I had the opportunity in 2016 to take a month-long course in The Netherlands and I decided to add on eight extra days to travel in The Netherlands and Germany.
At first, I wanted to write a post reflecting on the whole trip, but I decided to break it up to be shorter and be able to post sooner. So here is part 1: The Netherlands!
When I decided to go back to school in 2010 to get a business diploma from Camosun community college, I never thought it would be such a lengthy process (seven years!!) with so many rewarding opportunities. One of these rewarding opportunities was a summer school offered by the International department at Nova Scotia Community College – a trip to Hanze University in Groningen, The Netherlands to study intercultural communications and Dutch history. The course was filled with so many interesting side trips and guest lecturers, but the most amazing part was feeling like I was living (even for just a month) in Groningen. I biked everywhere (both to get to school and for fun) and I made most of my meals in the dorm kitchen. The grocery store I shopped at offered the most amazing options for vegans from vegan cheese and sliced “meats” to candies I’ve never before seen without gelatin. Grocery shopping wasn’t without it’s challenges though – I had to learn some common non-vegan words in Dutch so I could know what to buy and I had to learn to weigh and tag my own produce! I made a lot of stirfries, since they were easy and made multiple servings, but I also made sandwiches and pastas, too. Even though I made most of my meals, I still had the opportunity to eat out at the two amazing vegan restaurants (at the time there were only two) in Groningen – De Herbivoor and Anat, plus some non-vegetarian places with great vegan options. We had a lot of late nights, both from socializing and from school projects, and the smoothies from Anat made the early mornings easy!
The school took us on weekend trips to Amsterdam, Schiermonikoog, and Enschede and I made sure I had vegan granola bars or trail mix (plus some of the amazing VioLife vegan cheese) each trip!! Most of the places we ate at as a group were omni places where I had to have something off-menu ordered in advance, but on the weekend trip to Amsterdam three of us checked out the restaurant Le Pain Quoditien, a chain café with vegetarian and vegan options. So many choices and everyone’s meals were so yummy! During the weekend trip I also checked out one of the many vegan stores in Amsterdam, Vegabond in De 9 Straatjes area – I’ve been to vegan stores before, so it wasn’t awe inspiring like my first trip to Vegan Haven in Seattle, but it was a great shop and I was able to pick up snacks, gum, and coffee creamers!!! for the rest of my trip.
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I returned to Amsterdam for one day at the end of my trip just before I flew home. I went to the Rijksmuseum and ate at TerraZen – a super cute vegan place with a fusion menu and a relaxing vibe. There weren’t a lot of vegan restaurants when I was in Amsterdam so I was grateful to find one, but there are so many more now I can’t wait to go back!
The Netherlands isn’t as vegan friendly as other countries I’ve visited, but it’s an amazing place to travel alone or with friends or family. It’s the kind of place where there are options at the omni restaurants and at the grocery stores, so if you are a cook your own food traveller it’s a great place to be!
