CURRENT MISSION

*READ FIRST*
Happy to meet up again in january, CAN'T HOST during december, as I am off travelling myself! Happy holidays everyone!

General mission statement (hasn't changed since I first made this account): have fun, bring joy and hang out. meet uncomplicated, spontaneous and helpful people and to give back what I get ;)

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Concrete current mission: Since I have come here a year ago a lot of the people I have met last year and became good friends with have started work and are either really busy and do not have a lot of time to hang out or have moved to different places altogether. I now found myself knowing a place really well and not being new myself, but lacking social contacts to do much stuff I enjoy. I am basically looking for anyone who thinks I sound agreeable/fun/pleasant on their terms and who wants to be/do one or more of the following things:

# a running partner - just more fun and to keep up the motivation to actually go outside no matter if it's rainy or grey or windy or I am tired, because one of those will always be the case... even if I know that I will feel better after by myself too, it is just not as rewarding as sharing the joy of overcoming the discomfort together!! I actually also like to chat while I run, I don't usually listen to music. My pace is (usually, when fit enough) ~5mins/k. If you are into something else active that includes anything from running, jumping, climbing, hiking etc. I am also up for any of those!

# somebody to go to cultural events with - I love love love theatre, have worked in various roles (as in on-stage, off-stage, behind the scenes...) in different lay companies and seriously considered it a path to go down professionally for a while in my young naive years. Now I simply like to watch others do it and admire them while having an educated opinion on their creations :D I found Summerhall to be a great place to see shows, but also love comedy at the Monkey Barrel and I want to still go to the festival theatre, but haven't gotten around to yet. Also, concerts! I like chill ones, intimate locations, singer-songwriter stuff... I got 2 tickets for a Sofar Sounds concert in Inverness at the end of November, but noone to join me for it yet. So that'd be one for example! I also love to hang out in Captain's Bar, have a beer, listen to and appreciate the folk musicians every now and then. And I wanna go to the Jazz Bar again. Also up and excited for classical staff in Usher Hall, musicals or ballett if the budget allows it. Those are the things I like best, but it doesn't even have to be as fancy as that, but simply hanging out in a chill pub with a cosy atmosphere and having philosophical discussions about life will do too. Also: board games with a group, chess if it's only two of us (reeeally wanna improve in chess!) or we could show each other card games over a couple of glasses of wine or beer - all of that I consider great fun! And of course an all-time classic: cinema. Preferrably not just blockbusters (even though I enjoy some depending on the genre), but arthouse, independent movies, quirky stuff, dramas.. I like lots of European movies, especially French and British films, but also Anime/good animation in general, I love Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam and others I can't think of right now. Generally anything aesthetically pleasing and/or historically relevant. I also love poetry slam/spoken word events. Generally, this would just be someone to dress up with nicely sometimes and get out of the house in the evenings to consume something beautiful, aesthetic, inspirational and/or fun!*

#Trips/Hikes/Spontaeous Get-Aways: I have lived in Scotland for too long to have seen as little of the country as I have. One reason is of course the restrictions of having to study and also being limited to public transport. Still, I'd be up for making day hikes in the Trossachs, the Cairngorms or the Lake districr work by getting an early morning train/bus! If someone has/knows anyone with a car who wants to join, even better! I have hiked in the alps every year for all my life, so I think my idea of a 'standard' hike includes quite a proportion of uphill walking, about 4-8 hours of walking in total (with breaks) and ideally a peak to look down from in the end. I like to be fairly exhausted and tired by the end of it - that makes me happy! :) I have good gear, proper hiking boots and a fair amount of experience, BUT of course I do not know many trails/areas in Scotland, so finding someone who is familiar with them would be an ideal match to joinforces! I also love to forage for mushrooms, pine cones, herbs and other stuff while hiking. I should have a quite good basic knowlegde to be safe to do that. That's for hikes, but also exploring other cool places, checking out whatever they have to offer in terms of landscape, architecture, culture (Museums and stuff), I am happy about and interested in all those things! Generally, the more active a trip is, the better I'd say!

Here are a couple of my favourite places in Edinburgh so far (would be super happy to expand this list too):

Bars/Venues: Brauhaus in Tollcross, Captain's Bar, Jazzbar, the Caves, Dragonfly, Summerhall, Monkey Barrel
Cinemas: Cameo Picturehouse, Filmhouse
Cafés: The Himalaya Café, Lovecrumbs, Forest Café, Cult, the Pavillion, Skylark in Stockbridge, Peanut Gallery (for chess!), Beetroot Sauvage
Other Stuff: SHRUB Swap and Reuse Hub, Stockbridge and Castle Terrace Market, Crammond Beach, Modern Art Gallery, Lighthouse bookstore and The Golden Hare bookstore

*small disclaimer: I am a good drinker, as in I like alcoholic beverages (actually for the taste) and have developed a good tolerance through experience of a fair amount of intake over the years, but I do NOT enjoy "binge" drinking for the sole reason of getting drunk. I like and enjoy it as a social practice and if becoming tipsy and more chatty in the process of it results, that's all nice and good fun! ;)

Alrighty, let's see how this goes! Get in touch if you think some/all of the above sounds fun to you. If it does I am pretty sure that I'd also love to meet you and hang out!

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Become fluent in as many languages as I can to be able to communicate, share stories and have valuable discussions with people from all over the world. My latest addition is BSL (British Sign Language), which currently entails just a tiny bit of vocab that I have been picking up at weekly sessions by the Sign Language Society at University of Edinburgh. If tehre is anyone who wants to practice/try to converse with me in Edinburgh, anwhere not too far from George Square area, please get in touch!

ABOUT ME

Eat, Sleep, Kung Fu. more or less ;)

I have not updated my profile in a while, but here we go: Meanwhile.... I am 25 now (and I think it's starting to show). Also, my personal repertoire has grown and now includes quite a bit of cynicism that I often confuse for having grown-up and become more "realistic". I have finished my Bachelor's degree in English and American studies in my hometown Graz and moved to Edinburgh in Scotland last year, where I just started my 2nd year in a part-time Msc in Psychology of Language - a great field, which I am fascinated by, but still feel slightly underqualified to do. This is also how I know that I am just as lost in a dreamy depiction of the world, abstractions and metaphors as I have been before moving from an arts degree to the arguably more concrete "sciences" (meaning Psychology, lol).

As mentioned, I do Kung Fu, which I absolutely love doing. Sadly, I do not have a group to train with regularly right now here in Edinburgh due to a tighter schedule made up of work to pay my rent and food (I obviously underestimated what it means to live in a slightly more expensive place than I am used to) and studies, but I do train for myself and with interested peops in the Meadows on the weekends every now and then to keep it up! If anyone's keen on joining the team, please get in touch, would be great to summon the Qi and nourish each others' energy! Before I came here I have trained and instructed in traditional Shaolin Kung Fu for approximately 8 years on and off at "Shaolin Temple Graz" in my home town. When I was not there, I was exploring other parts of the world and found beautiful groups to join at Shaolin Temple Quanfa institute in Toronto, at Chun Seh Dau School of Shaolin Kung Fu in Leicester, England six years ago, gained some experience in Hung Gar Kung Fu in Zurich, Switzerland and trained with a group in New York a couple of years ago. My main experience lies in Shaolin which I've been doing mostly in Austria with my lovely Shaolin brothers and sisters for about 8 years. Life changing experiences included!
I've also acted in 2 theatres in the past years, do some Improv on the side, read a lot, I love movies, I like most sports (except for ball sports), I talk a lot, but I'm rather sensible and know when it's better not to say anything ;)

I consider myself as an uncomplicated and open, easy-going person, but assure yourself ;)

PHILOSOPHY

chan-buddhism. live for the moment.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

motivated ;)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

only good experiences so far!

Interests

theatre, kung fu, eating, sleeping, going out, music, sports in general, reading, baking, painting, running, cycling AND whatever you can recommend, since I'm always keen on learning new stuff that other people are passionate about! If you have a passion for it, I might develop it as well ;)

• baking
• running
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• painting
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• buddhist
• sports
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: fantasy, harry potter, walter moers, comics
Movies: Star Wars, Studio Ghibli, Tim Burton
Music: Dire Straits, die ärzte, die Toten Hosen, Kraftklub, Panic! at the Disco, twenty-one pilots, Lukas Graham, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Passenger

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

hiking up the großglockner, austria's highest mountain
travelling scotland, which is just beautiful
a road trip along the english south-west coast (including wonderful palces such as St.Ives, Land's End, Newquay..),
practicing Kung Fu in China with the greatest, friendliest chinese and also international kids, sharing moments of shaolin spirit!

Teach, Learn, Share

smile.

OR read my blog: http://kunstphasern.wordpress.com/
There's only a part of it in English I'm afraid, but there's more to come soon. And the page about my travels is only in the development phase, so be patient!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories I guess. A lot of amazing ones, some really good ones and a few that might bore you.. still, worth a try. ;)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom

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