CURRENT MISSION

Heading south

ABOUT ME

Small update: I am currently, as of October 2014, on my way to Mexico through Texas. I will spend the next 8-10 months in Central and South America :)

I love to travel, visiting new places, meeting new people, making friends, experiencing new cultures. I typically don't plan much, and I don't bring much, quite spontanious.

The best travels have been with just a small backpack or bag with basic necessities. When on a trip alone, I easily decide on a whim where to go next, or jump on some train to a random place if there is time to kill, I find great joy in the travel itself, being on the move. Trains and boats are my favourites, but I've also had some fantastic bus rides with fun people. When I come to a new place, I like to walk around, for hours and hours to get a mental map and see how people live, architecture, landscape. Or I get a bike and ride around. In bigger cities I've often jumped the guided tourbuses, just to get a quick overview, and then come back later to check out interesting areas more closely.

In the summer I like sleeping outdoor if the weather is good and the insects aren't too much. Love beaches and coasts, rivers, lakes, swimming, diving, snorkling, kiting, and relaxing in the sun. Also love walking in forests and mountains, sleeping in hammock or tent. In winter I go alpine skiing, kite skiing on lakes and sometimes cross country. Some offpist skiing is ok, but I'm terrified of avalanches, so I tend to stick near the slopes. Got a year round interest for beers, cheese and trying out local food and drinks wherever I go.

When I'm unable to travel physically, I still travel mentally by listening to music from all over the world and reading about places.

I grew up in Førde, a small town on west coast of Norway, at the end of a fjord, in between mountains, near glaciers, surrounded by tourists in the summer. Moved to Trondheim to study at univ and have lived here since. Been working as system administrator since 1997, first at university and later at a company. I feel like it's time to move on, so if live somewhere cool and have a job for a computer wiz univ drop out, shout out!

At the time I grew up in the eighties, there were many refugees from Chile living in my town and the surrounding district, so I picked up some Spanish and wanted to go to South America. After second year at univ, summer of 1995, I interrailed Europe by myself and with people I met in hostels. Since then I've done almost all of Europe, lacking a few countries, plus parts of Turkey and European Russia, either by myself or with a friend or two. Some years ago I did central/east Europe with my mum, searching family roots.

South America and India are places I always wanted to spend time going, but sadly I never got the opportunity to run off and do it. I intend to do something about it soon.

PHILOSOPHY

We are all gods.

I tend to see myself as anti-religous, but then I need to explain what I consider religion. For me, religion is organisation of faith with the goal of gaining power over other people, political other otherwise. But maybe that's not what religion is, and I'm all wrong.

The one true faith I believe in, is love. And with that comes understanding, tolerance, equality, kindness, everything that is good in life. We must search for understanding of our reality through science, and also try to figure out our origin, but I wish one could stop killing and fighting wars over this, it's really not that important. Much more important that we take care of each other and enjoy the one life we do know for sure that we have. So let us all be gods for ourself and each other.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My apartment is _really_ tiny and kinda messy, and I'm typically away alot, but I do have a couch that is nice and comfy.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Only spontanious unorganized couch surfing, starting back in the mid 90ies, sharing tents or hammock, have had some very cosy nights in overfilled trains too.

Centres d'intérêt

Music and dancing, traveling, skiing, skating, roller skating, push scooters, riding bike, kiting, archery, beer, cheese, coffee, drinks, food, history, languages, computers (retro), reading, comics, movies, meeting friends, making new friends

• dogs
• insects
• culture
• architecture
• beauty
• festivals
• dancing
• dining
• cheese
• beer
• coffee
• running
• walking
• drinking
• clubbing
• comics
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• backpacking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• skiing
• rock climbing
• swimming
• archery
• history
• languages
• religion
• science
• beaches
• lakes
• rivers
• mountains

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Music from all over the world, and all kinds, traditional and modern. I played the violin in orchestra for many years, and hence know a bit or two about classic music. My old hometown of Førde hosts an international folk music festival every summer, which has been a great source for new music for me. I'm a huge sucker for Rom (gypsy) music, especially Balkan, Spain, Rajastan and Arabian, the movie Latcho Drom catches all that. Same with jewish music, both klezmer and traditional middle eastern. Got a more or less complete collection of Ofra Haza. For many years I've visisted blues festivals and events, love the blues. I also like electronic music, house, goa/psy, ambient, and some times run off to festivals to meet the boom people and dance non-stop all day and night.

Just like with music, I like movies from all over the world, but Spain and Almodovar is a huge favourite. I used to read big novels alot when I was younger, these days I quickly start yawning, sadly. On my travels I typically bring a book with short stories, very often science fiction. And then there are travel books, and of course I need to read alot in my work.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

One thing? Only one thing? Surfing haystacks outside Rome and sometimes getting chased by farmers with dogs, maybe. Or climbing Eiffel tower with full backpack since lockers were unavailable due to bomb threat. Sleeping on beaches or up in mountains with only the stars as source of light. Experiencing Arkhangelsk in Russia during the week before and after New Year, with all its beauty and cold climate. Dancing alone with only a couple of friends, barefoot in wet grass at Ozora festival in Hungary as the Sun rises up, beautiful! Salsa clubs in Barcelona! World longest trolleybus route on Crimea. Walking down 7th and 8th Avenue on Manhattan New York in the morning as Sun is starting to come up, with totally empty streets! Riding bike down Market in San Francisco in rush hour (hey, I come from small town). Swimming and snorkling in the sea at the coast of Croatia.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I can teach skiing, both cross country and alpine, archery, kiting and of course Norwegian language and culture. Chances are that I can also fix your computer or wireless router or whatever, but it's not really something I enjoy doing anymore, hehe.

There are languages I want to learn better. My English is good enough, but there's always new words I discover. With family in Germany I know German pretty well, but would love to be able to use it more. I went to evening courses in Russian many years, but it is still pretty basic. I just picked up Spanish again, and would love to learn to use that more or less fluently. I love dancing, but sadly have not given it enough priority as to take course. Latin dances are my favourite, I even watch competitions on TV when it's on, much to my mates confusion.

Pays que j'ai visités

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Norway