Hi there! My name is Aytalina, I was born in the coldest living region in the world. My hometown is Yakutsk (Siberia, Russia) where winter lasts for 9 months, and the temperature reaches negative 55C (negative 67F).
9 years ago I moved to Moscow to study law at Lomonosov Moscow State University. I graduated from it 6 years after. I have been working in employer branding and digital marketing spheres for 2 years and then moved to Madrid (Spain) to study Master in Management at IE Business School. I've graduated in December and now I'm doing an exchange quarter at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.
Regarding my passions, I love traveling and business (as a proper business school student). So far I visited 31 countries and 118 cities. Talking about business, I'm into the technology world.
And like almost every other person, I like music, movies, reading, hanging out with my friends, getting to know the cultures of different countries and regions.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I really love three things Couchsurfing consists of: traveling, making new friends all over the world and learning.

Interests

• arts
• culture
• theater
• education
• technology
• movies
• traveling
• music
• business
• international relations
• science
• marketing
• feminism
• management
• debate
• digital marketing
• product management

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Just after 3 months of work (I literally mean after 3 months: on that point, it was my only experience excluding internships) I was promoted to a team leader of an employer branding agency. So I organized events and projects with 15000 participants in total, led several project managers and around 30 clients. Unforgettable experience :)
- I saw whales in an ocean, was licked by a kangaroo, walked for 9 hours under the rain in Paris, rafted, jumped off a little cliff in an ice mountain river, dived and fed fish, paraplaned, lived and used to walk in -50 degrees;
- Spontaneously traveled: sitting in a bar in Belgrade, I realized that I want to celebrate my birthday which is in 2 days with my close people, so I came to the airport, booked a ticket to Moscow, then from Moscow went to Voronezh by train. I was extremely happy to meet my friends. A few months after, I decided to travel from Moscow to Saint Petersburg out of blue in the middle of the day. I didn't have any clothes or charger. And one night, although I had to write my diploma thesis, I decided that I want to wake up in Saint Petersburg, booked a ticket and traveled there.

Teach, Learn, Share

I like explaining Russia and Russian culture and history. For example, almost every single foreigner I met in my life supposed I'm a child of Chinese immigrants (and I am not). All these people have no idea that there are more than 160 ethnic groups living in Russia, and some of them are Asians. I don't get offended, it's just a fun fact :)
Moreover, we can talk about European culture and business. I am not an expert in all European cultures and histories, but I traveled a lot and know plenty of Europeans, so it may help :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macao, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation, Spain, United States