I grew up near Vienna (Austria) until I was twelve, then we moved into a more rural area - which I personally liked much better than the city. After having spent eleven years in Groningen, The Netherlands, I now live in Eugene, Oregon. I am just settling into my new house - sorry, no guest room yet.
I am a classical musician and musicologist interested in lots of things, ranging from astrophysics to cooking. In my research, I cross over into science and specialize in archeoethnoorganology (ask me if you want to know more!)

For a long time, I had to travel a lot for work but now I am starting to discover that one can actually travel for fun.

PHILOSOPHY

Work hard, enjoy life!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

hosting and surfing, sometimes attending a meeting

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed in South Korea, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Greece the US, and France. Always encountered lots of hospitality!

Until now hosted only a few times via the couchsurfing site, but hosted lots and lots of times independently from the CS-project.

Interests

Still don't know where to start...I think I'll never be able to fill in this one.

• culture
• dancing
• cooking
• flowers
• tv
• traveling
• watching sports
• music
• classical music
• surfing
• sports
• fencing
• soccer
• tennis
• table tennis
• archery
• history
• psychology
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC: mainly classical music, but lately more and more pop.
no easy-listening music, no operetta or Johann Strauss

FILMS/BOOKS: "real" literature, arthouse-films, books and movies with a message and/or philosophy. Socially and politically critical movies/books.
Very relaxing:(good) children's books, like Winnie-the-Pooh (the real one by A.A. Milne - NOT Disney's version!)
no romantic novels or trivial stories, no action-comedy, no mystery-thrillers or horror-films

TV-SERIES: lots of things. Sci-Fi (like Star Trek) as well as anything funny (Muppet-Show, Simpsons, Seinfeld...). Series with Austrian/South German humor ("Der Bulle von Toelz", "Stockinger", Pumuckl...)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

This is difficult for me to answer, because for me there is no difference between the so-called "small things" in life and the "amazing" things. Sometimes I can get thrilled by looking at a Mandelbrot set, and occasionally I loose myself in a mathematical equation. I often smile when I see a beautiful bunch of flowers, or stop to take a picture of a butterfly.

Teach, Learn, Share

Oh, that's a tough one. I can teach lots of things (ranging from ballroom dancing to physics) up to a certain degree and I want to learn about nearly everything. Things I am not so interested in include gossiping about other people and (pseudo-)psychology.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Things I especially like doing together, are:
- cooking (the more so a traditional dish from someone's culture)
- eating (a traditional dish or anything else)
- learning/telling about special ingredients or (and ways to prepare) a traditional dish

I come from a culture where eating together is very important. I am not offended if our schedules do not permit eating together, but if we do, "sharing a meal" should be more than just being in the same room together at the same time while eating.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Brazil, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Netherlands, United States