Hi you!
I'm Melissa, 26 years old and a soul of the world. Life has now brought me to Aarau, Switzerland, where I'll be living for the next chapter of my journey.
It is my mission in life to help fight inequity in Healthcare around the world. I want to get involved in global health and hopefully work for doctors without borders one day.

Always excited to meet new people, learn new languages, get to know new cultures and make new memories.
I love volunteering and dedicating my time to help others.
Pansexual 🏳️‍🌈 Feminist 🙆🏻‍♀️ Environmentalist 🌳 Vegan (well, veggie when traveling hehe) 🌱
-- Couchsurfing is not a dating platform 🙃 ---

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Getting to really know a country won't work if you won't get to know the people who live there! When I was younger and still traveling with my parents, we used to stay in hotels a lot. Now I can barely remember anything about the places we visited. People are as much part of a new country and culture as anything you look at while you do sightseeing.
Traveling is not only taking something with you when you leave, but also bringing things to wherever you are in the world. Intercultural exchange is super important, and a beautiful thing we should all try to achieve where ever we go!

Interests

The environment is a main concern. I am trying to take more care in how and where I travel whenever possible. Working hard on reducing waste and buying and cooking seasonally.

I love to write, poetry, short stories, poetry slams. If you're up for a writing session or wanna go to an event, I'm your girl!

Cooking all kinds of different cuisines is a lot of fun! Especially learning from natives - priceless! But wherever we might meet, I'll definitely offer to cook for you.

Getting myself involved in volleyball again, my youth passion. So if you're up for a session, I'm not gonna say no!

Even though I would not consider myself to be a political person, I have strong opinions about feminism, the queer community, migration and the environment. More specifically, if you have selfish, narrow-minded, homophobic or racists views, we will definitely not get along well. Basic mutual respect, the room for freedom, invidividuality and safety are my main principles and if you do not share them, it's a problem. We can discuss things calmly in a constructive way, but be aware that I am born to immigrant parents and a queer woman, who is dedicating her life to making the world a better place.

• environment
• vegan
• yoga
• zumba
• board games
• reading
• traveling
• volleyball
• medicine
• neuroscience
• volunteering
• people
• health
• feminism
• learning
• creative writing
• keyboard
• cooking and eating
• stitching

Music, Movies, and Books

Loving jazz but you always have to mix it up a bit. My taste varies from classical music over decades like 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s (big Queen and Beatles fan!) and Latin music back to mild German rap/hip-hop.

Huge Harry Potter Fan, whether it's books or movies. You have to be proud of your house, so slytherin pride! I'm just saying, they're not all evil people. Except for J. K. Rowling unfortunately...

I really enjoyed Stephen King, Yuval Noah Harari, Sherlock Holmes, Call me by your name and now more recently serious grown up books. Three women, lessons in chemistry, a lot of american classics, Olga Tokarczuk's writing, and historical novels. Oliver Sacks has fascinated me with his writings in neuroscience, only for the nerds out there, though!

I have to confess that I am a TV show junkie. A few of my favorite ones: Hannibal, Brooklyn 99, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Elite, American Horror Story, Babylon Berlin, Doctor Who, Heartstopper and way too many more!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sleeping in the Rajasthani desert on a camel tour ❄️

I've seen 12 rainbows in just a couple hours on a road trip to the Northern Irish coast 🌈

Fulfilled my dream of going skydiving at 18 🪂 and don't ever wanna do it again!

Slept at Kolkata train station on a piece of newspaper for a night 📰

Teach, Learn, Share

Learning everything there is to know! Usually, I always take cooking classes everywhere I go, because it's the easiest way to engage with locals and take something home with me afterwards. I'll gladly share all I have learned so far with you as well!

I am glad to teach anything I know! Some German maybe? Travel stories, useless life advice, free unsolicited medical advice?
Since I don't have siblings, my mom always taught me to share with everybody else. Meaning I'll share as much as possible with you!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Hopefully (!) a positive, bright experience with an optimistic spirit of the world. I usually get along with all sorts of people, so I will try to charm you with my subtle sense of humor and cook for you.
If we had a glass of wine I might even be able to engage into discussions about politics.
We'll share couchsurfing experiences, laugh together, teach and learn from each other! Cannot wait to meet you ✨

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, India, Poland, Switzerland, United States