Spartacus chair Merel van Buren: ‘I don’t fly without my teddy bear’

A new year is often accompanied by good intentions such as: finally doing something about fitness. In the fitness rooms of the sports center, you might just bump into Merel van Buren. Van Buren is chair of student strength sports association Spartacus. ‘I daydream about what my house will look like later.’

1. What did you want to be when you were a child?

‘Fashion designer. As a child, I had a lot of TOPmodel drawing books and that made me really want to become a designer. I still do a bit, actually. I wear a lot of black, but you can’t always find anything special in it. That’s why I would like to design something myself.’

2. What are you most proud of?

‘My collection of cuddly toys. I now have thirty to thirty-five. It started when I was on exchange in Japan for six months. I was there in a dorm in my own room, and I thought the bed was really empty. So I bought a Pokémon plush there. After that, I couldn’t stop. Everyone who comes to my house sees all those stuffed animals, so when people buy me presents, they often come up with cuddly toys.’

3. What do you daydream about?

‘About my dream house later. How everything is laid out and that each room has its own theme. When I see things online that I really like, I think: oh, that would fit well in my bathroom, or this would fit well in my kitchen. For example, I want to have a room that is half decorated in a kind of dark academia style with all my books and the other half more futuristic with all the manga. It’s true, I’m very organized, everything is in my head in rows and schedules and lists.’

4. What is your biggest fear?

‘Spiders! After high school, I thought about studying in Australia. But that turned out to be quite an operation. Also, I saw videos of spiders in Australia and thought: never mind. I had the same problem in Japan. You have convenience storestherethat are always open. At the beginning of my exchange I thought: I’m going to get something to eat there, nice. I walked there in the dark and on the zebra crossing a spider crossed, very prim and proper. But it was gigantic with black and neon yellow colors. After that, every time I wanted to get something to eat in the evening, I thought, there will be another spider.’

5. Which book would you recommend to everyone?

‘The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller or I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. They are such beautiful books. And actually, they are exactly the opposite. In I’ll Give You the Sun there is a lot going on and it just feels like everything is going wrong. But, spoilers, then it actually gets better and better. It’s so beautiful to read, it’s just an experience

‘With The Song of Achilles it’s just the other way around. It is about the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus. And that goes very well, but in the end things don’t go so well for Achilles. Most people know the story from the movie Troy. That was made a lot tougher and masculine, because you couldn’t let Brad Pitt play a gay man in 2003. The book tells us it is actually a much more romantic story than most people know.’

6. What music can’t you get enough of?

‘Aurora! For four or five years I have seen on the Spotify Wrapped that I am in the top 0.05 listeners of her music. In October she performed in AFAS, I went there. She will come again in May. I don’t have tickets for that yet, but I’m going there too. Her music is quite dreamy, so she is not in my workout playlist. If you’re going to squat or something, it’s not quite right to have nice calm music in the background.’

7. What should be general knowledge?

‘That you can’t work off fat in one place when exercising. The idea has been around for a long time, especially for women, that if you think your belly is too big or too fat, doing lots of steps will remove the fat from your belly. Yes, unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. You do have stomach and buttocks exercises, but they work more for muscles. The fat disappears all over your body. I thought people knew that, but a few weeks ago I was asked the same question at work. So, there are still plenty of people who still think that.’

8. What do few people know about you?

‘That I can’t stand horror films very well. Of course, I have a lot of black and rugged clothes and my sports bag is shaped like a coffin. But I get scared very easily. So horror films that are based on jump scares, I really can’t stand those.’

9. Your house is on fire and you can only save one possession. What do you take with you?

‘My teddy bear. I got it from a friend for Sinterklaas in high school. I don’t know what happened, but I now take him everywhere with me. It’s just a bear, from the HEMA, I think. Just a classic furry bear. I always put it in my bag, especially when I’m flying, because I find take-off and landing scary, and I can take it in my lap.’

10. What series do you watch to relax?

‘I’m watching different animes. But they are often short, so that varies. Now I’m watching Dandadan, which is a fairly new one that just came out. But I’ll finish it soon and then I’ll continue with The Dragon Prince on Netflix, a new season of that has just been released.’

11. What gives you a short fuse?

‘When people drive below the speed limit. They don’t have to drive faster or anything, I’m really not into that. But if you can drive 80 and people get confused whether they can drive 80 or 60 and they only drive 70, I can’t stand that. There is a dike near my parents house, there are a lot of bends in it. Your allowed to drive 60 there, but some people find that scary and then they drive 40. No, no! Of course you have to drive safely but do so in the direction of the speed limit.’

12. Netflix or reading?

‘That depends, because sometimes I’m so into a series that I want to continue watching as soon as I have time. But I can have that with a book sometimes too. At the moment I’m more into reading, a manga that I’ve almost finished. So, it varies, but if I have to choose: reading. Luckily, I have a small balcony and when the weather is nice I can sit in the sun with a book. And then just read all day. Yes, wonderful.’

13. Carnival or skiing?

‘Neither of them, but if I have to choose: then carnival. I once snowboarded, I liked that, but I should train. I don’t find skiing interesting. And I like carnival with friends. But really going into town? I think that’s too busy, so no. However, the carnival volleyball tournament is coming up soon, and I’m looking forward to that.’

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