Alien, Books, Cycling, Dream, Eternal, Future, Green, Happy, Imagine, Joke, Kinesthetic, Limitless, Mysterious, Ninja, Olympics, Potential, Quantum, Random, Stealth, Triathlon, Universe, Verb, Write, XXXVIII, Yes, Zest

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

27 August 2006 Joined Couchsurfing
29 August 2006 Surfed my first couch (Dima and Nadia in Sofia, Bulgaria)
17 January 2007 hosted my first guests (Jen and Michael from USA)
August 2008 went to my first CS meeting (Moscow)
18 June 2012 hosted my 100th CSer! (Elahe from Iran)
13 February 2016 hosted my 200th CSer! (Szymon from Poland)
30 September 2017 surfed my 100th couch! (Pasha in Mogilev, Belarus)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

People I've hosted (based on nationalities of the surfer; listed in chronological order from the first surfer of that nationality to surf my couch: couples, families, bands and teams count as one surfer; 0.5 = surfers who are dual nationals):

American 31.5
Turkish 6
German (West) 15
Russian 7
Canadian 11
Taiwanese 1.5
French 20.5
Argentinian 7
British 9
Hungarian 2
Dutch 4
Swiss 3.5
Uzbek 1
Ukrainian 4
Israeli 2.5
Estonian 4
Slovenian 4
Slovakian 4
Latvian 4
Romanian 1.5
Moldovan 1.5
Polish 23
Lithuanian 5
Spanish 7
Armenian 5
German (East) 7
Japanese 3
Syrian 1
Korean 3
Australian 4
Belgian 4
Finnish 1
New Zealander 2
Swedish 3
Serbian 1
Italian 5
Chinese 7
Iranian 1
Czech 3
Belorusian 3
Tajik 1
Austrian 3
Greenlandic 1
Moroccan 1
Indian 3
Portuguese 2
Danish 4
Vietnamese 1
Chilean 1
Uruguayan 3
Mauritian 1
Hong Kongese 2
European (exact origin unknown) 1
Brazilian 2
Mexican 1
South African 1
Bosnian 1
Guatemalan 1
Indonesian 1

Places I've surfed (based on location and not the nationality of the host; listed in chronological order by the first time I surfed there):

Ukraine 5
Bulgaria 1
Turkey 4
Italy 2
Macedonia (FYR) 1
Spain 1
Serbia 1
Austria 2
Liechtenstein 1
Moldova 1
Belgium 5
Denmark 1
Russia 35
Portugal 1
Norway 1
Estonia 2
Iceland 1
Germany 2
Slovenia 1
Cyprus 1
Mongolia 1
Laos 1
Thailand 2
Kazakhstan 3
UAE 1
Kyrgyzstan 3
Switzerland 1
Slovakia 3
Czech Republic 2
Latvia 4
Azerbaijan 1
Iran 3
Armenia 1
Georgia 1
Abkhazia 1
Japan 2
Poland 6
Belarus 4
Taiwan 1
New Zealand 1
Brunei 1
South Korea 2
Crimea 1
Ireland 1

Interests

If I surf your couch, it probably means I'm on my way to or from a competition. I definitely love sports, and competing around the world is a great way to travel. Of course, sports are not my only interest. I also love learning about different cultures and languages, and generally choose my competition destinations around places I would like to learn more about.

• horses
• triathlon
• marathon
• traveling
• snorkeling
• sports
• fencing
• rock climbing
• languages
• food
• ultimate frisbee
• randomness

Music, Movies, and Books

I like listening to music from all over the world. I listen to everything from classical to heavy metal. I read any book I can get my hands on. Movies on the other hand don't really interest me. I don't have the attention span to sit passively for two hours.

music: Алс

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

These are the things I have experienced because of Couchsurfing:
1) Milked a cow
2) Stayed in a Gher
3) Collected water from a river
4) Ran across a frozen lake
5) Cycled across Ukraine
6) Saw the midnight sun...twice
7) Was beaten by birch branch in Russian banya
8) Competed in a Half Ironman
9) Attempted to learn Estonian language
10) Ate berries straight off the bush
11) Tried fencing
12) Volunteered at a church clean-up
13) Fed goats
14) Visited a Soviet bunker 65m underground
15) Had a dinner conversation in 4 languages
16) Rode on a back of a motorcycle
17) Hiked around the second biggest canyon in the world
18) Went snorkeling on an uninhabited island
19) Witnessed a serivce at a Sikh temple
20) Rode an elephant
21) Rode the fastest roller coaster in the world
22) Built and stayed in an igloo
23) Celebrated Korean-style New Years by climbing a mountain and watching the sunrise.
24) Tried the following dishes: -iskender doner -cig kofte -salep -salgam -tantuni -meser macunu -kokorec -snert -petukhaya -окрошка (okroshka) -солянка (solyanka) -chocloate sausage -fermented shark -horse meat -halloumi -cyprus delights -бууз (buuz) -хууршуур (khuurshuur) -orom -khachapuri -kumiss -kurt -ormam nan -beshbarmak -morning glory -fried frogs -grasshopper -silkworms -sapodilla -durian-khinkali-fondue-dreikonigskuche-halushky-kofola-veggemite-faloodeh-Riga balsam-vana Tallinn-mate -hotteok - beondegi -makkoli -jeon

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Antarctica, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine, United States

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