CURRENT MISSION

Try before you die

ABOUT ME

Welcome to this profile and maybe soon welcome to Holland :)I am Rianne and born and raised in the northern part of the Netherlands. These days I live in Groningen, which is probably not the most highlighted city in your guide book, but definitely worth visiting. I started to travel after my first year of studies when I went to Romania to do voluntary work in an orphanage. Travelling all by yourself, having kids around you cheering and clapping when you arrive, exploring a brandnew area, meeting new people. At this moment I decided that this was only the beginning of exploring this beautiful planet :)I got involved in an international medical students organisation, which allowed me to attend lots of meetings all around the world. After getting my Bachelor diplom I spent 1,5 years on extra curricular activities to broaden my horizon and develop myself in other fields than "just medicine". Loved that time, probably the best of my life! It brought me to many places worldwide. So many inspiring people met, so many beautifull places visited. For my studies I went to Malawi for a clinical internship and travelled afterwards through this amazing county that deserved the title "warm heart of Africa" without any doubt. After my graduation I did a 3 month trip to enjoy my last (temporary) moments of freedom before the real life with a job would begin.

Step by step my bucket list of must-see and must-do gets more complete, although I wonder if I can ever see and do it all. It seems the end is nowhere ;) The results of these travels? I try to implement the best of each culture in my personal life...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well... obviousy offering a couch and using yours every once in a while. Showing you around, have a drink, discuss our liberal policy, share cultural experience. You get the point...

Interests

reading, cooking, cycling, walking, talking, dancing, decorating, writing and many more things

• culture
• writing
• books
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• walking
• drinking
• boating
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• medicine
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

My taste in music is extremely broad. It goes from hardrock to classical, from pop to reaggea and from merengue to folk music. I like movies with a weird twist, or movies that somehow make me appreciate life so much more. Some of my favorites: Intouchable, Into the Wild, Donnie Darko, Memento, Seven, Fight Club, Constant Gardener, Hotel Rwanda, Shawshank redemption, Little Miss Sunshine, Amelie and La vita e bella. But also nonsense like South Park is cool :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of my warmest memories of my travels started in Malawi. We wanted to visit a super cute small village along Lake Malawi, which was only accessible by a boat trip that took 10 (TEN!!) hours in a small boat from wood filled with constructing materials, food and chicken all over the place. During these 10 hours, we were stared upon persistently by a young girl about 6 years old. When we finally arrived, her aunt dared to speak some words to us and told us the girl wanted to be our friend and she left us the address of her primary school.

Before we left the place after some days, we asked one of the local guys if he could bring a postcard of our home town Groningen (I always carry these with me while travelling)to the school where this girl was going. We wrote down she was a cute girl and should work hard in school and be good for her family. We left our address back home... just in case...

After 3 months when we got back from Africa, we got a letter. From MALAWI from this girl we met on the boat, telling us how proud she was having us as her friends and that our postcard was pinned on her wall. Her village is so incredibly remote that it must have taken her family at least 3 days to reach the nearest post office. Now I got another reason to visit that amazing place once again :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Netherlands