped back into my familiar anxious mindset eventually and ended up upside down on some chairs. #justdancerthings
Several hours later, I was exhausted from applying for jobs and studying in the library, so I took a nap on a couch in the dance department to the sounds of dancers screaming and making strange noises in a nearby rehearsal (see photo album for video proof). Again, #justdancerthings.
Z: My task for Monday was to wander about the house until the electrician showed up, which we all know means that I spent the day doing who knows what until he rocked up at 3 pm. When he finally did show up, he fixed the plug socket in my room that has been hanging off the wall since we moved in (yay), before checking all the plugs in the living room for some mysterious problem. While we moved the furniture about the room, the electrician struck up a conversation that very quickly descended into discussing American politics (I do not understand why this always seems to happen to me…I am the problem obviously). Let’s just say that he had some interesting opinions including that Trump successfully built a border wall which made him a good president?? I just stood there going “mmhhmmm” hoping that he would stop talking. He finally did leave after realizing that there was in fact nothing wrong with any of the sockets.
Tuesday 3/19:
Z: Late last week while looking for something to do with all of my free time, I came across the Fashion City exhibit at the Museum of London Docklands. I pitched the idea to Catja and she was down, so we headed off to Canary Wharf on Tuesday morning. The museum traced the history of Jewish Londoners and their involvement in the growth of global fashion. From early tailor shops in East London to starting M&S and designing clothes for icons like Princess Diana and the Beatles, it was fascinating to see the impact Jewish immigrants and refugees had on the fashion scene.
C: Canary Wharf never gets less dystopian. We arrived around 11am to a dead city of tall glass buildings. It was eerily quiet. By the time we left the museum around 1pm, it had completely transformed. Men in suits and women in pantsuits (but mostly men in jackets, no ties) swarmed, filling every sidewalk, crosswalk, and coffee shop at lunch hour. It was chaos. We were trying to swing by a Boots on the way home, and we walked through the mall that is Canary Wharf Station to find where Google Maps was attempting to direct us. We walked in circles, diagonals, and squares but kept getting lost in the maze. Finally, after walking around a block 1.5 times to end up where we had already walked, we finally found Boots down a sketchy staircase. We waded through the sea of finance fiends to get toothpaste and face wash, then quickly ran to the Jubilee line.
Wednesday 3/20:
C: I woke up a bit later than usual but still made it on time to catch my 10:30 train at Waterloo (to my father, Curt Christensen: I am sorry, I did not inherit the genes to wake up early like you and having class at 11:30 instead of 9 has wrecked my sleep schedule. But to be early is to be on time and I’m still early!). However, due to “an incident on the tracks at Clapham Junction,” every train was delayed or canceled. I waited for 15 minutes hoping any train would depart, but after talking with a staff member, I closed my eyes, groaned, and started speed walking to the tube while emailing my professor that I would be late. Luckily, two tubes and a bus later, I waltzed into my Performance of Heritage lecture, mouthed “I’m sorry” to my prof, and collapsed into a chair to learn about The Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Crystal Palace, human zoos at world fairs, and how to ethically present dance in museum spaces without perpetuating the harm of past human zoo exhibitions. My day looked up when I went to the library, found four books about feminism and soccer, and sat for hours spiraling into a new rabbit hole of research for my dissertation. The trains were still delayed by 4 pm, so it took me 2 hours to get home by bus/tube.
Z: In an exciting turn of events, I actually had to go to school today for an in-person class! I made my way to UCL for my final class of the term about my final assessment. My partner and I had pretty much everything under control, so after briefly discussing the assignment we ended up chatting about jobs and visas (she is also American). We have spent many class periods talking about next steps and the challenges of staying here, but as she is seventeen years older than me she always provides some wise advice and convinces me that I can actually figure it out. Plus she told me she met the founder of Cool Math Games, which might be the coolest thing EVER.
Thursday 3/21:
Z: On Wednesday evening Hebe, Catja, and I were chatting in the kitchen and Catja asked if I would like to go to Candlesniff (one word in my brain) on Thursday, to which both Hebe and I were confused as we had never heard of Candlesniff before. Apparently, Catja just wanted to go to sniff candles, which is what we did, but it was rather funny that Hebe and I both accepted that there could be a place called Candlesniff. So, on Thursday morning we walked to Homesense to find Catja a new candle. After smelling many candles, she landed on the one she had gotten previously, and we headed back home.
Once we got back home, I called my dad to fill out our March Madness Bracket. Despite the fact that I do not watch any basketball, this has become a nice annual tradition. I think we’re actually doing quite well and significantly better than last year when our team got knocked out in the second round. I then headed to the kitchen to make some cinnamon rolls, following my grandma’s recipe. Feeling confident that I had mastered the oven and yeast-based baked goods, I was rather disappointed when they did not rise at all :/. They still taste good, which is I guess what matters.
C: Zoe helped me actually settle on one of the dozens of research questions I have developed by sitting me down, making sure I didn’t have an anxiety attack, and sticking post it notes of my key themes and topics on the wall. She diagnosed me with the condition of loving researching every single detail and rabbit hole of a topic that I was crippled with indecision when I had to pick just one. I am grateful that she has an organized brain to help me sort out my chaotic pit of information (I think she nearly passed out when she found out I had 42 pages of research notes but hadn’t settled on one question…)
That being said, we were both very ready for a chill crafternoon. Ethan, the proud owner of several of our random art projects, asked to witness a crafternoon a few days ago. We did him one better by preparing a selection of hand-drawn coloring sheets for him to paint so he can have more wall art. He came over after getting lost on a long run and eating several blush oranges from a fruit stand in Chelsea, then we sat down with some tea and began our artistic endeavors. Zoe was painstakingly painting the Old College of Sandhurst, Ethan’s future stomping grounds. I was painting an intentionally blobby portrait of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, a man Ethan likes because he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Ethan tackled a hilly landscape of Scotland, taking some artistic liberties and creative choices with the outline Zoe sketched.
We painted and chatted for hours, listening to Zoe and my Spotify blend. Ethan liked the country music Zoe played, but Catja’s feminist rage bangers weren’t to his taste (your loss :P). We primarily discussed eugenics and baby names for four hours. Sometimes they were related, sometimes they were not. You just had to be there. Eventually, Ethan realized that even delicious blush oranges weren’t enough to sustain you through a day, so he left to eat dinner at his place and Zoe and I realized that we were absolutely famished. Crafternoons take a lot out of you!
Friday 3/22:
Z: After much discussion on what I could have possibly done all day Friday, we have determined that I spoke to Hebe in the kitchen at lunch and went to Sainsbury’s at 2 pm. Other than that, I have nothing.
C: I rolled up to school ready for some high energy twerk-outs, cardio, and club beat bops, but it turns out that my usual professor was out for a conference. I was a bit devastated to not practice my twerking or Gasolina ab workout, but the class ended up being a modern dance energy flow which was quite enjoyable. I did play my club beat playlist during lunch though to get my fix.
After an uneventful Mediated Choreography lecture where I planned out costumes for our film shoot tomorrow, I headed home early. A highlight from today was this quintessentially British headline from the BBC that popped up on my phone: “Minchinhampton brought to a standstill by Highland Cows.” I love this country.
Saturday 3/23:
Z: With time to spare before Catja headed off to her shoot for school, we decided to do our weekly shop at Lidl. Not much to report from Lidl, but we did finally find snap peas, which I think is very exciting. After getting back from the store, Catja and I called Payton to wish her a happy birthday and catch up as it has been a couple of weeks. I then had a lovely evening in, where I painted, watched tv, and made sure that Catja got home from Croydon without being stabbed.
C: I went to Croydon and it was perfectly safe and normal and uneventful. Well, except for the random five minute hail storm that hit as soon as I got to the bus stop. And the fact that my friends and I filmed the artsiest, most brilliant shots for our film! Honestly, I am so excited to see what the final product looks like. I mixed the sound score, but Lucy and Steffi planned the shots and will be editing the footage. Mel’s choreographic ideas worked so well on set (aka Lucy’s beautiful house). We worried that it wasn’t so dance-y in that we worked with more pedestrian movement and smaller yet evocative gestures, but I think it will all come together in the edit.
Highlights from the day included me playing with Lucy’s gem of a puppy named Ruby, eating a feast of very American foods, and hanging out with my gals for hours just having fun and making art together. Living the dream!
Sunday 3/24:
C: I got free tickets to see the Crystal Palace women’s team from school, so Zoe and I trekked all the way to south London for a Sunday adventure. I was a bit of a mummy from last night’s late shoot, but the bright sun and chilly wind woke me straight up. Something that’s been on my London bucket list for ages was to see the infamously inaccurate dinosaur sculptures in Crystal Palace Park. They exceeded my expectations. I was like a kid walking through the gorgeous park, smiling and giggling every time we passed a massive crocodile-looking blob of a dino. There were signs that described what the dinosaur was supposed to be with a small diagram of how accurate or inaccurate the sculptures were compared to today’s understanding of dino anatomy. I think my excitement rivaled that of the dozens of children all around us.
Z: After wandering about the park, we walked through the Sunday market where we spotted a donut stand. Obviously, we had to get a donut for our lunch dessert. We then found a nice bench in the sun by the pond to chat and eat lunch. While we ate, we continued our discussion of baby names from our Crafternoon with Ethan. Taking into consideration the really random requirements that Catja has set out, I came up with four absolutely incredible names for her future children. The firstborn will be Russet (Rus) or Willis (as in “whatcha talkin bout Willis?”...I do not know where this is from or why it is in my brain but I will blame my father), the second Elio, the third Elena, and the fourth Arlo. You’re welcome in advance to Catja and her future husband.
We then caught a bus to Crystal Palace stadium to watch the women’s game. The women, who play in the second-tier league, were fun to watch, but the level of play was very obviously below what we normally watch. As it was rather cold and not terribly exciting, we decided to head home after half-time. On the train ride home, Catja tried to teach me about Catholicism, which included discussing how to become a saint. I will now be asking everyone I meet if they were to become a saint, which of the seven miracles they would perform. Honestly, I feel like it tells a lot about a person. I have decided I would like to perform liquefaction and Catja decided on Odor of Sanctity. Ultimately I am still massively confused how Catholicism is real because what?!
C: Zoe has one photo from this week, which is one that I sent her (lol my bad -Zoe). I have 62 videos of me having a panic attack for the art and hundreds of photos. This sums up our friendship.
With this past week off for international duty, we are hoping that a game against Luton Town will be a happy return to the field for Spurs!
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