CURRENT MISSION

Seeing the world as a lifelong lifestyle integrated with my studies and career.

ABOUT ME

I'm quite young (but mature :) ) for my age. I'm a university student and as an adult I've mostly been in university and living and travelling overseas (or doing both) so I'm used to being with younger people. But I get along with most kinds of "positive" people.

I'm friendly, a "people person", sensitive, creative, well travelled and adventurous. I started travelling as a baby, and I've been living abroad the last few years in cultures very different from my own, mostly for furthering my university studies. Although friendly, I am also somewhat shy and serious minded. I love to travel in order to learn about the cultures I am visiting, and it helps me to better understand the international situation.

PHILOSOPHY

"When the winds of change blow, some build walls, others build windmills."

And, there is a paraphrase of Immanuel Kant's Golden Rule which might read, "Treat all people, either yourself or others, as an end and never merely as a means", which is a good ideal to aim towards since I feel that our society, particularly in the West, has lost sight of such values.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a global citizen and a people person who likes community living and has lived in and travelled overland through many countries, and loves cultural exchange.

I've begun actual CS hosting and I like it. Before that, I'd meet people or give advice.

However, before getting into CS, I hosted people in my home whom I had met while travelling. For example, I hosted a German girl I met when travelling in Germany when she later visited my country, even though I was living then in the university residence, and I also hosted an Australian girl I met when we were both travelling and she later visited me. When I've travelled, local friends I've made have also hosted me in their homes. This happened for example in Mexico, China, southeast Asia and the Middle East.

I grew up as a global traveller, so I was having this experience long before I learned about the Couchsurfing site. For instance, Mum and I were hosted by local people when travelling when I was growing up. And some people who hosted us were people Mum had made friends when travelling before I was born, and they remained her friends and then hosted us both.

However, CS is NOT a dating site, and I will not respect anyone who tries to use it for this purpose. So please do NOT try it with me.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Although I've done a lot of spontaneous hosting, I've just started to host a few people through CS, and I've really enjoyed hosting. I'm a people person and am used to living in communities, and travelling extensively, so it's fun to have people stay in my home as well.

I have hosted people in the past whom I met when travelling, and have sometimes been invited to the homes of local people as well, in a spontaneous way, before I got into using CS; I've had this experience since childhood when travelling with my family. But I first learned about CS from other travellers while living in Asia.

Interests

Travel, reading, writing, hiking, cycling, ancient history. I am presently writing a book and screenplay which is one reason I've been recently living in certain regions of the world.

• writing
• books
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• cycling
• hiking
• history
• study abroad

Music, Movies, and Books

I like books by Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden and Nelson DeMille. Tony Barrett (my former professor) including his "Caligula: The Corruption of Power". I like both classical and cultural music (Chinese, Arabic, Thai and Iranian pop, for instance) and rock and heavy metal.

I read extensively, I love music and am musical myself, and I am also quite interested in film. I've sung lead in small bands that I organized myself.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Being stranded at an oil rig in the Arabian desert when the bus caught on fire. Having the Arabian desert hotel site in which I was a manager being overrun by scorpions and then also by snakes following a flood. Overland travel between Thailand, via China and through Central Asia to the Middle East and then on to the UK via continental Europe

Teach, Learn, Share

So many things which Ive learned from extensive travel and university studies, reading, and mixing with people, that Id love to share. I can certainly give advice on how to travel overland between various countries and continents, particularly in the Old World continent complex, how to travel low budget, how to work and study abroad in various locations, and other travel advice.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'd be happy to share with them some of my travel adventure stories. I love to talk about different ideas, cultures and philosophies.

I am starting to host a little after a big experience and am enjoying it so I'd love to do it a little before I go back to Europe for medical studies.

If the reference FROM HANZ is misunderstood, PLEASE REFER TO MY COUNTER-REFERENCE ON HANZ'S PROFILE WHICH I WROTE EVEN BEFORE BEING ABLE TO READ HIS OWN REFERENCE. I recently had a bad experience with this abusive host, Hanz, who made me feel unsafe and threatened assault; according to his son, the man had also abused his mother all of the son's life.

Countries I’ve Visited

American Samoa, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guam, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Norway, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Samoa, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Canada, China, England, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Oman, Scotland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates