** Please read the "My Home section before sending me a request! Also, don't be offended if I decline your request for no reason - I'm very busy and I receive a lot of requests, and I just don't have time to reply to/host everybody!! **

Hi, I'm Elektra! I am half Latvian, half 'Australian', I live in Melbourne and spend most of my time figure skating and studying (starting my PhD soon).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love meeting new people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures! I find it really interesting to find out differences and similarities in the ways that people live and view the world. I also love learning languages and am really keen for language exchange (no matter what language, or how obscure it is!).

Interests

Figure skating is my true passion! I have been skating for about 8-9 years now and love it more and more each day.

Although I'm pretty busy, I have a few random hobbies that I like to dabble in. I love reading, learning languages, baking, playing guitar (although I'm really not good at it), singing, drawing, writing, hanging out with my cat...

• pets
• baking
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• olympics
• history
• languages
• psychology
• language exchange
• ice skating
• ice cream

Music, Movies, and Books

The Beatles!, Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie, Tame Impala, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Beach House, Joe Hisaishi, Jeff Buckley. I like a whole lot of other music too. Basically anything that has some kind of sentimental value attached to it for me.

Les Miserables, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones (I love the books, movies, TV shows of all these things. Everything!). I also like reading Russian literary classics (sadly, in English...maybe one day my Russian will be proficient enough for me to read them по-русски!) - Dostoevsky is a master. And cheesy romance movies are kind of a guilty pleasure of mine...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Went and watched the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you ice skating!! I know, not really what you'd expect to learn from an Australian... I am also more than happy to help out with English :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share my experiences and impressions from living in Australia (and hopefully debunk some stereotypes - sadly, I do not own a pet koala :( ). I can also introduce you to some Australian foods that aren't really all that fancy, but are interesting all the same (e.g. try googling 'fairy bread'). Also in-depth conversations about the intricacies of languages (although I might start rambling and bore you to death).

I'm a fairly laid back person, so while I would love to socialise and chat, I am also just as happy to do my own thing if hosts are busy with work, study and life in general.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia