Hi all! My name is Justina (Juste for short ---looks weird but phonetically isn't that bad:), I've been a CSer for 14 years now and my god, this intro really needed an update recently! :)

I'm not sure how much any of these things define me, but I AM from Lithuania but have been moving around for the last 16 years (hence, lots of CSing on the way:), I've been working with tech for some time but am back to the field that is much more aligned with my life vision/mission: nonprofits and political change.

I am a political commentator and have started another project - that is also on something very dear to my heart <3 - on psychology, mindfulness, and everything in between. So, in an intro that runs the risk of getting increasingly boring and/or serious, I do have to admit that the questions of "OK, how do we build kinder societies?" is something I do like to think about:)) ...and to which a project like CS has contributed greatly, but I believe I'm writing more on it in the next section!

Other things about me:

- I LOVE pets (it's painful somehow to pass a friendly dog in a park without being able to pet it:)
- Having food with people is always a great joy (ha, this sounds like a sentence AI would write, trying to prove it's human:D)
- I really appreciate people, no matter what they do in life (and, hey, sometimes these are objectively serious and important matters), who don't take themselves too seriously and have that certain lightness about them

And now, some nice quotes and sayings (coz...why...not?:):

In order to be interestING, you have to be interestED.

Now that I have seen, I am responsible.

You're only as pretty as you treat people.

There are friends, lovers and family waiting to meet you all over the world. Go meet them.

Be unafraid to be happy. Be unafraid to love. Be unafraid to make a difference.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I discovered it back in 2009 and oh my, what value has it created in my life!

New places, wonderful people, so many engaging chats, nice walks, and even bicycle/motorbike rides!

I didn't even realise how much it has reinforced my trust in people and their generosity <3 I think THIS is probably the coolest/most valuable ripple effect CS experience has had on me, and it's something I wish to pass to others!

Interests

languages, politics, film, mindfulness, personal development, neuroscience, writing, PEOPLE <3

• literature
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• languages
• consciousness

Music, Movies, and Books

Little Miss Sunshine, Everything is Illuminated, Memento, Lost in Translation, Amores Perros, Truman Show, Love Actually, Snatch, Life is Beautiful, Fight Club, 21 gram, American Beauty, Knocking on Heaven's Door, Forest Gump, Matrix, Donnie Darko, Requem for a Dream, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fountain, The Prestige, V for Vendetta, Dancer in the Dark, Hable con ella, Leon, Perfume, The Fall, Toto le Heros, Control, Underground, Diarios de Motocicleta, Darjeeling Limited, Blade Runner, Royal Tenenbaums, In the Name of the Father, Tropa de Elite, Arrival, One Flew over the Cockoo's Nest, Three Billboards, anything by John Pilger

Anything by Oscar Wilde, Umberto Eco, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Albert Camus, Alan Moore, Alan Watts, Krishnamurti, Jack Kornfield; Robinson Crusoe, Three men in a boat, To Kill a Mockingbird, East of Eden.

Kings of Leon, Mumford and Sons, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Damien Rice, Dry The River, Gogol Bordello, Glen Hansard, Devotchka, Modest Mouse, The Killers, The Decemberists, The Chemical Brothers, ...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

partying under a baywatch tower at night in Lithuania, unsuccessfully looking for an open place to eat during Thanksgiving in Boston and ending up eating a sandwich from a 24/7 store, partying on a hostel roof in Istanbul, roadtripping to Portugal and losing a friend there (there's a happy ending to this:), finding my way from the bus station to the hostel at 4am in Barcelona, "illegally" staying for an extra night in a Moroccan hostel, partying in local pubs in Marrakesh, smuggling beer into Barça's metro at night, skipping the whole afternoon of a rock music festival just to have a swim in a lake, travelling from Bucharest to Varna in a car with a woman, her old dad and a baby (???:), dragging my huge suitcases on a metro, tram, and buses to the airport in Istanbul, crying intensely at my sister's wedding party, having fun at a beach party in Singapore for a conference closing event, dancing to Steve Aoki in Toronto, dangerously clinging to my travel companion on a motorbike in Laos on our way to a breathtaking Lagoon (and back:), saying "holy shit holy shit this is f-in' amazing!" on my way to Maya Bay in Phi Phi, a dip in the Ganga, watching a paddle boat almost sink in Estonia, having a booze-nic in Warsaw, panicking and almost falling into a canyon in Palestine, climbing those hundreds of steps in Petra, wandering the streets of Budapest with my friends on January 1st wearing balloon hats, packing my stuff and moving to Brazil, writing this list:)))

...and still, wouldn't you agree that the most precious things are all the friends we make on our way?

Teach, Learn, Share

Languages, music, laugh ;)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My company and everything it contains!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Malta, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Hungary, Jordan, Lithuania, Palestine, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

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