Finally, I'm creating my Couchsurfing profile!

Hi, as you might have already read, my name is Felicia and I'm 24 years old. I grew up in a small town in Western Germany close to the Dutch border. If I had to describe myself I would say that I'm a curious and open minded person (I bet almost everyone says that). I think it's extremely enriching to learn about other people's world views and therefore I value deep conversations about "the purpose of life", the world or politics. Next to that I also love adventure and just generally trying out new things. I'd say I'm up to everything - as long as it doesn't endanger my life. :-D

At the moment I study International Relations, Sociology and Political Philosophy in Maastricht, the Netherlands. I love my studies but at the same time I really miss discovering new places and meeting new people (instead of just reading academic articles and writing essays all day).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The answer to that is pretty simple: Because traveling to a foreign country just to spend two weeks in a hotel with a beach in walking distance is boring. If I travel somewhere I really value to get to know locals who can teach me about the country that I'm visiting - It's a much more fulfilling way of traveling. :-)

Interests

• singing
• cooking
• good conversations

Music, Movies, and Books

Music

I'd say that my taste in music is quite varied - from Jazz over Alternative to Afrobeats I really listen to almost everything. I also really love listening to artists from the past 50 years such as The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and Marvin Gaye.

At the moment, however I'm really into Jazz. Some of my favorite Jazz artists are Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Dinah Washington and Ray Charles (and much more).

Books

I'm actually having an incredibly hard time deciding on my favorite book - there are just so many books that I love. My favorite author, however, is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, you absolutely need to check out her books. At the moment I'm reading her book "Half of a yellow sun" - a book that I recommend to everyone who wants to learn a bit about Nigerian history in the form of a novel.

Movies

Last week I watched "Atlantique" by Mati Diop - a (in my opinion) really good movie that plays with elements of magical realism. However, other than that I have to admit that movies are definitely my blind spot - I definitely don't know enough about them. So if you want to educate me about movies you're more than welcome.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

From 2015 to 2016 I did a cultural exchange year and lived in Benin (West Africa) with a host family.

Getting to know a culture which is so different than from what I knew before had a major impact on my outlook on life and has made me curious to meet even more people who come from different backgrounds.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, I definitely can teach you some German and even English (I'm not a native English speaker but by studies are in English so I'm fluent by now) if you want to improve your language skills. Other than that I'm really interested in learning about African history and politics (learned a lot about Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa so far) so if you're interested I can share my knowledge on that. :-)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My cooking skills ;-). Even though I'm not a professional cook, I really love being creative in the kitchen and trying out new recipes (If I'm not busy studying).

Since the German cuisine is definitely not the most diverse I love trying out recipes from all over the world. In the past few months I've been especially obsessed with trying out Indian, South Korean and Japanese recipes. Generally I love experimenting with different spices and I'm always curious to learn how to cook new dishes.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Benin, Croatia, England, France, Ghana, Italy, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Togo, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Benin, England, Germany, Netherlands