CURRENT MISSION

To become well-traveled and well-educated.

ABOUT ME

I was born in Moscow, raised in London and New York. I also lived in New Orleans, where I studied political economy at Tulane University. Now I teach English in Athens. I love meeting people and hate describing myself in one paragraph.

PHILOSOPHY

I live for the surreal: those moments when you are jarred to your core, ever so slightly abstracted the physical existence in front of you and truly elated. Kerouac called what I look for "it" and I am not sure a better term exists in my language. I find it travelling, or in love, Shakespeare, Pope, Nabokov, Hendrix and Joplin.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've been hosted all over Europe by wonderful people. Now I can host occasionally for anybody interesting who will put up with me.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I got thrust in to couchsurfing while hitchiking around Europe with a friend, before I even had a profile. Since then, I've been surprised, then delighted and amazed by my hosts in Pordenone (by Venezia), Firenze, Ostia (Roma), Amsterdam, Gent, Paris, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Turku, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Nice, Trabzon and Batumi. To be continued!
I have been welcomed in to homes, hotels, mediterrean penthouses, unused storefronts, Parisian revelry and literary discussions. Never have I left a host without a new story or perspective. I hope my surfers will say the same.

Interests

Good Books, above all else. Also grimey cities, politics of all types, live music and anything academic.

• books
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• live music

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Candide, Waiting for Godot, As I Lay Dying, Beloved (Toni Morrison), anything by Tom Wolfe, Fear and Loathing, On the Road/the Dharma Bums, Tender is the Night, Catch-22, Slaughterhouse-five, just to name a few. Basically I generally have a soft spot for New Journalism, southern epics and absurdism, in no particular order.

Music: Psychedelic rock tops my list, with a lot of folk, funk, jazz and old-school hip hop thrown in.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Rafted down the River Jordan.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can dispense a lot of useless facts.

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Greece, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States

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