CURRENT MISSION

My mission in life is to live, love and learn. It's always been my dream to travel around Europe and that's why I've joined couch surfing! I really want to meet the locals of each place I'm visiting to learn about their culture as well as share some of my crazy South African stories.
I'm passionate about green projects in the world and hope to one day start my own green initiative to help save this beautiful planet we live on.

ABOUT ME

Hello! My name is Ivana. I would describe myself as a clean hippie/ business woman / happy sun beam / wannabe mermaid/fairy.
I was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia but moved to South Africa when the war started.
I grew up and studied in Johannesburg, South Africa
I finished studying industrial engineering 3 years ago and now I run a dog walking business in Cape Town called Mary Puppins (I wish my name was actually Mary sometimes but I still think it's the best name!)
I am starting a new adventure travelling around Europe and seeing where the wind takes me while still running my business from abroad!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love meeting new and open-minded people. I hope that I will make some friends on this journey. Learning about other cultures and walks of life is something I find super interesting.
Being 25 years old, I feel I would prefer to meet the cool people that are on this platform rather than the crazy drunk tourists in hostels and backpackers. Hopefully I can also teach you a bit about my country and I'm also planning on baking chocolate fondants (my speciality) for every beautiful soul that lets me hang at their place!

Interests

I love music and dance and art. I myself tried my hand at learning drums and piano but quickly found out I am quite uncoordinated. Dancing to my favourite songs frees my mind of the constant buzz and over thinking.
I play volleyball and I love to read books. Some of my favourites books are Lolita, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Flies, Madame Bovary - I'm basically on a mission to read all of the classics now except for Tolstoy (couldn't handle War and Peace!)
I'm mad about series and movies too.
Animals and the outdoors make me happy - pretty much wish I could just be enjoying beautiful places with animals literally on top of me all the time
I'm passionate about science and try keep up with all the amazing new inventions and theories that people are coming up with.
My ideal night in would be chilling on a comfy couch playing playstation, watching series and drinking gin and tonic with friends :)

• animals
• dogs
• partying
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• volleyball

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Portugal. The Man, Tame Impala, Metronomy, Jungle, The Naked and Famous, Bob Marley, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine, Fleet Foxes, Foals, Radiohead, The Beatles, ABBA, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Flume, Grouplove, The Smiths, Glass Animals etc....

Movies: Hunt for the wilderpeople, moonlight kingdom, Amelie, love actually, nottinghill, song of the sea, LOTR, 10 things I hate about you, Star Wars, all old school Disney movies, basically all 90s romcoms and then all the good Sci-Fi and fantasy movies

Series: Hmm where to start! Game of Thrones is the best thing ever (I'm obesessed), Girls, Walking Dead, Brooklyn 99, Ray Donovan, American Horror Story, Downton Abbey, Rick and Morty, Adventure Time, New Girl, Nashville, Shameless, Black Mirror, Narcos, The OA, Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, Westworld, Easy - there are tons more but I think you get the point!

Books:Some of my favourites books are Lolita, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Flies, Madame Bovary, Le Petit Prince, pride and prejudice, - I'm basically on a mission to read all of the classics now except for Tolstoy (couldn't handle War and Peace!)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Started my own dog walking business after deciding not to work as an engineer! My business aims to empower women and it's so much fun to get to employ a bunch of lovely ladies who are all looking for some extra cash and love animals.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I hope to share my experience of growing up in South Africa and also just to have some meaningful and intelligent conversations about philosophy and science and then some meaningless funny conversations too!
I also plan to bake chocolate fondants for each of my hosts as a thank you.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Lesotho, Mauritius, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

South Africa