Hi there! I'm Lisa from the Netherlands! I live together with my boyfriend in Utrecht, in a very lovely house from the '30s. Its a five min. walk from the city center and a five min walk to the nearest train station, so a perfect location! We grow veggies in our tiny cute back garden, love nature!

I just quit my job and am starting my own business in yoga for children on the one hand & photography on the other hand. There are a lot of things that I love to do, so, quite often I'm quite busy ^.^. To have a basic income I run a very cute coffee/lunchplace near Amsterdam where disable people work.

After my studies and working for a while I got myself a oneway ticket and headed off. First China. Then I lived in Ubud, Bali for five months (with a Balinese family) and after left for Melbourne to live and work there for about half a year. Beautiful Nepal was next and then India. Oh my, what an amazing place that was! I stayed there for four months (also with an Indian family) and my first yoga teacher training over there, whereafter Vipasana (a ten day medition course). It was very nice and interesting.

A bit more about me... I love traveling, to discover the undiscovered, to surprise and be surprised, colors!, warmth, sun, snow, nature, vibrant cities, my bicycle ;-), photography!!, people, art, painting, books, movies & documentaries. I don't like time, as I never really understood the concept of time. Too many ideas pop up in my head and then 'time' pops up around the corner: what are you going to do?!? I'm curious, have an enthusiastic personality and am interested in people, cultures & psychology. Further I love cooking, am interested in food & health, sustainable living, yoga & meditation.

I hope this gives you a glimpse of who I am. You can always send me an email for more information :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Since that I'm back living in Utrecht again, I'd love to host together with my boyfriend! Its always nice to meet new people, to talk about life, what drives an other. Also I'd love to meet local people in other cities, counties. I like the idea to share whatever you have and give back with what you can give. These simple things can make one an other easily happy.

Interests

While I was travelling I was gone for more than a year from my home country. For the first time in my life I wanted to see how my life would be when I would 'go-with-the-flow' and make decisions based on intuition and feeling rather than ratio. The things that naturally grab my attention are peoples lives, trying to understand how a society is structured and how people behave within it, understanding the topic 'love' in different cultures also fascinates me. Then.. social change, culture clashes..., how modernization effects a country/ the peoples, their lives, its all interesting for me. It sounds a bit abstract, its a bit hard to explain I guess. Next to that I love photography. Especially documentary photography, photography that's trying to tell me something, show me something that touches me or makes me think about a topic (more). I recently started painting, I can't say I'm the new Rembrandt ;-), I just love doing it. I spend time reading books, learning more about meditation & yoga (after all, I'm in India right now), visiting art galleries and love to listen music.

• arts
• culture
• books
• photography
• documentaries
• dining
• cooking
• yoga
• meditation
• gardening
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• magic
• music
• surfing
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

here are a few examples of what I like: Norwegian Wood, Alice in Wonderland, everything from Hayao Miyazaki, Once, Intouchables, Life of Pi, Zusje...

Music: At the moment I am much into electronical music, such as: Weval, Solee, the Drifter. But I like a a wide variation of music, to name a few: Florence & the Machine, Ludovico Einaudi, Keith Jarrett, Feist, The XX, Alt-J, Norah Jones, Beck, Amy Winehouse, Anthony & the Johnsons, Kings of Convenience, Bon Iver, Passion Pit, Selah Sue, Sigor Ros, David Grey, some African music, Indian!

Books: one of my number one books would be Wild Swans, written by Jung Chang. I like Dutch writers, especially Arnon Grunberg and recently started with my very first Murakami and loving it! Read Life of Pi as well, really loved it. Next to that I like reading about health, food & yoga.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The most amazing things I experience are mostly in the streets just about anywhere. In India me and my friend ended up at a wedding in Pushkar..., never experienced such hospitality, such energy and such a 'wauw!' feeling before. In Indonesia, Bali, I had a lot of amazing experiences, but one of them would be to be at a huge ceremony. Also, the energy that I felt over there was mystifying. An other experience was with a guy I met in Melbourne. He takes photos on a metal plate with a camera from 1850. I can't precisely explain why it was so awesome to see, but I guess, the process was just like magic.

Teach, Learn, Share

enjoy everything that is 'now', because there is no other time

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, adventures, tips for travelling, yogaclasses, good food, good laughs :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Finland, Indonesia, Netherlands, South Africa, Uganda