CURRENT MISSION

getting done with my studies and leave Freiburg behind me

ABOUT ME

Hej!

I'm Simon! Have been for the last year in New Haven, CT but now i'm back in Freiburg, a small town at the edge of The Black Forrest (Germany). Not a really big city, but lots of subculture and alernative forms of living. I will become a secondary school teacher one day. haha but I am not unhappy if this still takes a while. not sure if im gonna work in this job anyways.

Festivals, organizing and attending concerts are as important as studying to me. Oh, and I love traveling. Often I am more on the road than actually studying.
Places are not as important to me as the people who live there. In new cities I love to drift in the crowd. I can watch people passing by for hours.

Friends describe me as kinda sociable and communicative and I think they're right.

I also love to meet and connect with new people share experiences with them and show them around in my area or to discover their places.

here's my facebook link, maybe it contributes to get an idea who I am.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000229320847

PHILOSOPHY

Over the last years I dealt more and more with all the complex facettes of discrimination. With the support of others I began to question more and more the supposed "normal" things like patriotism, racism, sexism and heteronormativity which all leads to a critisism on domination and patriarchy.

Even though I have clear ideas about what's wrong in society I would not consider myself as dogmatic and of course respect opinions of other ones in these points. It so interesting how other people with other experiences/backgrounds see the world! Communication is so important to understand and respect each other. Of course, I still have to learn a lot of things and I often try to reflect my own point of view. I really enjoy having a glas of whine in a relaxed and safe atmosphere taking about the points which move us.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hitchhiked & couchsurfed across France and Scandinavia, also couchsurfed in Rwanda, USA & Israel. Still overwhelmed how nice I've been received by my hosts everywhere. Try to give back this passion to the people I'm hosting in Freiburg, it's always fun!

Interests

political activism, travelling, music festivals, photography, street art & graffiti, foreign languages, other cultures, improving my kinyarwanda skills, participating in my youth-organization, being political left wing, politics in gerneral, anti-fascism

I am part of a network which puts forced removals of asylum seekers out of anonymity and tries to create awareness in society about these procedures. At my home university, I work voluntarily in a bar which provides free space for individuals or groups to plan activities, where people can connect with eachother and bands and drama groups can practice. It is called "free space"€œ because there is not any compulsion to buy drinks; it is also ok to bring your own stuff or just to hang out. Struggles for free space in a city which is getting more and more gentrified and which marginalizes poor people became an important topic for me and my comrades in the way how we shape/ co-create policy in our environment.

• arts
• street art
• photography
• concerts
• music festivals
• festivals
• environment
• drinking
• politics
• traveling
• music
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

electronic music (house, deep-house, tech-house):
Rampue, Stiff Little Spinners, Moderat, Oliver Schories, AndHim, Mount Kimbie, Schlepp Geist...

electro punk (Audiolith, Egotronic, Bratze, Saalschutz, Das Flug, DiscoCrunch...)

Zeckenrap (Ticktickboom, Sookee, Kobito, Neonschwarz, Radical Hype, Kurzer Prozess...)

Punkrock & Indie/Alternative (Feine Sahne Fischfilet, Muff Potter, Tomte, Kettcar, Matula, Escapado...)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

When I was 18, I provided a volutary service for 13 months in Rwanda. I lived in a parish (haha) in a small village, where I supported the youth activities of the parish and gave English lessons in a primary school. But, reminiscing about that time, more important than my work was just to share time together with people there and learn many things from each other. Some people became really good friends, with who I still keep close contact. Around one year after returning to Germany I had the chance to -somehow- return the favour for all hospitality and love I had received in Rwanda by accompanying a rwandese delegegation (12 persons including 2 of my former flatmates) on their way exploring Germany. We travelled to many cities and came in contact with many people in Germany. 2 years after that I returned to Rwanda, this time in charge of a German youth group.
All these experiences together where defenitely the most formative and impressive experiences in my life.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Canada, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Rwanda, United States