Hey! My full name is Aleksandra, but I usually go by my Polish nickname - Ola. I'm an avid walker and aspiring polyglot, I make my own cheese, and I sometimes use the Oxford comma, depending on my mood. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, though I notoriously put ketchup on my hot dogs, which is probably why they eventually kicked me out. After graduating high school, I decided to follow my roots back to Poland for university (and then some). Nearly two years ago, after having spent seven years in Poland, one year in France, and a couple of months living in Honolulu I decided to give Chicago another chance - and boy, am I happy I did! Chicago is absolutely magical and wonderful, and I'd love to share that with whomever would want to listen to the ramblings of a sometimes slightly scatterbrained, possibly overly-enthused but nonetheless passionate curly-haired bookworm.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

There's very little I enjoy more than meeting new people from around the world. It's always such a pleasure to show a fellow traveler around! There are just so many places that can't be found in your typical guide book. For the same reason, when I travel I also like to meet locals. I went to grad school to study intercultural relations, so I spend a lot of time reading about different cultures and traditions, but it's always so wonderful to witness it all first-hand.

Interests

Foreign languages! I love learning languages, especially through traveling. I also enjoy reading, finding hidden-gem bookstores, assembling Ikea furniture, getting (and staying) lost, trying to read maps, making things by hand, looking for adventure (or having it find me), backpacking, and meeting wonderful and interesting people.

Oh, and I LOVE grocery shopping. And cooking (I have, most recently, perfected the art of the poached egg). And just food in general. I really enjoy cooking for others, plus it's always a pleasure to learn a new recipe or tradition from someone else whilst traveling. So I'm totally up for swapping recipes!

• books
• folklore
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• flying
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• backpacking
• art history
• languages
• hitchhiking
• volunteering
• cinema
• reading books
• foraging
• mushroom picking
• ferns

Music, Movies, and Books

Off to the toughest question of all. Too much good stuff out there. I'll do my best to pick out a few.

Music: love, love, LOVE ethnic/world music from all parts of the globe, jazz, klezmer, swing, jazz manouche, Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Frahm and other instrumental music, Dead Can Dance, Kayah and Bregović, Preisner's "Requiem For My Friend" (what a beautiful tribute to Kieślowski!). Recently discovered tarantella, I'm completely mesmerized.

Movies: anything and everything by Krzysztof Kieślowski.

Books:
"Lapidarium", R. Kapuściński
"The Baron in the Trees", I. Calvino
my dear "Le Petit Prince", A. de Saint-Exupéry
"Un homme qui dort", G. Perec
"Mała apokalispa", T. Konwicki
"Siddhartha", H. Hesse
"The Master and Margarita", M. Bulgakov
"River Town", P. Hessler
"A Little Life", H. Yanagihara
"American Gods", N. Gaiman
"Pachinko", M.J. Lee
"My, dzieci z dworca ZOO", Christiane F.
"Ferdydurke", W. Gombrowicz
"A Perfect Red", A. Butler Greenfield
"Wild Swans", J. Chang
just to name a few.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hmm... so a couple of years ago I hitchhiked from Poland to Barcelona, which ended up being somewhere around 2000km. I was meant to fly back, but on the last day of the trip someone stole my entire backpack, and thus without an ID I was unable to fly. So I hitchhiked back too. I met so many amazingly generous people along the way - some even went extremely out of their way to help! Spontaneously visited Strasbourg, Lausanne and Geneva. All in all - one hell of an adventure.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach English (or Polish, is anyone's up for the challenge!)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, laughs. Always happy to cook something!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Poland, United States