By day, I'm a student working hard on my PhD. By evening, there are many other things to look forward to for me! I love spending time with friends. Or sometimes just sit by myself by the river and read a book ..... Some more information about me at : www.prasannaramaswamy.com and www.prasannaramaswamy.com/travel/

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

==== UPDATE ====

I'm currently in the process of moving my home. So, I can't host for a while, sorry!

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I generally used to stay in hostels during my trips, and hesitated to couchsurf since I felt guilty that I didn't have a couch to host myself. But after I moved into a place with enough space to host, I decided to take the plunge into Couchsurfing!

Since then hosting people has been a wonderful experience! There is so much to learn through the exchange of culture and ideas. I think hosting people on Couchsurfing and welcoming people from all over the world into your home has about the same benefits as travelling yourself, but with the comfort of staying in your own house!

And when I'm travelling, of course Couchsurfing is an amazing way to really experience the place. I strongly feel that it is the people that make up the place! Though I enjoy sightseeing and taking photos like normal tourists, the best part about travel for me is meeting local people, something that Couchsurfing is really helpful for!

I've had amazing experiences staying with local people during my travels. It's a whole new way of experiencing travel!

Interests

I am quite interested in classical forms of music from around the world. I like to learn (probably more like learn ABOUT) different languages! I go cycling quite regularly for fun and of course, travelling!

• culture
• recipes
• vegetarian
• traveling
• music
• classical music
• cycling
• languages
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

I like listening to and appreciating many kinds of music ranging from Western Classical music, Indian classical music, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Radiohead, Coldplay, traditional music forms of different countries and a lot more!
More than movies, I love to watch documentaries of any kind, be it about history, science, philosophy, psychology or anything else really.
Three books that I recently read really stand out for me - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Alchemist my Paulo Coelho

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm not sure if these are 'amazing', but I'm very happy that I did some of the following:
- Raised around 4500 euros along with a couple of friends, donated and volunteered in Turkey with a few NGOs which were working towards helping the refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Seeing the aurora borealis up in Norway!
- Cycled 100 kms in about 3 hours and a bit to raise funds for a children's charity
- Paragliding in Mallorca, Spain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io7orV8-gXk

Teach, Learn, Share

- I love to learn anything about languages - etymologies of words, phonetics, etc etc.
- I could probably teach something about Indian classical music if you are interested!
- I hail from a community in South India that has been vegetarian for centuries. So, I can also share some delicious South Indian recipes with you!

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Hungary, Iran, Isle of Man, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Germany, India, Ireland, Sweden