Hi there! Welcome back into my weekly diary in which I want to show you how I try to live an eco-positive life. I want to leave no bad trace behind, but a good one! The past week I had some zero waste fails and wins, I travelled a lot (but not by plane!) and I went to France with my boyfriend. Want to read more? Here’s weekly diary #67.
Thursday
Today was quite a busy day. I stayed at school quite long because we got an assignment and we as a group prefer to do that immediately and not delay it. This makes you stick to your planning and reduced stress for me personally. Back home I had a meeting for Loose and after that I had an order for Loose. Both fun things, but days like these are exhausting because I also had training afterwards. I brought a charger to the recycling center, it was broken and I didn’t really need it anymore, I still have too many electronics in my opinion. Also, you can see a picture of something else I brought to the recycling bin. This is a tin I bought years ago on a holiday. I thought it would be great to keep my soap in when I have handball training, because I shower there. It started rusting and broke the other day. It was not the right choice, and if I could make the choice again I would definitely go for a second hand thing.
Friday
It was such an exciting day! My boyfriend and me headed to Belgium to stay there for the night and then go on to France. This weekend is my birthday present from him to me! Yes, an experience as a gift. New memories we are going to make together! I am so excited! We headed to friends of my boyfriend’s family to sleep there for the night. We were very welcome and the trip was extra special due to this because we had some company of others. On the road I found a zero waste snack (which is quite special in my opinion), the potatoes on a reuse-able plate with reuse-able cutlery. It was a great first day.
Saturday
We’re off to France. We’re headed to Montbeliárd, for the first European Championship of the Dutch handball ladies’ team against Hungary! This is my actual birthday present, the rest we paid together. It. Was. Amazing. Seeing a handball game of such a high level in person was amazing. The ambiance, the people, the game, everything together makes it just perfect. They won the match and me and boyfriend enjoyed it so much. This is a memory I will never forget. Talking trash: I brought my water bottle to the stadium so I would not have to order anything in plastic. But, I forgot the bottle is made out of glass, so the security took it from me and threw it away. That was a pity. So, we bought a plastic bottle at the stadium so we could still have a drink (even though it was only an hour, I was thirsty and I was not going to be thirsty because of this). Also, because there was no time to eat, I had a bag of chips there too. Two fails, but I don’t beat myself up for it. Shit happens, and next time I will bring my own cup again instead. After the game we went into the city to a lovely Christmas market. There was not much vegan food and French people don’t speak English in general so I had to guess. I had a big pretzel, which I managed to get completely package free. That’s a win woo! We also bought some olives, but I forgot my lunchbox all together so we had those in a plastic tray. We also went to MacDonalds to get some French fries, since there was not much vegan food. I kind of gave up because of all the trash I made already that day and so I took ketchup with my fries (which comes in plastic). I do notice I improve on a daily basis, but I have my fails too. Anyway, it was a great day!
Sunday
We travel all the way by car, today we’re going home. I have a plan to not fly anymore, especially on small trips like these. Flying is harming our beautiful planet and I don’t want to cause climate change. Having a lower impact feels so good! However, I do feel kind of bad because my boyfriend has to drive the whole trip. I don’t have a driver’s license because I don’t intend to own a car, electric or on fossil fuel. However, this weekend made me think. I don’t have to own a car when I have a driver’s license. But then again, it would be a sin if I never use it if I got it. It’s a struggle. I’m also kind of counting on technology, because I think the autonomous car’s will be coming soon enough. I don’t know what to do anymore.
Monday
I am back in the Netherlands and so have things to do again. I did a lot of homework today and after that I watched another match of the Dutch handball ladies at the European Championship. They won again! And it was such a crazy game, they won literally in the last second. I also made a vegan tuna salad and I am in looooove! Why haven’t I tried this earlier. It was amazing. I am publishing it a special post any day soon. You guys should know about this!
Tuesday
I did not go to the gym yesterday and I won’t go today. I feel like I need some more sleep and so I decided to sleep in. It’s both good for you and so you can’t make the wrong choice in opinion. So, no, I won’t work out this week as much as I normally do, but I am okay with that. Mental health and sleep are important too. After school I went to the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, for an information night about a master programme I want to attend after I finish at the University of Applied Sciences. It’s called: Environment and Resource Management and after this information I got I am so motivated to get in! I want to do the course really bad. I knew it was going to be a long way so I took many of my essentials with me (and a big lunch), that meant: no waste!
Wednesday
Unfortunately, I woke up today not feeling so well. I wanted to stay in school longer to work on some things, but I decided to give myself some rest. I wrote a post on Instagram today about the 5thof December and what it means to me, if you want to read it, you can check it there. My main point is: I don’t agree with people buying way too many gifts for a holiday. It is so forced. Just because it is Sinterklaas, we have to buy all these gifts for each other we don’t even need. I celebrate it in a different way this year, with a family dinner. Experiences and relationships, not things. Stuff will not make you happy, relationships will.
Yours sincerely,
Romee