CURRENT MISSION

I want to visit every single European country. I love how they are similar yet always slightly different. This summer edition: Ukraine.

ABOUT ME

Hi, my name is Klára, I was born in Prague and I just finished Master in European Studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. After the summer, I am moving to Brussels to intern for a EU cultural affairs consultancy.

I am generally very talkative, mostly when discussing politics, philosophy or meaning of life in a small dark bar at 3AM. I am also curious, ambitious and like to meet people who think out of the box. I love learning new stuff and observing my personal development.

But you can only say once you've met me.

PHILOSOPHY

Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred (Václav Havel <3)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've visited several CS parties in various cities and was staying in Amsterdam, Skopje, Berlin, Madrid, Porto, Vilnius, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Tirana, Ghent, Lille and Luxemburg as a surfer.

Interests

-> Jogging, cycling, swimming, hiking and Ashtanga Yoga
-> Singing (I was a member of the Maastricht University Choir, hopeful to be able to continue in my next destination!)
-> Exploring Europe, theoretically when studying and practically when travelling
-> Studying the Balkans, Causacus, Eastern Europe and other, maybe problematic, but fascinating regions at the European periphery
-> Discussing politics, philosophy and the meaning of life for long hours
-> Reading news and books ( see the list of my favorite at the bottom)
-> visiting local history museums

• books
• partying
• drinking
• politics
• news
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• swimming
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Books (Authors): Peter Pomerantsev, Alexandr Solzhenitsin, Khaled Hosseini, Haruki Murakami, Milan Kundera, Garbiel Garcia Marquez, Albert Camus, George Orwell, Simone de Beauvoir and HARRY POTTER (my booklove since I was 10 years old, I am a bit of a nerd in this regard)

Movies:
Judgment at Nuremburg, Persepolis, Pride and Prejudice, Solitude of Prime Numbers, La Vie d'Adele and generally movies from Quentin Tarantino, Emir Kusturica or Alejandro G. Inarritu,

Series:
The Affair, The Big Bang Theory, House of Cards, Homeland, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Girls, Suits, the Simpsons (I watch a lot of series, because unfortunately when reading a lot of texts to school, reading for relaxation is difficult)

Music - Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Parov Stelar, Florence and the Machine, Foster the People, Avicii, Daft Punk, Bakermat, Adele, Mike Snow...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

By best travelling experience is when I went from Prague to Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin, St Petersburg and Helsinki. I went by my own so I had enough time to visit all the history museums and learn about the complicated history of this region. I met a lot of people, including some great Couchsurfers along the way, spoke for hours and indeed learned a lot.

I also worked in a refugee camp in Belgium, which I still consider to be a formative experience for me. I was very young (19) and spent days speaking with people with such difficult life stories that I couldn't have imagined before. I learned that any group of people, including the refugees, is as varied as any society you can imagine. I still bear this experience with me and remind myself of it any time when somebody starts to speak of the other people as of a faceless crowd.

Teach, Learn, Share

I actually don't know what I can teach you, besides some parts of my language. But as my references prove, I am quite a stimulating talker

What I Can Share with Hosts

- a nice talk about society and the world
- usually some drink from my country (Becherovka, slivovica) which I try to carry around when I travel

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands