With the leaves turning golden and the first block of exams disappearing in our rear view mirror, Autumn is well and truly upon us. Here are our top tips on how to survive Autumn in the beautiful city that we call home. 

Be visible

With the days getting shorter and darker it is very important that you are visible when leaving university or the library late at night. By late at night we mean 5pm, because it gets dark then now..

Cooking with friends

A great way to keep yourself entertained during autumn nights is to make some dinner with friends. My personal favourite is that pumpkins are in season so you can make pumpkin flavoured everything for dinner. It’s always fun to experiment with food, especially with pumpkin flavoured things. Oh and friends, don’t forget the friends!

Unleash your inner onion

The only way to survive the Dutch cold is to learn how to layer up. This one took me a while when I first arrived but you get the trick of it after a while. Don’t be afraid to bundle yourself up with all the necessities; hat, scarf, gloves, fleece, body warmer, thermal undergarments. It will all help! TIP: if a dress seems too “revealing” wear a tee or polo neck inside it.

Vitamins, vitamins and more vitamins

With the sun going to sleep earlier, it's especially important to get your daily dose of vitamin D! Aside from our general lack of vitamin D, if you’re a vegetarian then it is also very important that you are getting enough of your vitamin B12. Both vitamin D and B21 can be found in many different sources, such as; eggs or any type of milk [soya, almond, cow, goat]. Alternatively, you can just buy a packet of multivitamins..

Thrift-shopping!

Shopping is always a fun activity to do with friends. What makes it even more fun? You guessed it, going to thrift shops! Thrift shops are the best places to get cosy knitted sweaters for the cold weather, that are of high quality for a good price. It’s important that we try to reduce our overall consumption, a large majority of which is related to the fast fashion industry. 

Improvise, adapt, overcome

The dutch weather is well known for having all four seasons in one day. Thus, it is important to invest in a good rain jacket/umbrella/hat/pants and anything else you can think of that comes in waterproof style. Keep these nearby and just because it’s sunny in the morning doesn’t mean it will still be sunny when you have to walk to the shop for lunch or are coming home in the evening.

Overall just try to embrace the autumn weather. Lean into it and build up your repertoire of cosy sweaters and jackets, make pumpkin flavoured cookies and cheesecake and mac and cheese. Mainly because that's what it’s all about, but really because we won’t have much sun again until May… [laughs nervously]