Hi! My name's Aaron/A.J./Haroun/هارون - call me whatever you'd prefer! I'm a student in University in America studying music and minoring in Arabic. My main focus is studying Arabic music and composing my own songs with styles from Arabic/Jazz/Folk/Indie/Chinese music.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think Couchsurfing is an amazing way to get to expand your horizons and see how other people live!

Interests

I have been playing Arabic music for three years and a half years now, and I play the Middle Eastern lute (called oud) and sing songs in Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi. I started studying Arabic so that I could continue studying Arabic music after University, and now finished 3 1/2 years of lessons in Modern Standard Arabic :) I also play and write music for the guitar, and sometimes I play violin, Chinese violin, and piano.

I'm really into cooking, as well. I mostly cook Asian food, but I am really happy to learn how to cook any type of cuisine!

• arts
• theater
• dancing
• tango
• waltz
• ballroom dancing
• dining
• cooking
• chinese food
• traveling
• music
• jazz
• guitar
• languages
• mathematics
• arabic
• korean food
• thai food
• asian food
• arabic music
• asian culture
• arabic food
• arabic culture

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Jazz, Arabic, Indie Rock, Classic Rock, Blues, Chinese music... Actually really most music.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I took a year away from university to save money and travel in the Summer of 2016. I traveled by myself for three months through Europe with a backpack! That was an incredible experience that allowed me to see how people lived in many places across Europe.

I also started an intensive language program for اللغة العربية الفسحى و الدارجة المغربية in Meknes, Morocco in January this year. Now I'm staying until July to continue playing traditional Malhun music!

Teach, Learn, Share

I love learning how people choose to live and enjoy their lives. Learning about other peoples' cultures, languages, and food is just awesome to me.

I'm also really interested in learning more Moroccan Darija! I've loved learning Darija until now, and want to keep learning as much as possible while I'm here.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to cook and I'm happy to share how to cook different styles of Asian food with you! If you have a guitar or oud, I'm also happy to play some music for you and can try to teach you some of what I know :)

I'm also happy to share the basics of Arabic with anyone who wants to know!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Greece, Morocco, United States