CURRENT MISSION

Having a full, adventurous & spontaneous life.

ABOUT ME

Hello!

My name is Nathan and I moved to Amsterdam in 2009. This has been my base for a long time although the past years I mostly lived in Tanzania, where I worked as a medical doctor in a rural hospital. This has been the most fulfilling, rich experience I have ever had. I learned Swahili and discovered Tanzanian culture.

During several internships in Africa during my medical studies I discovered a passion for this continent and its people. This is one of the reasons why I chose to do a specialisation in tropical medicine and global health.

PHILOSOPHY

It has been proven that I am very bad at predicting what I will be doing in about one years time, therefore I am not planning any further than that :).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfing and hosting

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed in France, California, Istanbul, Italy and Israel. Met great people, made greater friends and created the best memories.

Hosted several times in my apartment in Amsterdam. When i have time i host.

Interests

Reading - classics and history books
Traveling - primitively or luxuriously, the latter if my parents are around
Running - on flat surfaces only (luckily i live in Holland)
Cooking - making the perfect pizza
Climbing/bouldering - my newest addiction

• books
• cooking
• coffee
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• walking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• swimming
• history
• climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

I probably wrote the text below about 10 years ago, a look into the mind of my younger self;)

Just finished reading Madame Bovary(helas i didn't read it in french but one day maybe..) and it was amazing. Lolita from Nabokov is awesome, I like all Murakami books and Eric Emmanuel-Schmitt is one of my favorite writers too. And every now and then i read i history book. Just finished Balkan Ghosts by Robert D. Kaplan - some preparation for my Balkan trip this summer. I also really enjoy a great deal of dutch books, but i won't put them here because i have a feeling you wouldn't know them..

When people ask me: what is your favorite movie? I always tell them i don't have one because i can't choose. but one that probably is among my favorites: Into the Wild. Simply amazing. Others I absolutely loved: Jagten, Beginners, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Submarine, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, all Tarantino movies(favorite: Deathproof), Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Vertigo, The Pianist, El laberinto del fauno, Motorcycle Diaries and many others.

I love almost all sorts of music, rock, jazz, blues, indie, electro, techno, french cafe, classic, hiphop, R&B.. Though i probably listen to indie-rock the most. Some bands i really like are: Foster the people, the Naked and Famous, Django Django, Alt-J, Darwin Deez, Phoenix, Whitest Boy Alive, Kings of Convenience, Alabama Shakes, Miguel, Miike Snow, James Yuill, Electric Guest, The Black Keys, Bob Dylan, Azari & III, Kanye West, M83 and Alunageorge.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hitchhiked to San Diego from San Francisco and didn't wait more than 30 minutes for a ride.
Smoked grass with a Hawaiian grower in California.
Slept in the laundry room of Santa Cruz' University Campus.
Shared a sleeping bag with my brother in the Big Sur while freezing my ass off.
Boathitched/hitchsailed on a Portugese yacht from Split to Hvar.
Fled from an apartment in Istanbul at 6.00 a.m.
Picked lavender with a Bulgarian Monk.
Drank a lot of Rakija with a Serbian farmer in his house.
Drove from Amsterdam to Abidjan in an old Land Cruiser.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach you about the difference between the Netherlands and Holland

What I Can Share with Hosts

A Dutch meal (or the best, easiest Indian Dhal)
A yoga lesson
Conversations about anything!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Côte d'Ivoire, England, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Lesotho, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Western Sahara

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Kenya, Netherlands, South Africa, Tanzania