I am a 19 year old gap year student from the UK who loves to travel and learn languages. I am a native English speaker and I am also working on my English teaching qualification. I am working towards Japanese JLPT N3 level but have knowledge of other languages too.

I am beginning my degree in Data Science at the London School of Economics this September. Other than computing and maths I have many other hobbies. I play guitar, love to read and write and educate myself on a variety of topics. I love to learn and I am adaptable. I am also active and have played many sports throughout my life.

Another thing to add is that I am multiracial with a diverse background, although I live in the UK, I am a quarter British, quarter Danish and half central asian (mostly Afghanistan) with some small parts German, South Asian (Indian and Pakistani) and West Asian (mostly Iran). I have been to Denmark and Germany multiple times.

Instagram is maryserajx if you want to discuss life in UK/Europe or talk about travel. I don’t always see messages here.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love to meet new people and experience authentic culture. I would love to meet interesting people who can teach me something about themselves or about their interests - I love cultural, language or hobby exchange. I can talk about any topic as I love to hear other people’s perspective on things.

I am also willing to help out / do work for my hosts as they would be helping me out greatly. And I love to help people.

Interests

• writing
• running
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• sports
• computer science
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Pop/RnB/Hip hop/Alternative - I like artists like Kendrick Lamar, Sza, The Weeknd, PinkPantheress. Sometimes I listen to older music like from the Beatles and 80-90s music etc.

Movies - I like any kind of movie but particularly Sci-fi, thriller or just any movie with an interesting storyline.

Books - I like to read both fiction and non fiction. For fiction I read lots of different things, an author I really like is Stephen King. I also like to read literature (I have done so in English, Spanish and French). For non fiction I mostly read books about maths, computing and science but things like history, geography or psychology (anything really) also interest me.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In summer of 2022 I volunteered in Costa Rica for two weeks and it was an amazing experience. I was fully embedded in a different culture and had a chance to practise my Spanish whilst helping the local village community. It was an unforgettable experience in a beautiful country and further spurred my love for travelling.

Teach, Learn, Share

As stated above I am a native English speaker working on an English teaching qualification (TEFL). I am willing to teach if the host wants. I could also teach some Spanish. I would love to be able to practise Japanese in exchange, but this is not necessary.

I can also teach something about computing/maths/physics related subjects as this is what I studied in my final years of secondary school.
But as I said before I am happy to discuss anything.

I have also been to a lot of countries for my age (It is quite easy to travel around Europe) so I can talk about this and give travel advice for Europe and places I would recommend etc. Willing to share and exchange experiences :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share my language, teach about life in the UK, I was born in Manchester, moved down near London as a toddler and have been to many UK cities. I travel into London a lot so I can give travel/culture tips for not just UK in general but London especially, which is also where I will be moving to in the Autumn.

I can also give help on anything tech related, I also have experience tutoring and leading, as well as gardening experience through volunteering for a mental health charity for years where we maintained a huge gardening site and nature reserve.

I am willing to talk about my travel experiences, what I study, languages, culture, anything that may be of interest to the host. I am dynamic, polite and mature and an open-minded person.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United Kingdom