ABOUT ME

I work a lot but happily I like what I am doing. I would like to travel back to India in the future and perhaps this time together with Nepal. I like doing somewhat 'sociological' trips around the world to see the different dynamics of power relations and different forms of knowledge (On that note, I want to go to South America desperately!). If that sounds very serious: I also like just having local food and having conversations with the locals or other travellers!

PHILOSOPHY

"Writing and music can be war machines" Deleuze & Guattari

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far so good, even though I am not very active.

Interests

travelling, sociology, philosophy, music, swimming, reading, writing, cinema, art, theory, praxis, politics.

• arts
• writing
• dining
• shopping
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• swimming
• sociology

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies (Directors): Tony Gatlif, Michael Haneke, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Woody Allen, Jim Jarmusch, Deepa Mehta, Stanley Kubrick, among many others. I love movies containing some sort of sarcastic humour but they are hard to find!

Some TV series are also good, such as Madmen and Game of Thrones!

Books: Zorba by Nikos Kazantsakis, Milan Kundera (all of his books, I am indebted to him), Ihsan Oktay Anar. I used to read more literature in the past. Now I read mostly work-related (sociological/philosophical) books. But I always make exceptions. I particularly like world literature containing certain form of sociological/philosophical depth (hmm such as Arundhati Roy or Amin Maalouf), existentialism or postmodernism inspired novels (from Sartre to Kundera to many others) and travel diaries (I recently read Borderlands by Derek Lundy).

Some bands/musicians I like: Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Morphine, Dead Can Dance, Air, Beirut, Kings of Convenience, Bonobo, Royksopp, Goran Bregovic, Azam Ali and of course traditional & modern Turkish Music (the best!). During travel, I am still somewhat inspired by the 70s travel-mood music, such as CCR and of course by gypsy music:) Something more contemporary? Hmm Beach House is a good band for instance.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I would say Varanasi (Benares) and Reykjavik were the most amazing places I have ever been.

In the past I was doing more structured travels (e.g. going to museums and such) but now I also find seemingly mundane events as the best moments of travel experience. Things like having a snack of Souvlaki in a small shop in Greece and hanging out with the locals.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Turkey

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