Monday, March 10, 2025

Lifestyle

Reflections on the perils of overthinking

here is a lot to be said for blind positivity. On a good day, I’m a manifester, a big believer in my ability to speak things into existence. During my English A-Level, I had complete confidence that the crystals hidden in my bra would provide enough luck to snag me an A*. Today, I put great faith in words, relying on the same ‘I can do it’ that gets Olympic athletes across the finish line, to help me through difficult situations.

The fourth year: Oxford after your year abroad

I’m now in my fourth year, and as such, must grapple with the reality of my Oxford days drawing to a close. Granted, this is something that every student must contend with, and I watched on as most of my friends bade a fond farewell to this city where our friendships began when they graduated last summer. Yet there is something about the fourth year that I’m certain makes the final year even more strange: a sense of something already lost, of living in a moment that has already passed.

An evening at Pierre Victoire: French bistro dining at its best

Pierre Victoire has been here on Little Clarendon Street for decades – one of...

Being Cupid isn’t easy: What I learned from a term of running Cherpse

Now, having exhausted myself with these relentless pursuits, the job has been passed on to a new bright-eyed Cupid, and in my retirement I’ve become fondly reflective, and decided to curate my insights into this list: 

NEVER fail to call out racism: the devastation of silence

TW: Racism, sexual assault  British society and campuses continue to live in denial of racial inequality entrenched in our communities. Removing the burden of racism...

Belonging and Burdens at Oxford: Confessions of a BAME Oxonian

‘I’m never going to feel like I belong here!’ It was almost a year ago when those words flew out of my mouth. I...

“Your English is so Good!” and Other Racist Microaggressions

TW: Racism Upon descending at Oxford railway station with my dad at the start of Freshers’ Week and waiting almost fifteen minutes in the queue...

Feeling (Un)attractive in Brown Skin – a personal account

TW: Racism The protests in the US spurred on by repeated institutional injustices against black bodies have opened up numerous conversations about race across the globe....

How to have the perfect relationship (and other lies)

Often, Men seem Martian. They just baffle me. And I’ve got it on good authority that despite our best efforts, they’re regularly just as...

A social blend: the history of the Oxford coffeehouse

‘I have measured out my life in coffee spoons’ is a line which comes uncomfortably close to describing how I spend much of my...

Reality TV: harmless fun or mental health disaster?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t watch reality television. In fact, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love reality television. Growing up...

Confessions of an (un)qualified Au Pair

“Don’t you dare cry. Don’t let them see a chink in your armour,” I told myself. Commands, negotiations and bribes had failed miserably, simply falling on...

Eating disorders – the elephant in the room

TW/CW: Body Dysmorphia, Eating Disorders, Trauma This article contains explicit mentions of harmful behaviour.  Please consult the resources under the article if you or anyone you...

Cherpse! Daniel and Lindsay

Daniel, English, University, 2nd Year First impressions: Extremely awkward, for some reason we ended up messaging for ages with the audio on but cameras off, very...

Do It For the Gram: Dalgona Heartbreak

I’ve grammed my food exactly once in my nineteen years. In my defence, it was Thanksgiving, the food is really only in the lower...

In Defence of a Goddess: why I love Nigella

In the comedy Miranda, Penny, Miranda’s preposterous mother, laments that her daughter ‘hasn’t been blessed by the goddess of socialising.’ ‘There isn’t a goddess of socialising’,...

Nora Ephron, and Why You Should Never Regret the Potatoes

"I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them," says Nora Ephron in her thinly-veiled autobiographical novel, Heartburn,...

Oxford’s bike black markets and other vicious cycles

When you find yourself locked in a stranger’s car, alone, behind an MOT station 30 miles away from college, half an hour until your...

A man’s best friend

As a child, I developed a strange habit: whenever I wanted anything, I would make a PowerPoint. My younger self had a compulsion to...

Going for a run – a reality check

‘Running’, says American long-distance champion Kara Goucher, ‘allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible, nothing unattainable.’ Now, I’m not sure how she feels...

No more “Viva la Revolution”: Has our generation become boring?

Throughout history, students have been feared as the archenemy of social and political order: from Paris to Cairo, we’ve revolutionised cultural norms, broken laws,...

Lockdown dating: a guide

Your ex is messaging you, that one-night stand from Bridge is in your Insta DMs and you are struggling not to write an Oxlove...

A Perspective on Validation

The inability to feel validated is something many of us struggle with. We routinely identify certain parts of our lives that we are not...

Why food festivals matter

Every year on Shrove Tuesday, I put aside the time to make my family pancakes - despite the fact that my parents would much prefer...

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