CURRENT MISSION

Trying to be a better person, to improve my personality, day by day.

ABOUT ME

I did my MA degree in history at the University of Warsaw (2011) and started to work as a school teacher. In 2015 I got the job as an academic teacher and researcher in Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, where I work until recently. I'm also teaching history in Secondary School as a half-time job. I've finished my Ph.D in 2018, it was about the development of sporting facilities in the interwar Warsaw. Jobs and researching are quite absorbing, so unfortunately I have much less time to develop my personality, take new skills and spend time on hobbys as it was during regular student's time.
In my private life I'm a proud husband of Olga and a father of 3 wonderful children - daughter Anastazja who was born in 2014 and sons Stefan (born 2016) and Konstanty (born 2018).
In the past I used to practice middle and long distance running. Till today I'm associated in Academic Sports Association of the University of Warsaw. I wasn't very good, but managed to gain some little success in sport. For example I'm former team academical vice-champion of Poland in cross-country running (2009). My PB's(if it mean sth to you) are f.ex 9:58 on 3km 17:21 on 5km or 36:59 on 10km. I'm still not completely out of sport, but recently I'm doing it more for health and joy, not for competition.
For several years (2003-2010) I was also football referee, refereing in local leagues of Warsaw and surrounding area.
In April 2011 I did professional travel guide course for the city of Warsaw. I practice guiding not very often, but did already few dozens of trips with tourists. I could offer professional guiding for free to all CS'ers.

PHILOSOPHY

It's never so bad, that it couldn't be worse.
It's never so good, that it couldn't be better.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I mainly travel using CS. It is for me a good posibility not only to save some money (but of course it's one of the reasons) but also to meet people, who are able to tell me a lot of their country and everyday life in it - something that is usually hidden for ordinary tourists.
I was more active CS between 2010-2013. Now, due to duties and necessities in both professional and private life, I have little time to participate both as a host and guest. I was actually not active for almost a decade until 2021, when I surfed while travelling for sport history congresses in Lausanne and Lisbon. Moreover, since I live with wife and children with relatively small, 3-room flat, it is not easy for me to host people.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My first experience with CS was in February 2010, when I spent 10 days travelling with my High School friend Paweł, who introduced me to the project, in Spain and Portugal. It was really nice experience. Since that time I made another CS journeys: to Baltic countries, Greece, Italy, Balkan countries, and a lot of CS weekends in Poland (Lublin, Poznan, Bieszczady, Podlasie, Torun, Karkonosze), and also hosted some people. In 2021 I renew the experience with traveling to Lausanne (Switzerland) and Lisbon. My experience is so far almost only positive.

visited 30 states (13.3%)

Interests

History of sport, history of interwar period, history of Warsaw. Athletics training. Reading books (as many as possible:) Travelling, visiting new countries, meeting new cultures.

I was travelling through my homeland since early childhood. Till today I visited every region and voivodeship in Poland as well as all large cities in the country, but I still manage to find amazing places in here. Poland is in my opinion one of the most beatiful as well as one of the most unappreciated countries in Europe. You can find here everything - 500km of the seacoast, hundreds of kilometres of routes in the mountains, many forests (one of the largest, called Puszcza Kampinoska National Park, neighbours directly to Warsaw, while the other - Puszcza Bialowieska NP - is probably the wildest forest in Central Europe), lakes (Great Mazurian Lakes), world heritage (Teutonic castles, gothic cathedrals, many fortresses from XIX century - total of 17 UNESCO sites ), and last but not least some large cities, full of life, with a real urban flair - capital Warsaw, medieval Krakow, harbour Gdansk, quickly developing Wroclaw, birthplace of Poland - Poznan, industrial Lodz, gothic Torun and some more. I already visited all those places and recommend it to everyone. Come and visit Poland by CS - it's worth it!

• books
• marathon
• running
• walking
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• hiking
• sports
• soccer
• teaching
• history
• tourism
• lakes
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: All of Ryszard Kapuscinski (famous in the whole world for his reportages, from all over the world, mainly from Africa), Jan Parandowski (novels inspired by ancient Greek culture), Leopold Tyrmand, Arkady Fiedler (travelling books from interwar period), Stanislaw Grzesiuk. In highschool I really enjoyed Lalka, Wesele, Ziemia Obiecana, Inny Swiat, and from the foreign literature f.ex Crime and the Punishment (Dostoyevsky), Plaque (Camus), Trial (Kafka), Master and Margareth (Bulhakov) and others. I also like all kinds of travel and historical books (if you like to know more about Polish history, I could reccommend Norman Davies books - Gods Playground, White Eagle-Red Star or Uprising 44).
Movies: old polish comedies such as Mis, Seksmisja, Sami swoi. I also like Forrest Gump and Deer Hunter.
Music: all kinds, depends on my humour.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of the most unusual things I did in my life was to travel the whole night by a train from Warsaw to Zakopane in Tatra Mountains (~400km), than in only 9 hours climb the highest peak of Poland (Rysy, 2499m.), partly running, partly hiking, went down and came back to Warsaw with another night train. (In the next day morning I took part in a small cross country running relay competition near Warsaw, which I won together with my friends). It was August 2011.

I'm also proud that I walked the whole red mark (the longest walking path) of Puszcza Kampinoska National Park (~56km) during one day. It was also summer 2011.

I was one of the 65 thousands spectators during Euro 2012 final in Kiev. For me, a person really keen on sports - it was marvellous. I also saw a semifinal game between Germany and Italy at National Stadium in Warsaw. Taking part in that events, I made one of my childhood dreams come true.

Teach, Learn, Share

If you're CS'er dedicated to middle or long distance running, I can show you a lot of different running routes in Warsaw (some very beatiful in the green, some highly interesting nearby city centre, also on the Vistula River bouvelards) on which I used to practice. I'll be glad to run with you.
Since April 2011 I'm a professional travel guide in Warsaw. If I have some time, I could show you a city like a pro.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Everytime I go abroad I try to take some piece of typical Polish sweets and a souvenir from Warsaw for my host. It is always a good opportunity to speak a little bit about my city and usually makes the hosts smiling. Such minor things are important to make our lifes a little bit better.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Poland

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