3 WEEKS...

It's only 3 weeks until I go. 3 weeks..?! What happened to the time? Before I know it I will be back in Sweden and all of this will just be memories. Scary thought. Everything is going so fast I can't keep up. 

ST. MARY'S LOCH

COWSPIRACY, VEGAN, DAIRY, LACTOSE AND ALL OF THAT

You know how we always talk about cars, boats, planes and the CO2 they release. I've found out that only 13% is being released through the transportation sector (cars, trucks, buses, boats, trains, planes) and 18% is from cattle (livestock). And cattle is the leading resource to destroying the planet. 

Have you heard about Hydraulic Fracturing? They're used for taking up natural gas. For one alone you will need you will need 100 billion gallons of water. For the livestock just in the US you will need 34 trillion gallons of water. And the methane emission from both of them are nearly equal.

You guys want to know something else? I'm 99.99% sure that I'm lactose intolerant 'cause, wow, I fart rotten eggs after consuming dairy. (Sorry about that info, but I honestly do). But I couldn't care less about being lactose, I'm actually very pleased with it. Did you know that when you become lactose it's actually your body telling you that you shouldn't eat it 'cause it can't break it down?? Your body is actually telling you to stop eating dairy 'cause it's not good for you. Another fact is that lactose dairy (milk, cheese, cream, etc) is regular dairy with added enzymes. These enzymes is added so your body can break the dairy down. Are you kidding me? You're just tricking your body that it can eat something it can't break down. 

And come on! We are drinking COW MILK!? How weird is that?? It would be more natural if we would drink breast milk from humans. So why don't we do that? 

Let me ask you this: Why don't we drink human breast milk? 

Your answer: It's for babies, of course we don't drink it.

Do you see my point? It's the same thing with cows, it's meant for the calves, not for us humans. If we don't want to drink human breast milk  it would be more natural if we would drink chimpanse milk, because 96% of our genes are the same, but no we are drinking milk from an animal with 4 legs,, 4 stomachs, a tail, eats grass, etc. Breast milk is something we need when we're babies to grow, develop and get stronger but then we stop drinking it. We didn't need it anymore. And for some reason we started drinking cow's milk instead. And do you want to know the weirdest part...WE DON'T EVEN FIND IT WEIRD! Say what?!?! 

Random facts: 

One vegan per year uses 1/6 achre of land. 

One vegetarian per year, that eats dairy and eggs, uses 1/6 achre of land x 3.

One avarage US citizen with high consumption of meat, dairy and eggs, uses 1/6 achre of land x18. 

By becoming a vegan you'll save every day:

• 1100 gallons of water - 5000 liter
• 45 lbs of grain - 20.4 kg
• 30 square feet forest - 2.8 m2
• 20 lbs of CO2 - 9 kg
• 1 animals life 

I'm going vegan. My conscience is in the way of me eating meat and now dairy products. It will take some time before I can go completely vegan. With not being able to decide exactly what's being bought and to slowly learn and find new ingredients and food to eat. So mum and dad, thanks for the chocolate but I just can't eat it anymore. I will give it to my friends here that has never tried swedish chocolate before.

Here's a link to a lot of this information. They have clips from the documentarie (Cowspiracy) and the sources to all the facts on their website. It's not just a bunch of bladibladibla, it's true. I'll put a clip here in the end as well, it's just a short clip from the documentarie.

VEGETARIAN/VEGAN DOCUMENTARIES

So I just wanted to make a list of documentaries recommended to watch from a bunch of people and the internet. It's more for me, so I remember them. I've always written them down but keep losing the notes, haha. Have seen three on this list and there's one I can't remember that I've also watched. The next one on my list to watch is "Cowspiracy". Was going to do it last weekend but was way to busy, so hopefully this weekend. I can't watch them all in a row, that would be hard and to much information at once so half of it would just run out of my brain again. So a little at the time. 

• The Ethics of What We Eat
• Meat the Truth
• Blackfish
• Earthlings
• Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret 
• Live and Let Live
• Food, Inc.   - Check
• Forks Over Knives
• Vegucated
• Food Matters  - Check
• Supersize Me
• Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days
• The Future of Food Ingredients
• Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
• Hungry for Change
• 101 - Reasons To Go Vegan - Check

FIRST SNOW

You wanna know what happened this weekend??? I'll tell you even if you don't want to hear it, mohaha. It was SNOWING!!! Just for about two minutes and most of it was rain-snow, "snöblask" as we say in Sweden. But still!! I had planned to go for a cycle up to the loch so I went out and I just came to the top of the hill and these clouds appeared on the horizone - it was even darker in real life.

 I stood and watched it for a few minutes, completely amazed. When I felt the first raindrops coming I cycled back down and this is how it looked like over the cemetery. Pitch black. If the sun wouldn't have been behind me I promise you it would have been dark as in the middle of the night, even though it was mid day only.

I just managed to get inside when the sky opened up and the rain just poured down! And eventually a bit of snow joined in.

DAYTRIP TO CARLISLE, ENGLAND

Two weekends ago me and Christina went on a day trip to Carlisle. I had realised the day before that I haven't been down in England yet, and it's not long until my time here is over (to sad to even think about at the moment). So I texted two friends if they wanted to join, crossing my fingers that at least one could even though it was very spontaneous and last minute. Christina could join and she asked me what I was going to there and my best answer was "Sightseeing". Haha. Great Sofie, just great. 

The day came and we both enjoyed it thoroughly! Such a nice, warm, cozy city with a lot of alleys, just like Scotland, and the best second hand bookstore I've EVER been in!It was a very fun and clumsy - from my part; twice I hit down things from shelves and in the end of the day I spilled half of my coffee in my lap.. - day. 

Oh I have to mention something. It was hilarious too see the drastic difference in scenery between Scotland and England. Almost immediately all the beautful hills turned into flat, foggy, "miserable" fields. Haha, I didn't know it was THAT drastic change! However, here you have some pictures off Carlisle. 

DUN DEARDAIL FORT - HIGHLAND TRIP

GLENFINNAN & THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS - HIGHLAND TRIP

EVENING WALK IN NORTH BALLACHULISH - HIGHLAND TRIP

THE BENEFITS OF A BILINGUAL BRAIN