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Josh Christian

Blog: A bubble squared

Droevendaal is a pretty cool place with an interesting reputation. To a lot of people it seems to be a mystical place of drugged hippies, chicken, gardening and goats. A place that you can only live in if you possess a certain mindset. Organic-fairtrade-vegan-boo-hoo.

A lot of people say ‘I wouldn’t want to live that way’ when I tell them that I live here. It’s the same as saying that you wouldn’t want to be rich. Bullshit. But to me that is just a way of dealing with the cognitive dissonance of jealousy.

Me? I think there are two groups of people: Those who already live in Droevendaal and those who didn’t manage yet. How could you not want to have a garden, friendly neighbours and great parties all the time? The campus and sports centre are spectacularly close (<3 minutes), the rooms are better than any other from Idealis in this price range and you can go for a run in the forest. Time seems to go slower here. People smile and wave and talk.

And they’re keen to learn from each other. There are courses in yoga, capoeira, swing, salsa, meditation, choir… the list goes on. And although there are not many genuine hippies, there is a friendly attitude towards sustainability and organicness. Droevendaal is a bubble squared. A bubble inside a bubble. One could easily think it is a utopia where everything goes as it should.

If the world were like Dorevendaal, it would all be fine…

Well, not quite. It’s a good start, but not more. There is a sense of community and shared responsibility. There are people who take on public tasks and make a difference. But there’s also a lot of gardens that resemble junkyard-jungles. Quite a few unhappy chickens and haggard cats. And it is not as social and cosy as you might think.

And also, it’s not very efficient. Not many people per square metre. I guess if everyone lived like this there would be little space left for anything else.

Damn. I better get back into my bubble.

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