CURRENT MISSION

Enjoy life

ABOUT Me

I enjoy being around people, exploring new places, going out dancing, to the theatre and to concerts. I sometimes like to go against the stream. I love to play sports like football, tennis, rugby and baseball.. I can be quite restless, there are always more things to do than there is time in a day. But I also really enjoy quiet time by myself. Reading, going for a walk, listening to music.

PHILOSOPHY
Our time on earth is precious and I want to spend it in a meaningful way. I am still figuring out how, but if we meet in real life, I will tell you more about it.
From doing my MSc. abroad I learned that there is much more possible in life that following the path that people expect from you.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Staying with people makes travelling more interesting and rewarding for me. When I travel I like to get to know the people who live there and experience their daily lives. Also, I think it is very important that people across cultures get to know each other and learn to understand each others point of view. The most important lesson I learned from travelling is that people are actually quite the same all over the world.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I couch surfed when I traveled solo in Russia and Iran. When I am home in Oxford, I would like give back to the couchsurfing comunity by hosting people.
There is not much space in my student room at the moment.
However, I can show my guests around in the medieval centre, and introduce them to the slightly weird Oxford student life with things like dinner in gowns, but also the nice pubs and the beautiful meadows...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
I have surfed about twenty times in Germany, Russia, Japan, the US and Iran, and I have hosted people twice in Amsterdam, all were very nice experiences and a couple of times in Oxford. I am looking forward to do more in the future.
I love that couch surfing creates a global 'small community' feeling of helping eachother and making life more fun!

Interests

I love watching good movies and good performances (dance, theatre, music), I like to talk about politics, innovation, psychology, literature, and I like to get to understand people, what drives them and what they find important in life, how they deal with things.
I like to learn new languagues and improve the ones I speak a bit: English, German and mostly french.
Two things that I want to study in the future are economics and history. Economics, because it plays such a big role in politics. And history, because this helps to understand the present.

• books
• literature
• concerts
• dancing
• cooking
• pub crawls
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• music
• surfing
• sports
• baseball
• soccer
• tennis
• rugby
• economics
• history
• mathematics
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Gone Girl, The imitation game, The woman in gold, Calvary, Lincoln, the shawshank redemption, clash, american beauty, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the notebook, the matrix.

Books: Anna Karenina, Wild swans, The long road to freedom, Animal Farm, The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime, l'etranger, Van oude mensen, de dingen die voorbij gaan, The old man and the sea, a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich.

I like music of all styles, as long as it is made by musicians, not by computers.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I have toured with a circus for 9 months, living in a caravan, sometimes having acces to water, a bit more often having electricity. I worked with people who were born in the circus and had been touring most of their lives.

My most amazing travel experience was taking the transsiberian train by myself. The best part of it was going with my host to their dacha (cottage) in the countryside, and try the russian bath (I though I would die!).

A special place I discovered a number of years ago is Flensburg, in the very north of Germany. In the right season, I believe it was july, the sea is full with Jellyfish, I mean more Jellyfish than water! They do not bite you, but when you touch them they glow a yellowish light, beautiful!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach mathematics, dutch, english, acrobatics, stretching/ muscle training using your own weight, I know a few nice recepies.

I would love to learn french, practise my german, cooking interesting dishes!

I can give advice on travel in the uk. Where and how to book to get cheap fares for trains and busses etc.

I can give advice to anyone who would like to take the transsiberian/transmonolian train. It is really easy to arrange by yourself, but there are a few traps if you don't speak russian (like me)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My time, thoughts and experiences. I know some jokes!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Georgia, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Russian Federation, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, United Kingdom