Hi there, welcome back into my weekly diary! In this diary I try to show what an eco-positive lifestyle looks like. What daily habits make an eco-positive lifestyle? What daily choices make an eco-positive lifestyle? The past week I went out in Amsterdam for the first time, went to an Oktoberfest and got my first grade for the exams back! Want to read along?
Thursday
Time for the second exam! I feel ready. It started at 8:45 so I wanted to be at school at 8 am since the traffic is a disaster in Amsterdam and I go to school by bus. I read the first question of the exam and didn’t understand it. And suddenly a girl in front of me starts crying. I was thinking ‘oh god, this will be a disaster’! But all the other questions I did understand and it turns out the girl cried over something else. Pfew! After the exam classmates and I went to eat lunch to celebrate exams are over. This feels so good! We ate at Olivers, I got a hummus sandwich with vegetables. Good that they had a vegan option, but it’s always a hummus sandwich in non-vegan places. Let’s hope they’ll get more creative in the future. Anyway, the lunch was fun, zero waste and vegan! Once back home I ate some more, took a shower and got ready. We were going to party! I went to a classmates house and afterwards we went out in Amsterdam city. Afterwards we had a midnight snack, mine was a vegan sandwich falafel. It was such a great night, my new classmates are fun!
Friday
Yesterday I got home at 5:45 and so I slept till 13:30 today. I had some breakfast and watched some tv (De Staat van het Klimaat in Dutch; The Condition of the Climate) and then it was already time to get ready again. I had another party today, from the student association. Oktoberfest! We were there at 18:30 I think. At the entrance you got a glass to use the whole night, zero waste! At the end of the night I did end up giving it away since I like my life to be minimalistic and I don’t need a beer glass (I don’t drink beer anyway). I gave it to someone who did seem very happy with it. At the entrance I also got a ticket for a sausage sandwich. They had vegetarian onces and non-vegetarian ones. I made an exception this time and ate the vegetarian sandwich. Also, I drank wine that night because it’s the only option I like. Wine is not entirely vegan either unfortunately. Let’s say I eat 99.9% vegan. It was a fantastic night, I had loads of fun!
Saturday
Today I woke up a little earlier, I think around 12. I was going to do some groceries because tonight my boyfriend came over and we were going to cook some vegan curries. At first I tried to go to the greengrocer but he didn’t have organic produce. I like to support local entreprenours too, but I think organic produce is more important. So I went to Ekoplaza for organic vegtables and then to Albert Heijn for the remaining things Ekoplaza didn’t have or which Albert Heijn also has organic but cheaper (like tofu). It was soooo busy since it’s Saturday. Once home I was exhausted. At Ekoplaza I did also buy a vegan cheese to try out. It was expensive (6,49 euros) but not that amazing. I don’t think I would buy it again. At the Albert Heijn I also bought some stuffed wine leaves which I ate right away. I love them! At home I tried to answer some e-mails once back home and then it was time to cook! Cooking is always a struggle for me, I don’t know why. Yet, I find it very relaxing and fun. Today I learned some new recipes and that is great. The spinach curry with tofu we made I found amazing and I will make it more often. I learned something new and that feels great!
Sunday
I don’t see a lot of nature due to my lifestyle, I live in a city. So today my boyfriend and I went to a nature reserve nearby, Zuidkenemerland in Bloemendaal. Just being in nature! Did you know that’s very healthy as well? I love it. The parc was great and I really want to go back soon. Afterwards we went home for a quick bite and then we went of into the city centre. We had an amazing lunch at Dakkas in Haarlem. A restaurant on top of a parking lot with a great view: a tip if you ask me! I had some kombucha and a vegan salad. We also went to By Lima, a vegan café. As we already had lunch we had a snack there, vegan bitterballen (a Dutch fried snack). But I am finding that I can’t stand fried food that well anymore. I get kind of naseaus afterwards. We went home to rest a little from all this food and then went out for food again! Dinner! My boyfriend took me out to dinner at Ome Pietje. It is a share concept and so you have some small dishes which you share. They had some great vegan dishes on the menu, which was amazing! Avocado tartare, brocolli risotto, a green salad and a falafel dish. I was very happily surprised. It was a great day. Full of food, which is typical.
Monday
Tomorrow the new period of school starts, but today I wanted to have a lazy day just because I still can. I watched all the tv shows I had missed the past days. Zembla, Keuringsdienst van Waarde, Tegenlicht, Zondag met Lubach, de Monitor, Why We Hate and Greys Anatomy. Especially Why We Hate is a very good one and I am thinking about writing a full blogpost about it, it’s so important. However, I have missed episode 1 and so I need to see if I can catch up. At night I edited my first weekly vlog for Youtube! Yes! From now on I’ll be making weekly vlogs for Youtube as well to share my eco-positive lifestyle. Woohoo, you can see the video here. This was a perfect lazy day in bed.
Tuesday
Time to go back to school. I’m ready for the next period, till christmas! Class started at 11 am and ended at 7 pm. In between we had 3 hours of no class and that is a good time to work on homework, but we had no homework yet haha. I missed my handball training due to this late class, which was a bummer. Once at home I changed into my jogging pants and sweatshirt and there was vegan lasagne waiting for me! Ahhh, so good. I watched a documentary from 2DOC which was on tv last night, a documentary about sexual abuse and the victims perspective. Intense, but I always like to learn about subjects. I don’t really know why, maybe it’s about knowing what’s happening in our society.
Wednesday
I woke up to amazing news! I got an 8 for my first exam, woohooo! That’s a good start of this premaster. I also got an email from Lendahand to invest in a new project, a project somewhere in Africa enabling a business to buy solar panels. I wanted to contribute, but I had some difficulties with my account in the end. I had some breakfast and went to school. It was a good lesson (just one) and I got back home. The rest of the day I basically spent reading articles, this is a huge part of my education. During dinner my aunt told me that something she bought for dinner was not vegan, the goreng mix for bami. I went off to the Albert Heijn to see if there was a vegan version and there was! In the end we had a vegan meal again!
How has your week been? Have you made any positive impact?
Yours sincerely,
Romee