CURRENT MISSION

Training for crossing Europe from East to West (Cyprus to Portugal via Central Europe (Austria, Germany, Switzerland)) on my feet after finishing University

ABOUT ME

Welcome to Vienna! The City of Mozart, Sisi, and all that historic stuff. :-) But, of course, there's much more to see and experience than a bunch of old buildings and statues! Well, I'm living here since 2006, that's when i left my hometown in Germany to go studying. I started with Urban Planning but quit after 2 years. I swiched to Landscape Architecture instead, but i still wasn't satisfied with that. It turnd out that I'm somewhat too idealistic for the hard and cruel business world. So i reclaimed my afters-school wish to become a teacher. So I will teach Computer Studies and Geography in a few years.

I also work as security service for the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of historic arts). It sounds quite thrilling, but it's quite unspectacular... I'm just strolling through the exhibition rooms and preclude people from flashing around with their cameras or touching pictures - No-Go's that should be self-evident, in my opinion, but believe me, they aren't...

Another thing I plan is to become a certified City Guide. I visit a course since autumn 2011 which will take 1 1/2 years. For that reason, I'm happy to show you almost any place in Vienna and tell you something about it. ;-)

Well... let's move on to something more personal. I'm the kind of guy who sometimes is kinda hard to set on fire for something. But if I'm on fire once, I'm almost unstoppable. :-) Than you can do almost anything with me. I'm curious and want to see new things all the time. Nevertheless I'm a warm-hearted, open-minded person and i enjoy to learn to know new people from all over the world.

I'm a really helpful person, always caring about my guests, trying to reach the best experience for everyone. On the other hand, I'm kind of procrastinating and a lil' bit chaotic. :-) And, I may appear kinda cheeky. My comments may somewhat confuse you, but I never mean anything I say offensive - never ever! I'm just... well, cheeky. ;-)

I had the opportunity to visit a couple of countries all over the world. The more i see, the more i know that South America is my favorite continent. I love the people and their spirit, the landscape, the culture, just everything. On my journeys, I take a lot of photos. I'm more specialized on landscape and on architecture than on people.
But I also loved India very much. This is a fascinating country. The weeks I've spent there impressed me very deeply.

Austria, my new home, is a country which i loved from the beginning. I love the cities, the rivers, the lakes, the forests and the mountains. I like to go hiking and experience that wonderful country on my feet.

As a long-time-project, i plan to cross Europe from east to west (Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal) without any interruption - just on my feet. Because this may take some time, that's my "After-Study-Project". ;-)

PHILOSOPHY

There is a famous quote by Mark Twain which says: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm on both sides: go CS in other locations and give my couch for you. :-) Or at least, meet you for a coffee and some information 'bout Vienna.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I made some brilliant CS experience as surfer in Paris with my best friend. In Spain, we also tried, but as the way on our journey was quite spontaneously, we hadn't much luck there.

Interests

* travelling
* photography
* computers
* hiking
* running
* writing a long-time fantasy story
* programming a game
* painting (well, a little bit, sometimes, but i often lack inspiration and my art is far away from the Guggenheim, I guess)
* guiding people through Vienna
* trains (well, i'm not a trainspotter or train freak, but i'm very interested in rail infrastructure, abandoned tracks, the history of lines etc.)

• arts
• culture
• writing
• architecture
• photography
• coffee
• running
• traveling
• painting
• hiking
• sailing
• business
• teaching
• emergency services
• geography
• history
• tourism
• lakes
• rivers
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

My taste of music is kinda unspecific, but I tend to listen to Music which raises my mind. It's hard to explain what I mean by that. Some music has got the ability to touch your soul. I guess, you know best for yourself what that means. It may be different music for different people. For me, it's latin-american folklore, Ambient, Psybient, Dub, some electronic Music, often without any lyrics. But I also like to listen to some "independent" or "special" Musicians, the French "Zaz", for example. There are also some great german Singers, especially Roger Cicero and the Wise Guys, an a-capella band. I love their sometimes cheerful, sometimes thought-provoking lyrics. Music from the Balcan countries is also very strong, sometimes it seems rather "self-destructing" to me. In Austria, there are some famous singers which perform their songs in the austrian "dialect" (some Austrians may kill me for submitting that Austrian is a german Dialect... ;-) ). The most famous performer which had international success may be Falco. This kind of music is called Austropop and sometimes, it's really great to listen to.

Well, movies... In general, I love independent movies and documentations more than that blockbuster stuff. One of my favorites is "El baño del Papa", a Must-See. And i'm a big big fan of the TATORT movies, a famous german crime movie series.

The books that I read are often dealing with downshifting or extreme experiences. I love travel reports, sometimes I'm happy with some criminal novels.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

* Enjoying the sunset at Valle de la Luna and watching the stars in the Atacama desert, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

* Enjoying the sunrise at the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

* Enjoying the unspeakable hospitality of indian people and the country's immense cultural diversity.

* Waking up at a mountain lodge, seeing the fog from the last day vanish away, like lifting a courtain which did hide the spectacular mountain view.

* Being captured and almost arrested by the police because i tried to photograph a refinery in Rotterdam and didn't understand that a "licencia" is an ID Card (which i did possess), not a permission for taking photos (which i didn't possess).

Teach, Learn, Share

Well... I'm a computer freak. If you have any questions about that: feel free to ask! ;-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Hungary, India, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Netherlands, Oman, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Germany

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