Hello Couchsurfers, my name is Natalie. I am a 27 year old student and freelance writer from Austria. I’m living in a big shared house in Innsbruck, together with some wonderful people from different parts of the world. I try to spend a lot of time in nature – camping, hiking, skiing – but I also love visiting cultural events like concerts, readings or exhibitions. Learning and experiencing new things is really important to me, which is also why I love traveling. I always find myself in a very introspective space while I’m traveling for a longer period of time – a state, that I’ve kind of gotten addicted to a bit.

Apart from that, I work as a freelance writer and I’m doing a Masters degree in comparative literature. So I read a lot, love good movies and art exhibitions and I’m generally someone who’s interested in a lot of different topics.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am on Couchsurfing because I think traveling is mostly about the people you meet on your journey. If you meet locals that can show you their way of living, travelling becomes a whole new thing and I’ve made the best experiences on Couchsurfing so far. I’ve met extremely interesting personalities and I’ve met some people on here, that belong to my closest friends today – which is crazy and amazing and I’m hoping to find more lovely human beings like that on this platform.

Interests

I enjoy so many things – a lot of them I have already mentioned above. Some other interests are listed below. With getting older, I find myself in more need of calmness. I’ve gotten into meditation and Yoga a while ago, mostly because I can see how beneficial practices like that are for both my body and mind.

I still like to go on raves or hang out in bars, but for sure I’m not doing things like that as much as I used to 😋. And I still love to travel, talk to people and share life experiences. But I think what has changed a lot for me here, is the fact that I’ve changed my perspective on traveling and consuming another country or culture in general. I’ve always been critical about the image of traveling, the involved promotion of this type of lifestyle on social media and the lack of authenticity that comes with it.

So I think it’s important to reflect on your personal intentions and drives. We are all trying to reach a goal in life and reality is like a prism. We are constantly confronted with fragments of perspective, that welcome us to explore them, as long as we keep an open mind.

• animals
• arts
• culture
• literature
• design
• photography
• music festivals
• cooking
• pottery
• hiking
• camping
• skiing
• history
• languages
• philosophy
• travelling
• film photography
• meeting people
• film
• ramen
• unicycle
• dada

Music, Movies, and Books

60s, 70s, Psy Trance, Tribal, Techno, Indie ....everything that sounds funky. Not really picky with the genre really. Sometimes also New Metal or Punk Rock 🤷🏽‍♀️ I love it when people show me their favorite bands from their country - artists that you wouldn’t discover otherwise.

As a literature student I find myself fascinated by every good book no matter what topic, but mostly I’m drawn to contemporary literature, works of Modernism or Postmodernism. Beat- and Lost Generation literature is something, that I always enjoy. Also fragmentation and the paradox are my cup of tea. Genre wise I love Coming of Age, but I also dig SciFi and Fantasy.
Some of my recent and all time favorites: Expectations, Luster, The Catcher in the Rye, The 100-Year-Old-Man who climbed out the window and disappeared, The Sun also Rises, Dicht, literally every Terry Pratchett book

Same for movies but I still need to build up my expertise I guess. I also like Animations. Some movies that I really loved: Shoplifters, The Darjeeling Limited, Invisible Life, Nymphomaniac, The Breadwinner, Annihilation, Parasite, La Buena Vida, Everything Everywhere All AT Once
Show me a movie from your country 💃🏻

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Seeing the sunrise over the ancient temples in Hampi, India; meeting the most amazing people during a semester abroad in Korea who helped me broaden my horizon in the shortest amount of time; driving through the surreal landscape of the Atacama Desert, meeting one of my best friends today through Couchsurfing, hiking on old Inca trails in Ecuador, doing a 4 day hiking tour through the Amazon jungle and seeing trees that glow in the dark (it was absolutely insane 🤯)

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to exchange ideas and knowledge. I’m especially fascinated with language and how it shapes our perception of the world. So I’m always interested in teaching German or English and learn about other languages in exchange.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Unfortunately I cannot offer a private room, visitors can stay in the Loggia ( a little area in the hallway) with a privacy curtain though, which is also not bad I guess 😋 We also have two couches in the living room and a big garden.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Chile, South Korea