UPD: left Moscow due to risks of political persecution. My country is gone now.

Living in Moscow since I was born, I'm a third-year in Higher School of Economics (though currently I'm studying in University of Edinburgh on academic mobility), learning Political Science. I can talk politics, football, history, cinema, urbanism, coffee, IT, social media, design, journalism and some others. I've got band 8 in IELTS exam and could be a nice company; good language on its own makes things a lot easier.

I'd love to experience new with a touch of a local. Never staying in hotels on a trip, I'm still new to Couchsurfing and thirsty for fresh memories. I'm more into people who can walk with me around their cities rather than getting the accommodation aspect.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

There is nothing more valuable than a local experience. I've got a friend who lived in Paris for three months and never saw the Eiffel Tower: living, visiting coffee shops, getting groceries of his choice and fresh bread from the same man every single morning. I admire this.

I want to use my own keys in a common building with ordinary people living around me. Hotels are all the same across the Earth so I don't see the point of using them. I want to know something guidebooks can't tell about; people are the most precious thing on any trip.

Interests

• culture
• coffee
• politics
• technology
• classical music
• history
• journalism
• sociology
• cinema
• football
• urbanism
• mobile photography
• memory

Music, Movies, and Books

I've watched more than 500 movies, though I'm a fan of two movies mostly: Inglorious Basterds (beautiful in every single technical way) and American Beauty (can't explain, just watch it). To name a few more: Argo, Her, Atonement, Se7en, 12 Angry Man, Whiplash, The Departed, The Social Network, Match Point.

Speaking of TV shows, I adore House of Cards, Top Gear and The Grand Tour, The Newsroom, Fargo, The Crown, Peaky Blinders, Gravity Falls, Black Mirror, Game of Thrones (except last two seasons) and Sherlock.

I'm melomaniac, over 2k tracks on Spotify, but mostly love classical music (Beethoven 7th Symphony is my all-time favorite) and a variety of artists: Lorde; Taylor Swift; Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; Sinatra, The Beatles, Queen and a lot of 60's-70's stuff; a lot of movies' music like Ramin Djawadi and Hans Zimmer. This list isn't representative by any means, I'm more of a songs guy than an artist one.

Talking books, classic Russian literature is surely on the list (above all Lermontov, Chekhov, and Turgenev) along with a number of English-speaking writers, first of all, Austen and Hemingway. Could try to talk about something more recent, but it, of course, depends. Ah, there's more: I did read and do know a lot about Plato, Machiavelli, Tocqueville, J.S. Mill, Skinner and others (the list is long) due to my current occupation.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Writing an essay on a monumental academic masterpiece, I contacted the author (well-known American political scientist, was already retired at the time) and asked a few questions on the text. He answered late at night (while I was finishing my essay) and I quoted him with a reference to 'a private talk', which was an homage to my professor's work – the one who'd mark the essay. Professor met and talked to Robert Dahl (political science's Aristotle of 20th century) and referenced him that way in his later works.

I smile every time I remind myself of that story. Not much and may sound boring, but I'm here to replace the paragraph above.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I suppose I can talk about a variety of things. First of all, 'cinema' isn't just everyone's crash I attribute myself to. I can advise you a movie from the current box-office, citing Metacritic score and even some GG and Academy Awards predictions by the experts. Also, football is a strong passion of mine, especially the English Premier League, and I'm a big fan of Arsenal F.C. Urbanism is something I can talk about too; the way people think of themselves in a city, how they commute, rest and why it matters seems important for me.

IT means a lot, too. I'm not exactly a programmer, but I do know the cap of the Four of the Silicon Valley, with a probability of 80% can lead you through your phone's specs while also discuss IoT nowadays as an owner of Google Home. I could call myself a geek, yeah.

From the Information Age to the media. I was going to be a journalist and get the corresponding education, but fate thought another way. Nevertheless, I plan to get a job in the sphere at some point in the future, and for sure I could talk about Facebook Articles' pressure on journalism, trends of long reads, new media formats, the crisis of social media and journalistic ethics.

I'm a native Moscovite and I love my hometown. I know the downtown pretty much perfectly while also capable of leading visitors through less known (but charming) places here. Moscow inhabited a lot of flair from different epochs, and its eclectics is the subject of my admiration.

History is my favorite discipline since high school, now I focus mostly on La Belle Epoque, World War I, the Age of Empires (Hobsbaum's), Germany in the 20th century and Russian Empire in particular. My interest in collective memory and cultural trauma derives from these passions, and my thesis as a second-year was about the Politics of Memory.

And, of course, politics. Every discussion on this matter can eventually find itself on the edge of getting hot, but I'd rather smile and say 'let's get some tea' than try to prove my point. HSE is in top-100 in Political Science, so I suppose I could handle myself while delivering some minor, but nevertheless expertise.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Georgia, Russian Federation, Turkey, United Kingdom