10 Days of Veganism Anonymous

I stared down at my bowl of coarse, mushy oatmeal as everyone surrounding me at the table began to devour their overflowing plates of eggs, bacon, and French toast.

This is going to be a long ten days, I thought.

The summer between my junior and senior year, I traveled to a small suburb of Madrid to live and work for a Spanish family, both to experience a new culture and to enrich my knowledge of the Spanish language. Because I normally maintain a very active, busy lifestyle, the slower and more relaxed pace that my host family assumed was very new to me. Even though I was involved in developing a new ESL program at the local school and was busy nannying six kids, after a while the days seemed to feel dulled by the same routine. Three weeks into the experience, however, I realized this boredom was a blessing in disguise. When in my life would I ever have this much free time again? I was determined to challenge myself and try as many new things as I could, like going on a date with a Spaniard who spoke no English, or running all the way to the top of a nearby plateau.

One day, I was browsing Instagram and stumbled upon the account of a 18 year old girl who is famous in Australia for her vegan cause. After pursuing her posts, I...