Hi! I'm Niels.

I'm 25 years of age. After highschool graduation I traveled through Asia, Europe and New Zealand to find out what to do with my life -will I ever know?

To combat my indecisiveness and try to give context to what’s going on in today’s world I studied visual arts and cinematography for two years but decided to take a break; I walked from Ghent to Santiago de Compostela to give myself time and space to think.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

On Couchsurfing to get to know local people and learn about their life, find accomodation and gain (life)experience during my trips. I also want to counter the trending individualism as well as the ideology of putting people in boxes. I like having conversation and exchanging experiences and thoughts.

Interests

One of the things I really like passing time with is judo. Personally I think it's a great sport -training endurance, strength, condition, technique and respect. You can go all-out in a one to one fight!

I really like to go climbing and bouldering. I attempt at doing downhill mountainbike; recently repaired an old Kona Operator 2012 and got some DH gear to go out and play on the mountains.

Another thing I really like to do on the mountains, apart from climbing and downhilling, is wintersport. I'm a skiing adept and snowboard beginner. Ahh how I love the snow :)

Started skateboarding recently; I can successfully pop an ollie, shuv it, FS180, BS180 and almost kickflip.

Pulling the perfect espresso and making great latte art makes my heart go faster; I work as a barista now and then and dream of having a small machine at home...

Festivals (Couleur Café, Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Cactusfestival, ...) and concerts (Jamie xx, AIR, Kings Of Leon, Angus and Julia Stone, The Prodigy, ...) really are up my alley, but I equally enjoy sharing a beer on the couch...

I’m kind of a gearnerd when it comes to tech, camera’s and lenses. I love searching for the perfect shot or interaction and registering it on analog film.

I'm into gaming consoles and retro games, love to tear open old computer hardware and put it back together, I like being creative with programs like Flash, Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere.

• photography
• film making
• concerts
• festivals
• coffee
• sauna
• traveling
• drawing
• alpinism
• hiking
• skiing
• snowboarding
• sports
• rock climbing
• philosophy
• tea
• geeky stuff

Music, Movies, and Books

I like a wide variety of music; from (good) d'n'b, rap, hip-hop, dub, raggae to dance, (stoner)rock, pop, even goa or techno...

(some artists and groups I like: Jon Hopkins, Guts, Daft Punk, Massive Attack, Childish Gambino, Chilly Gonzales, Keith Jarrett, Madeleine Peyroux, Jungle, Jurassic 5, Agnes Obel, xx, Warhaus, Perfume Genius, The Game, Fugees, The Antlers, Beastie Boys, Guns n Roses, Cypress Hill, The Black Angels, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Angus and Julia Stone, Ben Howard, Eels, Dez Mona, ‘t Hof Van Commerce, Jack Johnson, Soulwax, Trentemoller, 2manydj’s, SOHN, Snoop Dogg, NAS, Placebo, Romeo Elvis, Zwangere Guy, Le 77, Stikstof, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Nirvana, Pixies, Neil Young, Nora Jones, Khruangbin, Tinariwen, Jamie Woon, Eminem, Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, The Black Keys, Eefje de Visser, Gift of Gab, Green Day, Amelie Lens, Charlotte De Witte and many, many more...)

I can appreciate nice jazz music and classical symphonies as well. (Attended Mahler 8 performed by the Rotterdam philharmonic orchestra in Bozar Brussels.)

Big fan of arthouse, cult, documentary (and -guilty pleasure- Tarantino movies, with Pulp Fiction being my all time favorite)

I’ve read quite the amount of books :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Jumped down into a seemingly infinite crevice on a glacier to let my teammates get to learn the 'mannschaft'-method to pull someone out in case of emergency during ice climbing in Switzerland.

Jumped down a 134m freefall bungy in New Zealand.

Hiked through the Balkan alps, 20km per day, 2000m of elevation per day (doing one summit daily) with 20kg on the back.

Solo travelled New Zealand and Asia for six months.

Walked 2400km from Ghent to Santiago de Compostela; finishing in Muxía. A 20kg backpack, walking for 94 days straight, with very little budget.

Trekked through the Rajasthani deserts in India with scorching temperatures that reached 49°C.

Reached Annapurna Base Camp in the Nepali Himalayans during rainy season. Lots of rain and high humidity in the valley, and snowy coldness at 4000m.

Worked in a two Michelin star restaurant. 15 hrs/day.

Deleted all conventional social media. You won’t find me on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder or LinkedIn.

Met amazing people all around the globe :)

I hope to encounter many amazing things on my journey, which I will be able to post on here.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm a little young to teach you something you don't already know, but I'm eager to learn new stuff.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My interest in your life, your hometown, my company, ... We can cook up a great meal together; sharing food is one of the best things there is. We can discuss anything and everyting. I'm open towards everyone's opinion and will respect what you think.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium