Hi everyone.

My name is Jun and I am a Master student studying microbiology at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany. During this Covid-19 pandemic, I am still in Germany and in my 3rd semester at my university. I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Biology in the US. I was born and raised in South Korea and started studying abroad when I was 16 years old. While I studied in China, the Philippines, United States, Japan and Germany, and the UK. I also traveled a lot. Exploring the world and sharing cultures are always fun.

My mission in my 20s is to explore the world by traveling a lot and to meet interesting people while advancing my study as a "prospective microbiologist." Because traveling keeps putting me in an unknown situation and it certainly allows me to learn about myself. I think life is a voyage in an ocean where you don't really know about myself. It's a journey of learning and building myself as a person. Getting out of comfort zone and challenge new things change my brain and myself as a whole: probably more inspired and hopefully wiser.

Learning more languages and of course get my Degrees in various countries. Before I go on a trip, I always try to study a bit about the countries that I plan on visiting. It allows me to learn the place deeper and to fascinate me. These things inspire and grow me as a person. Talking to a variety of people enables me to discover myself. My life goal is simple; keep learning about the world and myself.

I am a friendly, open-minded, communicative and fun loving guy. I certainly have lots of interesting stories to share and love to hear about your fascinating life stories as well.

Philosophy: Life is a journey of learning. Always try to get the most out of an experience since every experience is important.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsuring means much more than a free stay. It's about sharing each other's culture and learning and inspiring each other in a new and fascinating way. Personally, I would like to consider CS as a way to discover the world as well as myself. It's a very smart way to travel.

Normally, we meet people who have similar background and job as you do. For instance, most of people you meet at college is likely to be other fellow students and same thing applies in other places. However, CS is a perfect resource to meet people who are totally off my area and from all over the world.

Years ago, I read a travel essay which I had thought it to be a collection of explanation of a place and general description about local people. But it was totally not; it was full of stories with the author's new local friends. I was very impressed how she built stories and realized "Oh, this is how I am supposed to enjoy traveling." Thus, I stopped such a travel as simply visiting popular places and posting pictures on facebook. I have been trying to build up a story with CS friends. These are the reasons why I am on Couchsurfing.

Interests

• reading
• traveling
• watching sports
• table tennis
• history
• learning languages
• natural sciences
• playing soccer

Music, Movies, and Books

movie - the Notebook, Interstellar, Martian, historical movies
books - Don Quixote, Les Miserables, the Old Man and the Sea, Hamlet and Othello.
music - mostly classic and rock, I also like to play piano and am learning violin.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I guess I have couple amazing things that I have done!

1. Trans-continental train trip in the United States.
2. Joined Navy and served on warship.
3. I studied abroad and traveled in a variety of places. Details are below:

2007 - Dandong, China, Yenben, China (2 months) - studied little bit of Chinese, history and met Korean-Chinese people.

2010 - iloilo, the Philippines (6 months) - studied English (tutorial system) and traveled in Boracay watching 2010 World Cup (football).

2011 - Tokyo, Japan (7 months, right after the Great Earthquake(Fukushima)) - studied Japanese in an international school that has an intensive study program for Japanese college for international students. Most productive year in terms of studying a language and I became fluent in Japanese.

2012 ~2013 - Milwaukee, the United States (a year and a half) - college in Milwaukee.

2013 - Transcontinental train in the United States (15 days) - LA -> Houston -> Chicago -> Washington D.C. -> New York -> Niagara Falls (Canada, 4 days)

2014~2016 - South Korea (23 months), joined Navy - lots of military training and rescue mission of sinking passenger ship.

2017 - Bonn, Germany (1 month) - German Language and Cultural Immersion Program

2017 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

2018 - Oxford, United Kingdom (3 months) - studied Philosophy, Shakespeare and European History at University of Oxford as an associate student.

2018 - Barcelona - research project with other friends (sustainability and urbanization from a variety of perspectives including health science, politics, anthropology and economics).

2018 - Albufeira, Lisbon Portugal - got a free but most fanciest luxury resort at the most beautiful beach.

2019 - Trip to Verona, Venice, Rome, and Milano in Italy.

2019~ - My new adventure in Göttingen, Germany.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could teach some Korean language (funniest words) and culture.

I like to learn new cultures and languages.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I would like to share awesome and interesting Korean culture with my hosts. Moreover, I can share my study abroad and my travel experiences that I have taken so far.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Germany, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States