So, in just over a month, I will be leaving for my year in industry as part of my course. I have been lucky enough to find a placement in Vienna, Austria. For the past two years I have been living in York during term time, attending university there, but my home city is Southampton, so generally a long way from all of my uni friends. This summer, it's really hit home how detatched I'm going to be from everyone.
Snapchat stories, Instagram, Facebook albums, they're all great for seeing what people are doing. Not, how they're doing, which to me as a friend matters far more.
I often wonder how friends from school or 6th form are doing, but convince myself it would be weird to message them having not seen them in years. I'm scrapping this idea.
During my year away, I will try to do regular posts of what I've been up to, but I will also be randomly messaging people with something along the lines of....
"Hey! How's life?"
... and by that I mean, tell me how you are and how you have been. It's like the modern equivalent of writing letters to people.
It sounds stupid I know, but as my friend recently said, looking at someone on social media is like "staring through their living room window for five minutes". You're not getting a realistic view, let alone any depth.
So to those of you thinking there's someone you want to message in this way, do it.
If you get a message like this, reply! They care about how you are.
Oh and please, I know the modern age can mean we read into e v e r y t h i n g but if you're a guy and the message is from a girl (etc. other combinations available) it doesn't mean they're hitting on you, so don't get weird. People are allowed to be friends and care about how someone is in a totally platonic way, we're not in year 9 (sorry any year 9s reading this).
So there you go, that's how I'm changing how I use social media.
Stay tuned for updates in the next year
All the best,
Bea x
Wednesday 22 August 2018
Friday 20 April 2018
Becoming an ecoqueen
As some of you know, I'm a biology student, and ecology at that, meaning I'm a bit of a eco-queen. Lately I've been trying to make an effort to be kinder to the planet through everyday changes. I don't have the self control with food to go vegitarian, let alone vegan so I try and find other ways I can contribute to making myself more environmentally friendly. Here I'm going to go through my favourite ways that anyone can help may the world a bit more green...
1. Recycling - I know it sounds obvious but it's shocking how many people don't bother, with British households failing to recycle 16 MILLION plastic bottles a day in 2016 with data suggesting this could reach 29 BILLION by the end of 20201
2. Receipts - only get one if you need it! Or if you get one without asking, see the previous point! Similarly for junk mail, but be sure to remove celophane first as this is unfortunately not recyclable (cry).
3. Who needs tuppaware? - If you're like me and enjoy a good takeaway curry, you probably end up with lots of tubs, these make great lunch boxes so keep them! And if your takeaway comes in the pie tin style containers, these can be rinsed and recycled!
4. Think seasonal - When you're in the supermarket, think about if your veggies are in season. You may feel super healthy and natural eating your avocado, but if it's been flown in from Chile, Central America of Sub-saharan Africa2, that's not all that great for the planet.
5. Razors - So this is one I've come across in the past day or so. They're called safety razors, cost around £25 and last for years. A quick google search will show you people rave about them, as a cheaper and more effective solution to disposable razors which can't be recycled (cry), whilst the blades used in safety razors can be recycled (yay)!
6. Drinking Straws - Everyone has seen the videos of turtles with straws stuck in their noses. Around 8.5 billion straws are thrown away in the UK each year, contributing to over 150 million tonnes of plastic in the seas3. There are even companies developing reusable plastic straws for on the go! Check out https://thelastplasticstraw.org/about-us/last-straw/
7. Water Bottle - linking to the stats in point 1, reusable water bottles could save so much plastic waste! All tap water in the UK is safe to drink4 so why pay £3 for some good old H2O?
8. Power Down - when you leave a room, turn the light off. If your house will be empty for a week or so, turn the wifi off. Boiling pasta, put a lid on it! It will still boil but use half the energy so just turn it down.
9. Let's talk about Tea - now I am a big fan of tea, so found it disappointing to hear that something I'd thought was biodegradable (teabags) contain plastic! Thankfully, Wendy at Moral Fibres has compiled a useful list of which to favour in the war on excess plastic http://moralfibres.co.uk/is-there-plastic-in-your-tea/.
10. Food Waste - this is a massive stress of mine, I HATE food waste. People think I'm crazy when I say I weigh pasta, but for the 10 seconds it takes to weigh it into the pan whilst the kettle the boiling really is nothing. Don't buy more food than you're going to have time to eat, and keep an eye on what you have. Meat is generally safest frozen or cooked right away. Dried carbs (pasta, rice, noodles) will often be fine way past their best before date so use your common sense before binning them. This will all save you money, and reduce the growing issue of food waste.
So there are my current favourites for subtle changes to make yourself greener. I'm hoping to test out the safety razor for myself, and maybe a bamboo toothbrush in my efforts to become more sustainable so will probably do a follow up post in a few months. Some of this may sound a bit mad but even by doing one of these you'll be making a massive difference!!
All the best!
Bea
References (cos I'm in report writing mode and don't want to make unsupported statements)
1https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/15/british-households-fail-to-recycle-a-staggering-16m-plastic-bottles-a-day
2http://www.freshplaza.com/article/156557/OVERVIEW-GLOBAL-AVOCADO-MARKET
3https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/straws-and-cotton-buds-could-be-banned-under-fresh-government-drive-to-cut-plastic-waste-a3817751.html
4https://www.water.org.uk/consumers/water-and-health/faqs
1. Recycling - I know it sounds obvious but it's shocking how many people don't bother, with British households failing to recycle 16 MILLION plastic bottles a day in 2016 with data suggesting this could reach 29 BILLION by the end of 20201
2. Receipts - only get one if you need it! Or if you get one without asking, see the previous point! Similarly for junk mail, but be sure to remove celophane first as this is unfortunately not recyclable (cry).
3. Who needs tuppaware? - If you're like me and enjoy a good takeaway curry, you probably end up with lots of tubs, these make great lunch boxes so keep them! And if your takeaway comes in the pie tin style containers, these can be rinsed and recycled!
4. Think seasonal - When you're in the supermarket, think about if your veggies are in season. You may feel super healthy and natural eating your avocado, but if it's been flown in from Chile, Central America of Sub-saharan Africa2, that's not all that great for the planet.
5. Razors - So this is one I've come across in the past day or so. They're called safety razors, cost around £25 and last for years. A quick google search will show you people rave about them, as a cheaper and more effective solution to disposable razors which can't be recycled (cry), whilst the blades used in safety razors can be recycled (yay)!
6. Drinking Straws - Everyone has seen the videos of turtles with straws stuck in their noses. Around 8.5 billion straws are thrown away in the UK each year, contributing to over 150 million tonnes of plastic in the seas3. There are even companies developing reusable plastic straws for on the go! Check out https://thelastplasticstraw.org/about-us/last-straw/
7. Water Bottle - linking to the stats in point 1, reusable water bottles could save so much plastic waste! All tap water in the UK is safe to drink4 so why pay £3 for some good old H2O?
8. Power Down - when you leave a room, turn the light off. If your house will be empty for a week or so, turn the wifi off. Boiling pasta, put a lid on it! It will still boil but use half the energy so just turn it down.
9. Let's talk about Tea - now I am a big fan of tea, so found it disappointing to hear that something I'd thought was biodegradable (teabags) contain plastic! Thankfully, Wendy at Moral Fibres has compiled a useful list of which to favour in the war on excess plastic http://moralfibres.co.uk/is-there-plastic-in-your-tea/.
10. Food Waste - this is a massive stress of mine, I HATE food waste. People think I'm crazy when I say I weigh pasta, but for the 10 seconds it takes to weigh it into the pan whilst the kettle the boiling really is nothing. Don't buy more food than you're going to have time to eat, and keep an eye on what you have. Meat is generally safest frozen or cooked right away. Dried carbs (pasta, rice, noodles) will often be fine way past their best before date so use your common sense before binning them. This will all save you money, and reduce the growing issue of food waste.
So there are my current favourites for subtle changes to make yourself greener. I'm hoping to test out the safety razor for myself, and maybe a bamboo toothbrush in my efforts to become more sustainable so will probably do a follow up post in a few months. Some of this may sound a bit mad but even by doing one of these you'll be making a massive difference!!
All the best!
Bea
References (cos I'm in report writing mode and don't want to make unsupported statements)
1https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/15/british-households-fail-to-recycle-a-staggering-16m-plastic-bottles-a-day
2http://www.freshplaza.com/article/156557/OVERVIEW-GLOBAL-AVOCADO-MARKET
3https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/straws-and-cotton-buds-could-be-banned-under-fresh-government-drive-to-cut-plastic-waste-a3817751.html
4https://www.water.org.uk/consumers/water-and-health/faqs
Thursday 22 February 2018
15 Amusing things International Students find odd
So this term, as I've been becoming aware of more and more British things my international friends find weird. Now obviously some of these may be odd things I do, and it's likely more nationalities than I've mentioned think the things are strange, but you get the jist! Obviously plugs, which side of the road we drive on, binge drinking, North/South divide and queueing came up but that's nothing new!
1. Two Tap System (China, Poland, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Germany)
2. We wait outside the room (at uni), whether it's for labs or a workshop, until the lecturer is there we'll remain outside. It just feels wrong after the years of school where it was a rule (Romania, Scotland)
3. How big the cucumbers are (Iraq, Cyprus).... and the size of the chickens (Poland)
4. This is a satsuma. (Lithuania, Germany, Cyprus)
5. Using multiple words for the same thing in one sentance. I'm very guilty of this in the case of America as my mum if from there. I can easily use USA, US, The States, America, United States all in one train of thought. (Spain/Germany)
(similar...)
6. Number of words we have to mean drunk (Hong Kong)
7. Ignoring each other in the street (Portugal)
8. How many accents we manage to have in such a small area (Spain)
9. Never seem to dress for the right weather (France)
10. The word "acknowledgements" (Lithuania)
11. Saying "maybe" or "We'll see" when we mean "no." (Germany, Hong Kong)
12. Using tea bags, not one of these! (Romania)
13. (my housemate was upset this came up) (Spain, Venezuela)
14. Our cuisine:
Chips and Gravy (Cyprus)
Love for Gravy (France)
Eating eggs without salt (Germany)
and my favourite... "the pride the British have on their cuisine (is) a bit ridiculous considered by that it is not very varied and without any indigenous ingredients" (India)
15. TV is very strange, I can sympathise...
1. Two Tap System (China, Poland, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Germany)
2. We wait outside the room (at uni), whether it's for labs or a workshop, until the lecturer is there we'll remain outside. It just feels wrong after the years of school where it was a rule (Romania, Scotland)
3. How big the cucumbers are (Iraq, Cyprus).... and the size of the chickens (Poland)
4. This is a satsuma. (Lithuania, Germany, Cyprus)
(similar...)
6. Number of words we have to mean drunk (Hong Kong)
7. Ignoring each other in the street (Portugal)
8. How many accents we manage to have in such a small area (Spain)
9. Never seem to dress for the right weather (France)
10. The word "acknowledgements" (Lithuania)
11. Saying "maybe" or "We'll see" when we mean "no." (Germany, Hong Kong)
12. Using tea bags, not one of these! (Romania)
Chips and Gravy (Cyprus)
Love for Gravy (France)
Eating eggs without salt (Germany)
and my favourite... "the pride the British have on their cuisine (is) a bit ridiculous considered by that it is not very varied and without any indigenous ingredients" (India)
15. TV is very strange, I can sympathise...
Now what's going to be really interesting, is if everything goes to plan, I'll be an international student next year!! It'll be amusing to be in this situation from the other side!
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