CURRENT MISSION

Build great stuff.

ABOUT ME

Hi! I'm a compulsive researcher and a self-confessed geek. I love studying society in all of its complexity, and CouchSurfing represents a trove of valuable information.

A few summers ago I went on a CouchSurfing odyssey, where I experienced CouchSurfing for myself and talked to CouchSurfers in five different cities: Santa Fe, NM and Northampton, MA (U.S.), Reykjavik (Iceland), London (U.K.), and Milan (Italy).

I guess the best way to describe me would be a fence-sitter. It's what I do best - I'm in-between languages, nationalities, academic cultures...and much, much more :) I am firmly committed to experiencing human diversity in its fullest. I'm also completely fascinated by languages and by anything related to society.

The latest odyssey in my life has been working in Silicon Valley. For the past two years I've been working as a Data Scientist at Facebook, and it's been an amazing time. Recently my efforts have been recognized by the world: my research made it into The Onion! (http://www.theonion.com/americanvoices/more-americans-coming-out-facebook-51614)

PHILOSOPHY

1. I feel humbled by how much I will never know, but that will not stop me from searching for the truth.
2. Sometimes in life, doing well and doing good are two different things.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've researched CouchSurfing and the sharing economy for my dissertation, and I hope my investigations will help the social sciences.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

In January 2008 I was stranded at the Vienna Airport at 4 am in the morning, after an 8 hour delay coming in from Bucharest. During the delay I befriended Marina, a girl who was studying there in Vienna. A kind (and courageous) soul, Marina offered to let me sleep in her room, since my hostel was already closed at that hour. It was my first real CS experience.

During my ethnographic field trip in 2010 I accumulated some more experience with CS, both by interviewing CS-ers, and by being welcomed into their homes as their guests. So far I am absolutely impressed with CouchSurfing!

Interests

sociology, coding, woodworking, cooking, America, computer science, Bright Eyes, wine, cities, migrations, cycling, Open Transport Tycoon, fado, social history, running, indie music, languages, airplanes, world music

• cooking
• chocolate
• wine
• running
• coding
• woodworking
• music
• world music
• cycling
• mountaineering
• computer science
• history
• languages
• science
• social science
• sociology
• statistics

Music, Movies, and Books

movies: Goodbye, Lenin!, Populärmusik från Vittula, Mysterious Skin, Horton hears a Who, Days of Heaven, Walkabout, Days of Heaven
music: indie and world
authors: Jack Kerouac, Walt Whitman

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Dragged by my mountaineer brother, I once hiked for most of 24 hours, surviving on chocolate and raw glucose, and then cycled for 60 miles.

Teach, Learn, Share

languages (English, German, Romanian)
basic woodworking
computer stuff (programming, some Comp.Sci. theory)
SAT, GRE prep, grad-school essays etc. :D
Sociology (in case anyone is interested)
Statistics

What I Can Share with Hosts

I think good conversation would be one thing. I can also be a reasonably good sounding board for questions related to statistics and programming.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, United States

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