My mission: Try to do something for the first time every single day for a year! I'm blogging about this personal experiment on my website: www.afirstaday.com.

I'm an adventurous, open-minded and fun-loving Dutch journalist. I like meeting new people and learning about different cultures. I love to go out and drink a beer, or stay in and drink a beer. Or drink tea, coffee or anything really. I'm an honest and straight forward person, but very adaptable when it comes to people and situations.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm still a bit new to the site and figuring things out, but I'm really looking forward to meeting new people through Couchsurfing!

Interests

• arts
• literature
• beer
• coffee
• drinking
• philosophy
• food
• sushi
• deep conversations
• puppies
• expressionism

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, Japan. Thousands of red gates, along a path on a forested mountain. It is definitely the most breathtaking walk I've ever experienced. Overall Kyoto is an amazing city to visit. There are so many beautiful shrines and traditional buildings, yet the city also offers a modern centre to go out or go shopping.

Sziget 2011 in Budapest, Hungary. Sziget is the most awesome music festival I ever attended. Not only the festival itself, but also the road trip to get there was so much fun. My friends and I had a lot of bad luck along the way (beer cans falling on toes, humongous spiders, bloodthirsty mosquitos and leeking tents) but we never stopped smiling.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you some Dutch, if you're into learning a rather useless language, or Japanese! I can also teach you some of my favourite recipes, like banana pancakes or asparagus tart!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm not a bad cook, if I may say so myself. And I love to cook for other people. I love to have deep conversations about life/philosophy, and exchange cultural experiences.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ireland, Japan, Netherlands