Stuffdoer. Half-geek, half-nerd with fangirling tendencies.
Animal lover. Bookworm. Dragon expert.
Drinker of copious amounts of coffee.

Feel free to check out my Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ilmariell/ :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm an introvert and I find it a bit difficult to meet people in traditional ways. I do, however, believe in the power of community and the best friends I've ever made I met through mutual interests and, well, "stuffdoing": TEDx, TED OTP, workshops, online communities etc. I have a curious, creative mind and Couchsurfing sounds like an amazing opportunity to meet like-minded people.

Interests

I’m passionate about fantasy, science fiction, history and popular science, and I’m a great lover of British culture in all its wonderful variety, from Anglo-Saxon poetry through the 1970’s punk rock, through Scottish indie music, to bits of everything that is contemporarily going on there. But most of all, I’m terribly fond of literature and theatre, especially musicals and classic stories adapted for stage. Over the last few years I’ve been involved in the organisation of a number of fan-based theatre projects and events and have written and published a few articles on those subjects. Recently, I've taken to listening to copious amounts of podcasts on all kinds of assorted subjects.

In my everyday life, I am an in-company English teacher for business clients, as well as a part-time translator. I volunteer in the TED Open Translation Project and for a few years I co-organised the work of the local OTP team in Warsaw. In my free time I write fiction, do long walks in the Old Town and listen to music. Once a year you can find me trying to make the most of the ‘Festival of Science’, queuing up on ‘Museum Night’ and writing a novel for NaNoWriMo.

• animals
• cats
• dogs
• culture
• writing
• books
• literature
• theater
• festivals
• podcasts
• music
• indie pop
• teaching
• history
• languages
• science
• volunteering
• solo travel
• travelling
• science fiction
• indie rock
• fantasy
• popular science
• ted
• england
• tedx
• translation
• scotland
• stuffdoing

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Belle and Sebastian, Biffy Clyro, Camera Obscura, Pixies, Joy Division, Teenage Fanclub, Velvet Underground, Radiohead, Aereogramme, Explosions in the Sky, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys (strangely, only the "Going out in style" album), Eluvium, Nirvana, the Clash, Sex Pistols, Idlewild, Kyle Bobby Dunn, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Pink Floyd, the Doors... and counting.
If I listed all, I'd run out of space for anything else. Generally a fan of indie, rock, punk, postrock, classical, ambient and whatnot, and can barely stand a minute of silence.

Books:
I read all the time and across genres, anything that will keep me emotionally or intellectually engaged, but in the greater scope of things I tend to prefer fantasy & sci-fi. Some of my favourite writers include J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Catherynne M. Valente, Susanna Clarke, Niall Griffiths and Ursula K. LeGuin. I LOVE fairytales and folk tales, and as an English literature major (back in my Uni days, that is) I enjoy classics quite a lot. Big fan of Shakespeare, though I much prefer to watch the plays on stage.

Films & TV
I'm a proud Whovian, and that's probably my greatest love of all times. Other favourite shows: Sherlock, Vikings, Avatar - the Last Airbender, Breaking Bad, Fargo, The Killing, House of Cards, The Office (UK version), Haven, Newsroom, Bojack Horseman, Derek, Game of Thrones, The Tenth Kingdom, Robin of Sherwood...
...and then some. I've probably forgotten about something obvious.

I must say I'm hardly ever up to date with the newest cinema releases and however I enjoy movies, my knowledge is full of holes and much more all over the place than I'd like it to be.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm rather proud of my part in organising several translation workshops at TEDxWarsaw events, including the first TED Translate-a-thon in the world.

At the moment, I'm working on my first novel - when that's done, it'll make for a truly amazing accomplishment!

Countries I’ve Visited

Czech Republic, Germany, Gibraltar, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Poland