Life Update: I’m Moving to Amsterdam!

It’s time for another big announcement, since my life will change quite a bit the coming weeks. Last year I wrote a big life update too, I was moving out of my parental house to go live with my boyfriend in Groningen. Today I’m reflecting a bit on this past year of living together and telling you about the next step. As the title says: I am moving again! This time I am moving to Amsterdam. Let me tell you all about it.

Groningen

As you know, I have been living in Groningen the past year together with my boyfriend. A year ago, I made the decision to go live with him instead of going to Amsterdam. I made that decision because of COVID-19. My plan was to start a 1-year master in Amsterdam, but sitting in my room all year because of COVID-19 didn’t seem appealing at all. And so, I delayed that decision to go to school and moved to Groningen. I wanted to make myself useful and so have been working for the government this past year to help fight the COVID-19 crisis.

It has been a great but also difficult year. Working from home, social distancing, being scared, it was hard for me. But I am in a privileged position so this is really the best position to be in in 2020/2021. I had a job, a home, didn’t lose family or friends due to the virus, etc. I am grateful but it was the second hardest year of my life. I am not used to hard things.

The living together with my boyfriend was amazing and it went even better than expected. I seriously hope this is for life.

Sustainability-wise I think I improved a little bit this year. At least, that’s what I expect. We didn’t use gas in our house, didn’t use the heating all year round (of which I am pretty proud), I wasn’t able to play sports and so I showered a lot less (which is not a good thing really, I hope to start again soon), saved a looot of food via Too Good to Go and I travelled a lot less since I worked from home and didn’t have to travel to my boyfriend. But I know my final score for sure next week! That’s when I’ll publish my yearly update on whether I am living eco-positive or not. In 2019/2020 my score was 1,1 earths (the amounts of earths we’d need if everybody lived like me). Nearly there! This year I hope to go below 1. We’ll see the full story next week.

Amsterdam

Anyway, I am moving again, to Amsterdam. I am doing this on my own and so my boyfriend and I will live separate again. He’s staying in Groningen and I’m going to Amsterdam. Why? Because of my original plan. I was going to start a master in Amsterdam last year. However, that plan was delayed because of COVID-19. Right now, the situation seems better in The Netherlands and so I have decided to start studying again. I mean, the number of infections is quite low, I have had two vaccinations and everybody in The Netherlands has had the chance to get a vaccination. I think life will get back to ‘normal’ quite soon and that’s why I have decided to no longer put my life on hold.

I am doing the master Environment and Resource Management this year at the Free University in Amsterdam. It starts in about 2 weeks and I am very excited. The first course will unfortunately be online still but I am hopeful for the second course in October. The master takes one year, so it’s quite a short period. I have decided to move to Amsterdam to enjoy possibly the last student year I can have. This might be the last year of me being a student, ever. This isn’t entirely sure since I maybe want to do a second master, but still. I can live together with my boyfriend for decades if we want to. However, I can only be a student still for 1 or maybe 2 years. I want to make the absolute best of this study. I want to join student associations, make new friends, party abnormally long, live in a student house and be a little crazy. And so, that’s what I am doing. I now have a room in a student house in Amsterdam and I have 13 roommates. If there’s anything that this pandemic has taught me it’s that life as we know it is unsure. I am ready for this big adventure!

Sustainability

Where I used to live in a modern apartment with great isolation and modern technology with my boyfriend, I will now live in an extremely old student flat with 13 others. That will have consequences for my sustainability journey. Right now, I don’t know where I stand exactly yet. Last year my score was 1,1 earths and I think I have improved so I think I will be below 1,1 earths. We’ll know next week. However, I think I will go up again this coming year in Amsterdam. Isolation is not that good in the student flat and so I will have to use the heating, the house is powered by gas, we cook on gas and I will have a long distance relationship again which means I will travel more by train again. Also, this past year I have had great insights in the energy and gas bill. I just divide the bills by 2 and then I have my own use (roughly speaking). However, with 14 people in one flat I can’t do that and so I don’t know if I can specify my energy and water use at that time. I am very curious how this all will play out but I am determined to keep a low score (1 earth or less). The big things won’t change. I will still eat vegan, ditch the plane and buy little to no new stuff.

Now you’re up-to-date again! Soon I’ll be living in Amsterdam in a student flat with 13 others. Let’s start this adventure!

Yours sincerely,
Romee