Hai! I'm Alex from Berlin :)

Originally from Rīga, Latvia, I used to work as an Enterprise IT Consultant (by day) which gave me the opportunity to travel.
This is how I ended up spending two wonderful years in Malmö, Sweden, and other short trips, before finally settling in Berlin (for now).
Now I'm honored to work at MIND - the foundation for psychedelic research in Berlin, overseeing their IT department.

By night I consult blockchain projects, and keep in touch with the contemporary music and arts scene.

I'm fascinated by moral philosophy, and love learning from people with various opinions and experiences!
I think by the end of the day, it makes everyone a more rich person :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I feel the best way to experience a city is through the stories that people have to tell about it.

I want to learn as much as possible about what it's like to actually be part of the culture!

And, by hopefully leaving a good impression, I'd like to promote my homeland, Rīga, so that people don't have open the map after I say where i'm from :P

Interests

• philosophy
• psychology
• techno
• psychedelics
• bitcoin
• blockchain

Music, Movies, and Books

Music
Have a 1 Terra Byte music collection, so I pick what first comes to mind :)

Tzusing
Delroy Edwards
Terre Thaemlitz (DJ Sprinkles)
Zebra Katz
Lyapis Trubetskoy
Maurice Ravel - Bolero
Gustav Holst - The Planets

Books

The Happiness Hypothesis - Jonathan Haidt
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales - Oliver Sacks
Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson
Mastering Bitcoin - Andreas Antonopoulos
Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges
...others we can discuss if we meet... :P

Movies

The Century of the Self - Adam Curtis
The Wolf of Wall Street

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I moved 14 times in 2 years while I was in Sweden, since my project kept getting extended for short periods of time.
Not exactly proud of it, but it is extraordinary :)

Helped configure the internet at the bar which was the first place in the world to accept cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) as payment.

Other things we can discuss when we meet :P

Teach, Learn, Share

Yes, yes, yes :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Besides a very intimate take on the differences in cultures that I got to experience, I could also share the fringe stories about the side of those cities that most people don't get to see :)

I also have an ever expanding network of developers and people in the art and music scene, that are always looking for new projects to collaborate on.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Latvia, Sweden