CURRENT MISSION

Relax and just do it

ABOUT ME

After an almost 3 year long spur of ridiculous careerism, I realised that the time has come to be free and do what I enjoy. At the heart of writer's block, trying to break it. Attempting to put experiences into words and life into experiences.

Russian by origin, brought up in Greece, lived in Coventry for three years to reap the benefits of higher education, went back to Russia, plunging into the career building frenzy and am now back in the UK, spiralling back into what I do best - talking, writing, reading, drinking and not sleeping enough.

My mindset is highly "binge and purge" - I party hard, I work hard and I spend hard long hours freeing my mind and regathering my thoughts in silence. I appreciate it when all those can be appreciated.

Vagrant by mindset. Have been said to have roguish inclinations. Opinionated, sometimes ginger.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is my friend, wreck it up to take it in.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I travel. I have a couch. The connection between the two is only obvious.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted a bit and surfed a bit. I really want to do more, since all of those experiences have been very rewarding. I also love hanging out with the CS crowd - the pubs, the parties, the picnics and various other get-togethers.

Interests

Ideas of nationality, nationhood, identification, globalization.
Seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, recording, experiencing.
Reading books, reading books about books, buying books and putting them on shelves. Reading in the bath. Dropping books into the bath.
Gigs, pubs, long conversations, cups of tea, drinking more and more alcohol, eating food, cooking food, tiny little clusters of human kindness, spontaneous nights out, random hilarity. Different aspects of fun and art.

• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• education
• dining
• cooking
• partying
• drinking
• pub crawls
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• teaching
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many to mention. Subjects for long, mind-expanding conversations, usually closer to dawn, over a glass of cornershop piss or three.

Current top-whatever of films in no particular order: Fight Club, The Big Lebowski, Lost in Translation, American History X, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Apocalypse Now, Bladerunner.

My favourite band are The Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is important, because I am finally admitting it and embracing it. Don't let this put you off though - I also love my jazz, soul, trip-hop, acid house, punk, classics, folk music from all over the world and some unidentifiable Russian stuff.

Currently going through a phase of reading modern Irish and Scottish fiction, combined with some Levi-Strauss, Derrida and the Larousse Gastronomique.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

White water rafting down mountains in Kandy, Sri Lanka; then finding a Russian doll in the middle of the rainforest.

Teach, Learn, Share

I really want to learn: to use my poi, to play the accordion and to paint walls (as in murals, I can do a pretty decent coat of paint).

I can teach you a lot about cooking and nutrition, drinking and literature, writing and procrastinating.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Monaco, Norway, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Greece, Russian Federation, Spain, United Kingdom

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