CURRENT MISSION

giving the real world some time to prepare for my arrival

ABOUT ME

A scientist on paper and an event organizer at heart that's trying his best to see what the world has to offer before it's too late. I got my first backpack in third grade and I still carry it around with me!

I'm always up to learning new ways to live life, so I figure you are as well! ;) There's a large chance that if you surf my couch you'll be dragged along to whatever it is I'm doing those days (except maybe watch me sit in my office and pretend to work, since that most likely would bore you slightly). This can be any (or all) of the following and more: dinner at a friends, concerts in odd places, concerts in hip places, a few beers at a bar, partying until the sun comes up, far too many beers at many bars, movie and dinner at home, bike ride around the lake, sledding trip to the mountains, and and and. As long as you're willing to do anything (well, maybe not quite anything), then you'll be fine and I'm sure you'll have a good time.

PHILOSOPHY

I've come to realize that no matter what you do and how many amazing things you see, it is not these that you remember later in your life, but the people you experienced them with.

In the words of an amazing Swiss writer:
"Why do we travel? This too, so that we encounter people who don't think they know us inside and out; that we once again realize what is possible for us in this life. It's little enough, anyway."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

After 6 years of being a couchsurfer, the website finally made me fill in all parts of my profile. So, I'm an old-school couchsurfer - I was around during the times of Couchsurfing 1.0, before B-corporation times and before the great server meltdown. I've surfed amazing hosts and I've surfed OK hosts, I've hosted amazing surfers and I've hosted lame surfers. You'll only occasionally find me at CouchSurfing events. I enjoy them, but to me CouchSurfing is less about the community and more about the one-to-one interactions with people. 100+ vouches, 1000+ references and 10'000+ profile views don't impress me. To me CouchSurfing isn't a lifestyle, but a way to share my life with others and hopefully you'll show me a bit of your life.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far I've surfed on four continents and it's been absolutely amazing: Brain tacos in Mexico DF, an "illegal" beef-butcher street in Delhi, the mayor's mansion in Cameroon and many many more...
SURFED- Ricardo & Magally (Mexico City, Mexico)
- Emma (Oaxaca, Mexico)
- Alexis (San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico)
- Caro (Antigua, Guatemala)
- Lucho & Rene (San Salvador, El Salvador)
- Erin & Fabi (San José, Costa Rica)
- Wes (New Delhi, India)
- Joji (New Delhi, India)
- Cédric (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire)
- Derick (Limbé, Cameroon)
- Jeremy (Limbé, Cameroon)
- Brian (Buea, Cameroon)
- Marie-Anne (Dschang, Cameroon)
- Ed & Nathalie (Sarteneja, Belize)
- Zydrone (Vilnius, Lithuania)
- Ania (Kraków, Poland)
- Agnieszka and Stan (Gliwice, Poland)
- Meri and Esa (Helsinki, Finland)
- Linda (Vienna, Austria)
- Moose (Flagstaff, Arizona, USA)
- Tara (Sedona, Arizona, USA)

HOSTED- Pierre (Rennes, France)
- Simo & Jonathan (Lugano, Switzerland)
- Julie (Prague, Czech Republic)
- Karolina (Heilbronn, Germany)
- Annika & Nico (Schwarzwald, Germany)
- Bruno & Marcia (Saõ Paolo, Brazil)
- Krisitna (Calgary, Canada)
- Noémie & Aline (Genève, Switzerland)
- Tammy (Kansas, USA)
- Alyssa & Cody (Denver, USA)
- Shawn & Jeff (small-town Kansas, USA)
- Annelies (Antwerp, Belgium)
- Nyssa & Roy (Boston, USA)
- Anna (Philadelphia, USA)
- Ivan & Jen (Las Vegas, USA)
- Fallon (Calgary, Canada)
- Lara & Julie (Washington DC, USA)
- Kate (Philadelphia, USA)
- Kat (Geneva, Switzerland)
- Emilia (Palézieux, Switzerland)
- Ashlee (Kentucky, USA)
- Kerstin (Erlangen, Germany)
- Josh and Harbir (World Hitchhikers)
- Taylor (Boulder, Colorado)
- Carmen (Salamanca, Spain)
- Danielle (Dallas TX, USA) & Malin (Katrineholm, Sweden)
- Simy (Los Angeles CA, USA)
- Liz and friends (USA & Canada)
- Corinna and the girls (Münster, Germany)
- Maggie (Hamburg, Germany)
- Mimi, Kai and Doro (Nüremberg, Germany)
- William (Montréal, Quebec)
- April, Kim, Amanda and Camille (Random Villages, Senegal and USA)
- Thea (Melbourne, Australia)

Interests

I like to think I'm interested in everything that's not boring. Try me with any conversation, any activity, any food. If I haven't seen/done/ate/smelt/touched/climbed/jumped/peed-off/drank/pushed/swam in before, I'm in!

• writing
• concerts
• dining
• beer
• partying
• traveling
• bouldering
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• science
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Greatest movie ever made: Star Wars (I was born early 80s - what do you expect!)
Happiest movie ever made: My neighbor Totoro
Saddest movie ever made: Grave of the fireflies
Funniest movie ever made: Army of Darkness
Scariest movie ever made: American Psycho

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I lived in Hong Kong, and learned why so many westerners fall in love with Asia.
I lived in Indiana, and learned what small-town America means.
I lived in Dakar, and realized that I'm nowhere closer to understanding how to save the world.
But I can keep on trying, nonetheless.

I also hiked from Senegal into Guinea, as the 2-3 day hike apparently is less stressful than the 4 day bus ride (!!). 4 bottles of water, 5 packs of cookies, 4 cans of sardines and 4 baguettes. What more do you need?

Teach, Learn, Share

Treat everybody and everything with more respect than you expect to get yourself, Newton's laws of action/reaction need not apply to human interactions. Listen to what other people have to say. Even if you don't agree with them - it will remind you of the reasons. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, there's always something new to learn and you're always smarter in retrospect. Do good deeds without expecting anything in return, it's what makes you a good person. Don't judge yourself harder than you'd judge others, there's no reason for you to be more special than them. In fact, don't judge at all: teach and learn.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Senegal, Switzerland, United States

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