CURRENT MISSION

About to move to Camridge, MA, starting a PhD. I'll host again as soon as I will habe settled there! :)

ABOUT ME

Hey! I'm a friendly 29-year-old student from the Ruhr valley in Germany! I love travelling, and that's why after having studied abroad in Michigan, U.S. for one semester (fall semester 2013), I decided to travel the States and Canada for 2 months. I've studied German studies as well as English studies, so I'm fluent in English (while my speaking skills in French, Spanish and Latin - hehe - are rather limited). But apart from that, I'm really open-minded, and very interested in other cultures (especially English-speaking countries - I have visited Great Britain a couple of times, including Dublin and London, two of my favourite cities, Vancouver and Toronto, and quite a few American states). But I've also visited many of the European continent's metropolises, like Berlin, Paris, and Zurich. Back home in Germany, I shared an apartment with five friends of mine for eight years, and that helped develop in me a sense of fairness, cleanliness, and responsibility in what regards apartment life. I would describe myself as a relaxed but very communicative person who it's not complicated to share an apartment with! Also, I seldom run out of interesting topics to talk about. To see what these might include, see below for my interests!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'd love to host many nice and open-minded people from all over the world, and I certainly will do after I'll have settled in Cambridge!
I'm positive that through my international experience (many trips to European metropolises, including quite a few visits to Great Britain, and studying abroad in Michigan) and my interests (see below) I could help bringing new experience and a little fun to my hosts' lives, even though it be for a couple of hours only. I love having long conversations over a pint of beer or a cup of coffee (but I'm also not too bad at occasional small talk). And as I'm interested in meeting new great people and getting to know their cultures, I'm confident I could add to your Couchsurfing experience!

Interests

First and foremost, I'm a fan of literature (that's what I concentrate on in my studies - among others, I enjoy Kafka, Günter Grass, Thomas Mann, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and F. Scott Fitzgerald); but I also love theatre. I used to act in plays myself a couple of years ago, and have recently begun playing improv theatre. I'm also a fan of music, and although my own skills are limited to a few chords on guitar (which I don't even play flawlessly), I know my rock and metal music pretty well, have attended numerous concerts and festivals, and am also open to non-rock-related styles of music (movie scores, country, and, although rather seldom, even blues or jazz). Also, in what regards rock music, I don't like modern metal only, but my interest in rock'n'roll goes all the way back to Elvis, and I also adore classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, or The Doors. Also, I love going to bars in cities I'm not yet familiar with, talking to a few locals and testing out local beer. If you like it a little more 'sophisticated': I also enjoy visiting museums and cultural sites like historic buildings or monuments. I've already seen quite a few (in Europe and on America's East coast), and I'm always keen on discovering new ones! But after that, I really do need my pint of beer in a nice bar or pub. ;)

• books
• literature
• concerts
• festivals
• beer
• coffee
• running
• drinking
• pub crawls
• traveling
• music
• jazz
• rock music
• guitar
• metal music
• blues

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Metal (complex stuff like Ayreon or Dream Theater, but also Volbeat, one of my favourite bands, or German metal like Avantasia, Helloween, and Blind Guardian); rock music (from Elvis to classic rock bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Who); open to other stuff as well (motion picture soundtracks, musicals, country).

Books: German authors like Kafka, Thomas Mann, Günter Grass, and Thomas Bernhard; Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, and Bertolt Brecht as dramatists; Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway as pretty cool American novelists. And Laurence Sterne as the best English novelist I've ever read.

Movies: The first two movies from Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy ("The Return of the King" and the first "Hobbit" movie were pretty disappointing); Tarantino; "The Talented Mr. Ripley", "The English Patient"; "The King's Speech"; "The Departed". Recently seen: "American Hustle," I totally recommend watching that one. :) And a few classics: "Julius Caesar" (1953, starring Marlon Brando); "Die Feuerzangenbowle" (a great German movie starring Heinz Rühmann); "The Tin Drum" (1979, another cool German movie).