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Hi! My name is Artur, I have been living in London for over 7 years but my family home is in Lublin in eastern Poland. I am 26 years old, very creative, also queer and fluid with my gender expression. I just graduated from uni doing BA Anthropology and Visual Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London. It was a course where we use theoretical anthropological knowledge to create visual content such as documentary films and photography projects. I also work 2 jobs :)) Check my anthropology blog on Instagram if you wanna see what I'm up to - @janusz_santana

I am on couch surfing because I love travelling and making new friends from other countries. And when I say I love it - I really mean it!🤠 I’m very curious of how people live around the world. I love exchanging stories, seeing how relative my normality in fact is, trying new things - and food! 😋 That’s why when I travel I try to stay in each place for a longer time and get to know local people, make friends with them and see the place as it really is, not just as a tourist attraction. That might be connected to me being an anthropologist too ;))

I like to keep my body healthy and I do yoga and cycle a lot. I love spending time outdoors in nature. I am rather free spirited, sometimes I go to nude beaches 🌊🌴🌞 I think in the future I might end up living on a boat or in a van. I’m an occasional (but balanced) cannabis smoker and I like psychedelics. I am very social and I like going out for events, live music, raves or just to chill. I use they/them pronouns 🏳️‍⚧️

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Interests

• music festivals
• coffee
• vegetarian
• yoga
• meditation
• nightlife
• clubbing
• raves
• movies
• drawing
• music
• live music
• sailing
• anthropology
• gender studies
• languages
• hitchhiking
• solo travel
• adventure travel
• budget travel
• travelling
• nature
• linguistics
• nudist
• film
• techno
• sewing
• scifi
• philosphy
• nude beaches
• queer studies
• yoga and meditation
• world philosophies

Music, Movies, and Books

My favourite author is Haruki Murakami.
I love film, photography, painting, art in general, textile/jewellery making, collages, handwork and artisenias

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

There will be a few cause it's hard to keep me in one place:

• Grew up proud to be myself and confident in my body even though my country is homophobic and not supportive of my gender identity/sexuality, became independent quickly, started working at the age f 17 while still in high school;
• 2016: when I was 18 I hitchhiked from my hometown Lublin in Poland to Venice in Italy and then back, slept in my tent, abandoned buildings, local people;
• 2017: I moved out of my family home to London by myself, having only £80 in my pocket (and I’m still alive and good!!🥳). It was hard but also a proper lesson of independence. I worked A LOT;
• 2018: Started uni at University College London (BA Anthropology) but dropped out after a year - it was too theoretical and I am a creative. In summer I hitchhiked from Barcelona, through France, Italy & Germany to Poland, then did workaway for a month at a hostel in Israel and travelled around Palestine. Apart from that I worked CRAZY LOT;
• 2019: Worked a lot, travelled again to Israel, Jordan and Turkey, in summer spent 3 months travelling and motor biking around south east Asia: travelled Vietnam from north to south, then Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka - my first time in a tropical climate;
• 2020: during COVID lockdowns I reconnected with my body, started studying secular buddhism, grew up a lot, did lots of yoga, started helping out at an eco farm in London to learn about sustainable food growing, visited Prague, spent a month backpacking around Greece, started my visual arts portfolio;
• 2021: had a rough year with losing a couple of close ones, matured a lot, moved constantly between Poland and England, started BA Anthropology & Visual Practice at Goldsmiths Uni of London, developed further my photography and video skills
• 2022: continued studying, spent 4 summer months backpacking: went to Finland, Norway, Poland for a month, Spain, Mexico for 2 months, France, Belgium & Netherlands. Started a filmmaking journey by collaborating with different performance artists and recording their shows and stories. Went to Amsterdam twice to record a freak show. Developed further the theoretical & practical visual arts knowledge. Spent Christmas break at a nude beach again in Mexico
• 2023: visited Serbia, moved in-between the UK and Poland, completed black Europe Summer School (a two-week symposium in Amsterdam on anti-racist practices and education), completed a 10-day vipassana meditation course in Palautordera, Catalunya, visited Greece and Albania
• 2024: graduated uni, visited Switzerland, more journeys to come!!

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Cambodia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Poland, United Kingdom