I was born and grew up in Wrocław, Poland. Even though I love travelling I haven't moved out from my city for a longer period of time. It's not that I love it - when you live in one place for more than twenty you certainly know a lot about its problems and miss the beauty of it. I'm still studying Philosophy, that I started few years ago - actually I hope I'll finish it finally this year. And beside Philosophy I also study English Philology and train to be a translator in the future - but I also do take courses on American and English literature, for pleasure mainly.

But studies are right now something that I do on the side. Because mainly my time is consumed by my work. I'm a reporter and collumnist writing for the Polish magazine Krytyka Polityczna (www.politicalcritique.org). We are non-commercial online magazine with quite a significant impact on public discourse in Poland. So, right now my travels are mainly connected with my work - in last few months I've been in Budapest and Berlin, and in both places I was writing about the refugee activists.

This entry gets a little bit longish, I got it, but maybe it is also important to mention what I like and something about my character. I totally love to spend long hours on endless discussions on philosophy and politics. And even though I find myself to have strong beliefs that are perceived to be leftist, I'm totally open to get into discussions with people that disagree with me. My friends tell me that for most of the time I'm really easy-going but sometimes when I'm tired I tend to be less talkative.

And I almost forgot to mention that when I was a teenager I was an athlete. First it was swimming and the triathlon for few years. I've never made it to European level, but I have few medals won at some Polish competitions at my place.

You can find me on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jestemdawidkrawczyk) and twitter (@DJKrawczyk)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

When I finished high school I started to hitchike and it was really something that changed my approach to traveling. I mean, those conversations I had with drivers and fellow travelers, that is something that I never had on the regular bus or a train. I am certainly a beginner in the Couchsurfing community, but I've heard a lot of good things about it from my friends. And as they said, it supposed to be something like hitchhiking but with a couch instead of a car. So, mainly I'm here for the same reasons most of us are - to meet great people.

Interests

Well, it's mainly philosphy and politics but I'm certainly not one of these guys that stays all day stuck in the library. I prefer to confront ideas with reality, that is mainly why I decided to become a reporter and observe how political struglles look from inside.

But if you interested what I do, academicly speaking. Here it is: I wrote a BA thesis about Søren Kierkegaard ideas on radicalism and now I'm writing my MA - it probably would be about the notion of "capitalist realism" according to Frederic Jameson. I'm also writing a BA thesis in the department of English Philology about the Polish translation of Guy Standing's book "The Precariat. The new dangerous class".

And I think I'm a little bit addicted to TV series, so probably I've seen that last episode od this new show that you've been watching and we can discuss it over a beer.

• writing
• books
• literature
• beauty
• beer
• triathlon
• athlete
• politics
• tv
• traveling
• swimming
• journalism
• languages
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Lately I've been listening a lot to Yann Tiersen. It's very relaxing. I think no one is interested about all the movies I consider to be worth watching, but let me just name the one I've seen recently - Gaspar Noe's "Love". If you haven't seen it yet, you totally have to - I've never thought I would be so amazed by a melodramatic movie after all. I try to follow Lars Von Trier's work but I think my favorite director is other Trier, Joachim Trier - they are not related though. Books? When it comes to prose French writer Michelle Houellebecq is probably the name I consider important, but politically I totally disagree with that guy.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Let me think what is amazing. Mhmmm maybe a trip from Berlin with more than houndred activists to the borders of European Union in Bulgaria in order to destroy the fence there that has been built to keep away refugees outside of Europe. If you find it amazing and you are interested in the whole story, you can read about it here: http://politicalcritique.org/reporting/2014/topple-the-european-wall/

Teach, Learn, Share

I understand that here I supposed to write what I can teach and what I would like to learn and share. I can give you an overview about the political situation in Poland and Eastern and Central Europe every time a day, even in the middle of the night :) I can share everything I have - toothbrush included. And I will be happy to learn everything you'd like to teach me.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Haven't I write it above? Okay, once again - everything, toothbrush included.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Poland