An overdue hello from Glasgow, & anyone in Berlin?

Hullo, I'm Amelia. An introduction at last, after I joined about three months ago and have skulked the forums in study breaks without saying much. Not really sure which part to write so I'll just say it all.

I've went vegan overnight about 6/7 months ago, having previously been more carnivore than omnivore. It wasn't really a conscious decision, it just happened, I found I didn't want to eat meat/dairy anymore. Then the compassion side has kept me 110% committed since then (even have the tattoo, ahem, which I'm appropriately self-deprecating about but love). I never realised that my conscience was so weighted down until I cleared it.

Health and fitness wise... I've had appalling health since I was 9 years old, when I was laid up for months after appendicitis complications, subsequently my social anxiety got worse, introversion etc., I stopped the sports I'd been involved in because the people I knew had moved on, then dropped out of school when I was 12 and became depressed/mild ME (/chronic fatigue, genetic from my mum, but she's aged well so there must be some good genes in there). I didn't leave the house, barely left the bed, and did no exercise till I moved away from the backhills of Ireland to Glasgow. I've spent the last couple of years building up from a minus level of fitness and constant joint/muscle pain/shin splints etc. caused by years of inactivity when I was growing, to being able to do what I want when I want. The only thing that hasn't shifted is constant head and neck pain.

Anyway...

scuse the biography, the point being that when I cut out animal products my health improved dramatically and I discovered that I can work out regularly, hurrah! My goal is to lose the 15 pounds I gained when I came to university (5 down so far, I've always been slim though so I'm not too fussed about weight) and more importantly to tone, and become fit enough to be able to do anything I want. I travel a lot by myself, did the Lost City Trek in Colombia a few years ago, frequently find myself stuck in random cities in random countries with nowhere to sleep wandering round with a bag on my back (Ukraine recently)... and it would be nice to never have to think "can I do this?" ever again. At the moment I'm at the gym or an equivalent 5 or 6 days a week. I'm in the serious part of a joint honours Literature degree so after hours spent hunched over books it's all that's keeping me sane. I live on my own with a cat... so I need some reason to leave the flat and communicate with other humans.

Oh, and I'm living in Berlin for two and a half months this summer and don't really know anyone there... but want to keep up exercise, and so far I've only been vegan in Glasgow, so if anyone's in Berlin and is up for an occasional tagalong, I thought I'd put it out there.

Hi Amelia, welcome to the community here. Try using the search function in the upper right hand side of the screen with key words, Glasgow, Berlin, etc.

-Dylan