My name is Rixin and I'm a medical student. I'm taking this summer to backpack through Europe. I'm usually rather quiet and prefer to listen and to observe, but I can become very talkative when the conversation involves medicine/biology, classical music, history, or philosophy.

I like to think all of us are explorers trying to make the most out of this journey we call “life”. Perhaps thus is the greatest attraction of foreign travel - for nothing else inspires such a childlike wonder from within us than to arrive in a new place where we know almost nothing of its customs, its languages, its beauties and dangers; with a most rudimentary sense of how things work, we have to carefully and slowly navigate through these new territories while looking for new adventures.

More often than not, we encounter other fellow explorers during our own journeys. Most of whom would only stay with us for a short while, a few of them we kept as life long companions, but every single one have exciting stories to tell and valuable insights to share, and all we have to do is listen. I think few will disagree it is the people in our lives who have the most profound impact in shaping us into who we are today.

P.s. Maybe it's due to the nature of my education and work environment (in hospitals and laboratories), my friends told me I tend to be a bit of a neat freak who likes to keep everything very clean and orderly. Why wouldn't everybody?

PHILOSOPHY

True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

I learned about couch surfing only recently through a few friends who spoke of their incredible experiences, and offered high praises for the people they met on CS. I think it is a valuable community that I would love to be a part of and contribute to. Some of my most memorable travel experiences came from meeting new, wonderful people, and mingling with locals.

Interessen

I've always had a deep love and profound appreciation for all living things and natural wonders in this world, it surprises no one that natural sciences in general are my biggest passions in life. I feel very lucky to be alive in this wonderful universe and thirst to learn as much as I can.

For the deeper questions that science is unable to answer yet, I look introspectively through frequent practices of meditation and studies in philosophy.

During my spare time I enjoy reading classical literature and listening to classical music. I keep a diary and have done some playwriting in the past, although I can't say I "enjoy" the process of writing itself - I see it as a necessary means to an end, which to me is to remember, and perhaps, to share.

Ah, I also snap the occasional photograph to try to steal a piece of the moment I find worth preserving. - http://1x.com/member/nixir

• arts
• writing
• literature
• education
• environment
• cooking
• meditation
• reading
• traveling
• music
• classical music
• backpacking
• surfing
• biology
• teaching
• history
• languages
• medicine
• science

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Music:
Classical - Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky etc.
* Metal - Agalloch, Estatic Fear, Nightwish, Finsterforst, Insomnium, Rammstein, Nychts, Summoning etc.

Movies
* The Tale of Princess Kaguya
* Princess Mononoke
* The Iron Giant
* Mr. Nobody
* Kingdom of Heaven
* Baraka

Books
* Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
* The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
* Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
* Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
* Philosophy

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

I sat by the riverbanks, alone, for several hours in a warm and sunny afternoon outside a tea house in Kyoto. The establishment was carefully preserved since the Edo era.

Two cups of tea was all it took for me to finish reading Bill Bryson's A walk in the woods. Although the settings in which we found ourselves were wildly different, a shared sensation of wonder and curiosity made it rather fitting for the occasion. Yet most strangely, the entire time - while basking in the warmth of setting sunlight, taking the occasional sip from my tea cups, and letting my mind and eyes wander freely in this foreign land, I felt home.

It was a rather quiet and uneventful moment I often find myself revisiting. It is the tinniest details in our lives that affects us most deeply, even without us noticing it.

Lehren, lernen, teilen

I am pretty good at making pastas and lasagnas, I can also make a passable dumpling and sushi :P I love to cook especially with others, it is a skill I’m always looking to develop and improve, and I look forward to learn to prepare different cuisines from locals!

Was ich mit Gastgebern teilen kann

Pre-Italy: Pastas and lasagnas
During-Italy: Some discussions involving arts and science?
Post-Italy: Hopefully really authentic and great pastas and lasagnas!

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Austria, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United States

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Canada, China