CURRENT MISSION

Working as a journalist for our regional paper, after being in-between jobs for some time. In a nutshell: I finished school (in Germany), travelled (Indonesia and Gambia), studied (Netherlands), worked (Germany) and found out what I am good at (communication, humanitarian aid) and what I do not ever want to do again in my life (Fashion Marketing).

ABOUT ME

I am born 1986 (I prefer this rather than putting my age. My last "about me" said 21. And I just realised I am on here for more than 7 years thus! So to be save...) and depending on the mood of the day I am right now in a quarter-life crises or the most enjoying, independent person in the world. But most of the time the latter is the case.

I enjoy being around people from different places and (sort of obvious for couch surfers I guess) love travelling. Whenever I travel I love to meet local people and get to know culture, traditions, habits etc.
2013 I travelled Vietnam with a colleague who is originally from there. She is 30 years older than me and I met people quite surprised when I told them I travelled with a 65 year old lady and had not seen all the temples suggested in Lonely Planet. However I did stay with her friends and family all the time, had local food and really the feeling I got to know Vietnam, which I thought much cooler than the typical tourism program.

I consider myself an easy-to-go-along with person. I am not easily upset or angry with someone. However I can get outrageous about injustice or xenophobia. Then I write angry blogs reminding people of the beauty of Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. You can read some of my blogs (travelling, politics, every day stories in German) at www.grinchtour.org

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am on Coachsurfing since my student days in The Hague. NL.
Living a bit outside of the city at that time, I hardly got to host somebody via CS, though I had a guest once from an other social network. That worked so well that I decided to sign up.
Now I live in Dinslaken, which is between Essen and Düsseldorf, so probably again not the most exciting location for request, but you never know. I have hosted people who travelled along river Rhine or that wanted to visit North Rhine Westfalia in general and not necessarily Düsseldorf. Dinslaken is a neat, beautiful city and worth a visit, if you do not insist on the county's capital.
Am also looking forward to meeting new people for just visiting the city etc and who knows where my next trip will take me.

Interests

I seriously wonder if there is anybody who does not write "travelling and meeting new people" here. Well, after stating the obvious, I'd like to add few things.

Once or twice a year I visit rock festivals with a group of friends. These are my 3-5 days of the year where I can just be a bit off-the-record, drink loads, listen to music the whole day and so on. I had a job as a media spokes person before. I always have to be reasonable, smart and sophisticated when working with a camera team or even going out in the city you work, when people recognise you. So that is kind of my hide-away to enjoy life to the fullest, yet painfully realizing that I am getting terribly old :-)

I keep a dog which is mostly a Labrador but with some other in it. I am not a crazy animal maniac. I mean I love Alpha, but I would not let my whole life depend on that dog.

I am not really a coach-potatoe but if there is time and I once get into it, I sometimes watch series. My recent ones were "Walking Dead", "Spartacus" or "Games of Thrones". Funny enough I would not say I am into either Fantasy or Zombies but those were just brilliant.

In Highschool I spend half a year in Galway, Ireland. That was a very exciting time of my life, I learnt a lot there and still today call people from my time there my closest friends.

In contrast to travelling and seeing the world I am also very attached to my own place. We got a lake close by (which is actually more an artificial water which came into being because people digged for gravel, there is power plant and not romantic as "lake" suggests at all, but hey, you can swim and relax there. ) in the summer I lover cycling there in the early morning with some beer, spend the day there swimming and relaxing.

• animals
• pets
• dogs
• culture
• fashion
• beauty
• festivals
• human rights
• dining
• beer
• coach
• walking
• drinking
• politics
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• swimming
• agriculture
• communications
• law
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I generally enjoy music from Reggae to Rock. I really like different things depending on mood and setting. However I cannot relate much to electronic music.

I love Deuce Bigalow - European Gigollo. Complete nonsense but just sweet memories from my time in Holland I guess. I really do not enjoy Sci-Fi with one exception: The Back to the Future movies! Actually, I don't watch a lot of movies and I never recognise even the most famous actors when I see them.

On Sunday night there is always a crime movie on German TV, every week from an other region. (Tatort) I love watching that with my neighbours.

I love reading, though I recently lack time or concentration. But once I start I literally eat books. I like history books with a story but also contemporary literature.
The book I have read most is "The Education of Little Tree" a boy that grows up with his Native American Grandparents and is violently put into an orphanage by American authorities.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I took an African Boy for a medical Treatment to Germany last year. 25 000 Euros were raised, and the boy operated in an 5 hour operation. That were the most exciting months of my life, I guess. (I wrote this in 2007 and it is still true today. Still I wanna add:)

I drove with a car from Germany to Gambia twice. Trip takes 2 weeks and is really, really cool.

I spend a very intensive half year living with a couple from Syria, who came as refugees to Germany and are close friends now.

Teach, Learn, Share

I was on the Board of Directors for a charity organization in Gambia. We keep a clinic, kindergarten and agriculture project. Visit www.buschklinik.de for more information. I have been going to Westafrica for more than 10 years and would say I quite know the region.

Climate change is big on my agenda, even tough I know that my way of living (traveling by plane, eating meat) is not very consisting when saying I am very much aware of the topic.

The conditions some people in West Papua/Indonesia are living under is shocking but widley ignored by the world. Rainforest, Human Rights etc - any sharing will be much appricated. Sounds nerdy, but, ah well... once you visited a place you start caring for it.

I studied European Studies and a convinced European. However recently I feel a bit depressed about recent developments: how we deal with Greece, how we treat refugees...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Local music shows, cycling, industrial cultural expeditions in the Ruhr Area,

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Cambodia, Georgia, Indonesia, Macedonia, Portugal, Spain, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Gambia, Ireland, Netherlands