{"id":5494,"date":"2020-04-13T21:24:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T21:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=5494"},"modified":"2020-04-13T21:24:45","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T21:24:45","slug":"5-dubiously-advisable-ways-to-pass-time-in-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2020\/04\/13\/5-dubiously-advisable-ways-to-pass-time-in-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"5 (dubiously advisable) Ways to Pass Time in Lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Animal Crossing, Tiger King<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>spend<\/span>ing\u00a0<\/span>time\u00a0<\/span>with family<\/span>…there are no shortage of ways in which people are occupying themselves while waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/span>But<\/span>\u00a0Netflix gets stale and<\/span>\u00a0many o<\/span>ther<\/span>\u00a0activities are untenable for a student<\/span>\u00a0like\u00a0<\/span>myself<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>who is far from\u00a0<\/span>the comforts of\u00a0<\/span>home.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>So h<\/span>ow does a postgrad stuck in a\u00a0<\/span>tiny student flat\u00a0<\/span>in London<\/span> pass time while in<\/span>\u00a0lockdown<\/span>?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Social<\/span>\u00a0distancing running<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

My flat, which consists of a hallway with two bedrooms and a bathroom, does not have the space\u00a0<\/span>for any exercise more vigorous than sweeping the floor.\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019<\/span>m always\u00a0<\/span>keen to get out to the local park for my\u00a0<\/span>allotted\u00a0daily\u00a0<\/span>hour of exercise<\/span>, but of course everyone in the area has the same idea<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>This has led to my new fitness routine of choice, social distancing running<\/span>. This exciting new exercise consists of jogging around the park while<\/span>\u00a0frequently having to careen off the path in order to avoid\u00a0<\/span>those who enjoy standing<\/span>\u00a0together<\/span>\u00a0in one place as they play catch up.\u00a0<\/span>At least the weather is lovely?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Discovering new and exciting microwave settings<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

If my flat had a<\/span>\u00a0proper<\/span>\u00a0oven, I would have\u00a0<\/span>absolutely\u00a0<\/span>buried\u00a0<\/span>my\u00a0<\/span>flatmate<\/span>\u00a0in baked goods by now.\u00a0<\/span>Perhaps fortunately for her, we only have a microwave<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>However<\/span>, boredom with\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0usual<\/span>\u00a0cooking routine and\u00a0<\/span>uncharacteristic supermarket purchases<\/span>\u00a0are leading\u00a0<\/span>us both<\/span>\u00a0down a path<\/span>\u00a0of culinary…experimentation.\u00a0<\/span>I am going to improvi<\/span>s<\/span>e\u00a0<\/span>my way to some homemade cookies if it\u2019s the last thing I do.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perfecting the lockdown haircut<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

On a whim, I bought a set of hair clippers a few months before this all happened<\/span>. It has been amazing to have the freedom now to cut my hair whenever<\/span>\u00a0I feel the need. Is it lopsided at the back?<\/span>\u00a0P<\/span>ossibl<\/span>y. Do I care? Not in the slightest. Lockdo<\/span>wn is a judgement-free zone.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tuning out<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>o<\/span>f\u00a0<\/span>hangout calls<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

My virtual social\u00a0<\/span>calendar<\/span>\u00a0has been surprisingly bustling<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Turns out I have a lot of friends that like to organize things like trivia nights,\u00a0<\/span>powerpoint<\/span>\u00a0parties, and dramatic movie<\/span>\u00a0script readings over the internet.\u00a0<\/span>This is great, of course, but has also spawned an additional activity<\/span>; namely, me inadvert<\/span>e<\/span>ntly\u00a0<\/span>tuning out of whatever is taking place onscreen.\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>rying to follow a lot of people shrunk into small icons on my desktop<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>restlessness from staying inside all day<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0often<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>time zone\u00a0<\/span>and technological\u00a0<\/span>hassles,<\/span>\u00a0have\u00a0<\/span>all combined to\u00a0<\/span>s<\/span>i<\/span>nk my concentration<\/span>\u00a0when it comes<\/span>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>group<\/span>\u00a0digital events<\/span>. I\u2019m\u00a0<\/span>not looking forward to discovering if this will hold true<\/span>\u00a0when classes resume online in a few weeks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Procrastinating on research proposal<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

To be honest, I would have been doing this regardless of lockdown.<\/span>\u00a0Society as we know it may have been\u00a0<\/span>upended<\/span>\u00a0but some habits never change.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Animal Crossing, Tiger King,\u00a0spending\u00a0time\u00a0with family…there are no shortage of ways in which people are occupying themselves while waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0But\u00a0Netflix gets stale and\u00a0many other\u00a0activities are untenable for a student\u00a0like\u00a0myself\u00a0who is far from\u00a0the comforts of\u00a0home.\u00a0So how does a postgrad stuck in a\u00a0tiny student flat\u00a0in London pass time while in\u00a0lockdown?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274465,300890,85172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-19","category-international-student","category-living-in-london"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5495,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions\/5495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}