Hi there, it's Aleksei (Alexey or just Alex) here. I think you cannot separate poetry, politics, and philosophy, so here I am: a poeto-politico-philosopher. Life, along with the division of labour, forces me to pick one of three, so I guess I'm more of a philosopher. I have just finished my masters in gender studies in the Lund University in Sweden. Before that I studied sociology in my hometown St. Petersburg, and wrote my graduation thesis on the repressiveness of the notion of beauty. Now it's my second and final year of my masters and I did a thesis again! This time on queerness, inorganic chemistry, and religious imagery. I try to travel as much as I can to gain an insight into other cultures and ways of living. I'm open to hosting travellers if I have a chance (which I don't have that often here in St. Petersburg as I just came back and stay with my parents) and meeting those who come to St. Petersburg to show them around and explore the city and the region together.

So, I adore travelling but I don't travel much due to a variety of reasons. Anyway, every place I've been to and every person I've met have a special place in my heart, as I enjoy long-lasting friendships that do not deteriorate over time. It's quite difficult to describe myself for me, so I don't really know what adjectives to put here to help you better understand who I am. I fancy long walks and staring at the water or the sky for long periods of time; I also adore long conversations over a cup of tea or a glass of beer or wine, and we can discuss almost everything, from contemporary art to animal rights, from weather to progressive rock music.

I am a feminist and it means that I believe there is something wrong with the world I live in, a world in which one group dominates another. I'm not a big fan of capitalism, let's put it this way, and have a rather pessimist attitude towards the future, since the capitalist system seems to produce more and more inequlities day by day while destroying this planet. I also can't really stand what is going on with Russian politics these days, you know, this war with Ukraine and stuff, and I don't really see myself as Russian; I guess I would have loved to take up a 'European' identity if not the European Union's recent appropriation of the concept of Europe, so I associate myself with the Baltic sea instead.

I cannot find the hosting calendar but for now I can only host between 30th of June and 12th of July and on some weekends. I am also open to meet up people for a promenade, and I think I know the city quite well to show some interesting places -- though after coming back after two years in Sweden I sometimes feel rather estranged from the city that has changed so much during this time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

It just amazes me to talk with people who are different from me. Or with those who remind me in a variety of ways. It's just people I enjoy: various life stories and experiences. For me, talking to people I don't know is kinda stepping out of the comfort zone, but it definitely makes travelling, and life, more interesting.

Interests

Social philosophy, football, progressive rock music, watching trams and trains, long walks, gender studies, cooking (vegetarian), reading, random facts, even more random facts, history (kind of)

• arts
• contemporary art
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• walking
• politics
• traveling
• music
• gender studies
• sociology

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: mostly progressive rock, jazz-fusion and alternative rock, especially bands with some political message.
Books: I mostly read stuff in philosophy and social sciences, but I still read some fiction at times. I don't have the clear favourites though, as ranging books is a difficult and rather silly practice
TV Series: The X-Files, Breaking Bad, Black Books, GOT
Movies: Le mamain et la putain (Eustache), Good Will Hunting (van Sent), A bout de souffle (Godard), Jagten (Vinterberg), etc. I'm not really into movies though.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Picking cloudberries while watching the sun setting down over the Arctic ocean.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation, Sweden