Hello 👋🏻

My name is Ante, and I'm a 26-yearold living and working in Birmingham, UK.

I was born and raised in Split, Croatia. After finishing my high school in 2016, I decided to take a gap year as I wanted to travel before enrolling into higher education. I spent 9 months living in Ireland which was shortly followed by relocating to the UK as I was starting my BSc studies. I'm currently in the process of enrolling into MSc clinical psychology/ counselling and psychotherapy for 2023/2024

I am very socialable, calm and polite 26-yeaold. I enjoy meeting people of different backgrounds, and learning about other cultures. Having lived in Croatia, Ireland and UK I enjoy diversity and am able to adapt very well.

If you have any questions or would like to socialise (if we happen to be at the same place in the same time) then please reach out via dm or ig: antecajo

Cheers!
Ante

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love meeting people from all the around the world and have made many friends so far, and hopefully many more to come! I share a passion for history and cultural exchange hence why I am so drawn to couchsurfing.

I kind of stopped using this app in 2017 after moving to UK, Worcester since it was a very small city and there weren't a lot of opporutnities to exercise this app.

Before that, from the age of 17 each Friday I was regularly organising and participating couch surfing meetings in Split with other local couch surfers in Split. We would usually have social nights and show non-locals the city; places to go, drinks to drink and food to eat!

I never hosted since back home I used to live with my parents, however now I do have the opportunity and the means, hence if anyone happens to be interested to explore Birmingham and requires a couch - please let me know! :)

I haven't used couchsurfing for traveling before to be honest as I would usually travel with friends.
However, in the recent times I strated traveling more solo, so I am looking forward to meeting new people and creating new friendships during my travels.

Interests

• cooking
• movies
• chess
• reading
• traveling
• music
• history
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Few of my current most favourite artists:
- Tasha Sultana, Leon Bridges, Michael Kiwanuka, Bahamas, John Mayer, The National, Sigur Ros, Cigarets After Sex, Chet Faker, honestly the list goes on and on...

I also tend to listen foreign artists, I'm into bachata, salsa and a bit of reggeton... Aventura, Romeo Santos, Maluma... but also am well familiar with Italian (Pausini, Ramazzotti, Pino Donaggio, Wilma Goich, Gino Paoli, Iva Zanicchi, Massimo Ranieri, Edoardo Vianello), French and very few German and Japanese artists.. you could say my taste is a proper Gulaš 😂

Favorite books: Crimes And Punishment, Brothers Karamazov, The Stranger, Catcher In The Rye, Divine Comedy, The Decameron, The Prince, The diving bell and the butterfly, ... list goes on... however, in the recent past I've been mostly reading books relating to history and psychology.

Movies - wide range as well, but few of them that had the biggest impression and influence on me:

120BPM, Brokeback Mountain, any Almodovar movie (all about your mother, and Pain and Glory deffo favorite but any really), Kubrick (Bary Lydon I consider his master piece!), Tarantino, the list goes on and on...

but hopefully, we can elaborate on these in person! :)

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm working as a project worker for victims of modern-day slavery and trafficking, hence I have lot of interesting stories to share (if you're into true crime type of thing).

I have a background in psychology, which is another passion of mine I like discussing and sharing knowledge of and I want to continue to progress within that field. Besides clinical and counselling psychology, I'm fond of research methods. I used to work as a research associate, so I guess I can share my knowledge about qualitative and quantitative paradigms and different types of data analysis, etc..

Not that I brag, but I think I'm qute good at chess, I used to be a champion back in the elementary as well as high school, so thats also something I can teach or we can play a round or two if you're well versed! :)

Croat by ethinicity, so cooking is in my genes .. If you're into Mediterranean/Dalmatian cuisine I'm your guy :)

And if you're feeling extra bold and up for the challenge. Croatian language having 7 cases can be quite tricky, but no worries, I got you! :)
Not that you'll find it useful (there's less than 4 million of us, endangered specie 😂)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Quality time, laughter and silliness. I value connections on a deeper level rather than just a plain old boring chit-chat. I can also cook a meal or two, I make banging pancakes! 😎

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro

Countries I’ve Lived In

Croatia, Ireland, United Kingdom