My name is Astrid, I am 25 years old and a scientist who studied Mechanical Engineering in Darmstadt, Germany. I like to travel (who would have guest :)) but in citys I usually try to avoid the most touristic places and search for street art or urban gardens instead. In general, I like spending time outside in nature with trees and lakes around. :) I am an easy going person, I can talk about different things but also enjoy listening a lot, especially to interesting people like the ones on couchsurfing. ;-)

I am vegan since a while now, but don't worry, I really won't bother you with this, I promise! I can take care of my own food, it never was an issue. :-)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'd like to travel a bit more and recognized, that it is usually a lot more fun to meet locals and other interesting people than just beeing a tourist and doing only the typical sightseeing. :-)

Interests

Since I was a child I like taking pictures, especially while travelling.

If the weather is not good enough to go out (although my parents always said "there is no bad weather, just bad clothing"), I enjoy watching movies, preferebly in the cinema with other people. Generally hanging out with others is something I enjoy, having a beer or maybe two in a bar is usually not something you have to convince me to. :-)

I started being interested in sustainable living and environmental issues about two years ago and got involved in "Foodsharing", that's a bunch of people who try to prevent food waste. Now I spend most of my free time organizing events that belong to the topic "sustainability" in an university group, I even managed to get a job dealing with that so I actually do like it. :)

I did ballroom dancing for quite many years, so all this things from waltz to salsa, and I still like doing it whenever I have the chance and the time. Generally I like dancing, also in clubs, where I prefer electronic music, but everything else except hip hop is fine as well. :-)

• photography
• dancing
• ballroom dancing
• movies
• reading
• minimalism
• hiking
• sustainability
• salsa
• geocaching
• foodsharing
• zero waste

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
I am not much into music to be honest, although I love dancing, but it can be very different kinds of music. If I had to decide, 30 Seconds to Mars would probably be my favorite band, and actually not just because Jared Leto is a great actor! ;-) Recently I started listening to (German) artists with lyrics that have a bit of a meaning behind, for the German people who know him, Alligatoah is my favorite artist here. :-)

Movies:
That's much more "my" topic! :D I love to talk about movies, the best one in my opinion is "Inception", although I consider all movies done by Christopher Nolan as brilliant. I enjoyed the typical superhero movies for some years, but got a bit tired recently since there are so many. I prefer movies with a good story, it can be smaller "arthouse" ones as well, does not have to be much action or explosions everywhere. I liked "Manchester by the Sea" or "Ladybird" (Greta Gerwig <3) for example, just to name two of the newer ones. But I am also in for some typical (romantic) comedies and "simple" stuff, actually the only movies I do not watch are scary ones.

Books:
I loved reading as a young adult, but when I sarted studying, my interest in movies became bigger and I rather watched something than reading a book. I try to turn this around at the moment, reading mostly stories about people who are travelling or having a different lifestyle or mindset. :-)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Going ice swimming after sauna in Finland - it first seemed so crazy to me, but it was really worth it! Taught me a life-lesson to challenge my beliefs every once in a while. :-)

My bikepacking tour in April 2018 was also very nice. I used couchsurfing for accomodation, was porbably one of the best holidays I ever had :-)

Teach, Learn, Share

The first thing that comes into my mind for this point are movie recommendations. :D If you are not much into movies or already know what to watch, I can tell a lot about sustainability, the concept of zero waste/low impact or minimalism. Or if it's still not quite your thing, I am also a person interested in different kinds of (travel) stories and like to share mine as well. :-)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My cooking skills are not the best to be honest, but I am always interested in trying new stuff, so maybe together we can prepare a decent meal. Or at least some breakfast. And as I said before, I can share some stories. :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Malaysia, Norway, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, Germany