Roos Goedhart (20) is a Bachelor’s student of Molecular Life Sciences. She is currently writing her thesis and walks between the Axis and Helix buildings every day. Talking about her life, she uses the word ‘super’ a lot.
‘It is super-nice to work on the environment. What I like best is to apply my chemical and molecular knowledge to this field.’ That is why Roos is writing her Bachelor’s thesis at Environmental technology, even though this is not a chair group involved in her programme. For months she has been delving into the world of bacteria, granules and biofilms. A thesis for her programme is worth 24 ECTS – almost six months of study. She does the quantifying in Helix and writes in Axis. Luckily they are not far apart: she only has to cross the road.
‘The yummiest thing in the world is grilled aubergine’
A big plus for many thesis students is free coffee. But Roos was already used to that: ‘I also have a coffee card for the Forum and Orion.’ Alongside her studies Roos chairs study association Alchimica. It is quite time-consuming work: three evenings a week on average. There is a meeting once a week, there are get-togethers over drinks with other study associations, and then of course there are the association’s own activities. ‘It is very intensive but I enjoy keeping busy. And it is super-fun and super-sociable!’
In any spare time she has left, Roos makes vegan snacks. ‘The yummiest thing in the world is grilled aubergine.’ Roos is vegan by day and vegetarian in the evening. She would really prefer to be vegan all the time but finds it tricky to combine it with sharing meals with the board or with her housemates. Vegan food took a bit of getting used to – ‘cheese adds flavour to anything really’ – but it is part of her passion for the environment. It has also made her more aware of what she eats. ‘I used to just make a quick cheese sandwich. Now I give more thought to what I eat. And as a result I generally eat much more delicious food!’