CURRENT MISSION

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

ABOUT ME

I pass background checks! BMI is within the athlete range but I am unable to touch my toes. :)

I was born and raised in Germany where I lived all over until I was 16. From there I went to attend a boarding school in Canada for two years, a decision which retrospectively was the foundation for most that I am today. As frightening as it was to lose all my bearings - to be in a foreign country without friends, parents or English skills - I came to understand that where there is fear, there is opportunity for growth. That and how important it is to breathe and smile when feeling uncomfortable. Like when you raise your hand in class and loudly ask if somebody has a 'boner' because your asshole seat neighbour tells you it means 'eraser'.

After the German university of my choice confused me with another applicant also named 'Lukas Hackl' I moved to Scotland to attend college in Edinburgh. It is incredible how all the rain, scotch and terrible bagpipe music can create people who are so funny.

In 2012 I was then granted the opportunity to live in San Francisco through a study abroad program and stayed there to work for a little more than two years now. California, the promised land, the place were life is easy, has been nothing like I expected but everything it was supposed to be.

PHILOSOPHY

There is only two things that are truly significant in this life: The first is life itself. The second is the people we connect and surround ourselves with.

- Direct quotation from the documentary 'The Lady in Number 6' which won an Oscar this year. It features the world's oldest pianist and at the same time oldest Holocaust survivor and her amazing relationship to music. Beautiful.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

For me, couchsurfing represents more than a website but an attitude towards life. An attitude to not be afraid of the unknown but to embrace it and seek it out. An attitude to be present and open to whatever arises. An attitude to trust in the fact that people are good, that life is good and that everything is better when shared. I participate in Couchsurfing.org because I am working hard to embody this particular attitude towards life.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I arrived in California two weeks before the beginning of my year abroad and, wanting to integrate myself into American culture as quickly as possible, signed up for couchsurfing. The experience I was granted was truly beautiful. On my first evening at Luke's (my hosts) house I was introduced to two fundamental pillars of American life: I learnt that if youre cooking for 7 Americans, you cook as much as for 15 Europeans and that you drink wine from a big plastic bag as quickly as possible.

As is often the case, only in retrospect was I able to understand it's significance. Not only was I introduced to all the miraculously beautiful places and hidden spot in the area during my first couple days, I also made deep and meaningful connections with the people I stayed with. Luke, Ben and Michael are my friends to this day.

Interests

Listening...to people's stories, lessons and music.
Eating.
Cooking.

• culture
• documentaries
• cooking
• wine
• athlete
• drinking
• music
• study abroad

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: All Documentaries with David Attenborough saying things.

Music: Electro, Jazz and Funk, Old School HipHop.

Books: Everybody Poops, Siddartha, Death of A Ladies' Man, The Way of Zen

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The star-covered middleofnowhere night sky while sitting infront of a campfire along the Lost Coast in northern California. That, and deep-fried cookie dough.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

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