CURRENT MISSION

Option 1) To make a single city out of New York, Boston, San Francisco, Berlin, Ljubljana, Moscow, and Odessa, so that I don't have to travel between them to enjoy these cities that I love and to see my friends and family.

Option 2) To invent teleportation technology so I don't have to travel constantly between the places that I love.

ABOUT ME

(Warning: this is long+detailed and I wrote it starting when I was 19 and first joined CS!)

I was born in Odessa, Ukraine on May 25th, 1985, the same day as my father. My Mother awoke early in the morning and said, "Yury, I think I'm about to give you a birthday present." We moved between 17 different apartments over the course of 4 years because in Soviet times it was almost impossible to get an apartment, and we simply didn't fit in the small space my grandparents had. on August 2nd, 1989, we left Odessa on a bus for Vienna, then Rome, then finally, New York City. At the time we thought we would never return (more on this later).

My father had a feeling that the Soviet Union would soon fall apart, and we knew that it would be better in the U.S. After staying in dormitories and receiving a small stipend from the Jewish Agency, we received an invitation from other affiliated organizations to come to US. The goal of such agencies was to help Jewish refugees from all over the world find a better life. My mother's first job in the US was teaching Puerto Rican immigrants to speak English (she studied both English and Spanish in University and speaks both nearly without an accent). My father is a Physicist, and he worked in laboratories and at the University of Connecticut at Hartford (the town where we settled for the first two years). In 1991 my parents divorced and I lived with my father in Springfield, Massachusetts and my mother moved to New York. In 1993, my father's boss died and the laboratory closed, so he decided that since he didn't like America, he should move to Moscow and start a business selling boilers and water-heaters from the laboratory where he had worked. I moved in with my mother in New Jersey and had the quintessential American high school experience - it sucked. While I have some amazing friends without whom it would have been even worse, we look back at that time (from 8-16 years of age) with serious hatred for American suburban life.

At 16 I went to an early college called Simon's Rock College of Bard which accepted students after 10th of 11th grade (though in the US there are 12 grades before High School ends). For two years I studied Liberal Arts (everything the ancient Greeks thought an intellectual should know, I suppose) and attempted to understand who I am and who I want to be. I fell in love with photography, though I had always loved art, drawing, painting, jewelry making, sculpture, music (I play guitar, write songs, sing them), poetry and writing... I dream (like a child) of being a photographer.

In 2003 I decided to take a year off and go live in Moscow with my father. I was 18, and I arrived November 17th (it was -16C) and on our way home from the airport we were hit in the back by a bus. We had to wait for 4 hours for the road police to come and report the accident because it occurred at the intersection of 3 jurisdictions. By this time the car battery almost died and we almost froze. This was my introduction to Russia. I had a terrible accent in Russian, which has since gone away, for about 3 months I was ashamed to say anything and be seen as a foreigner. I found a job teaching english after 1 week, and worked as a photographer in several journals. I found some fantastic friends after about 2 and a half months; until then I was dying to go back to America where everyone smiles and your waitress doesn't look like she's about to kill you. It's like night an day - the US is full of politeness, salespeople don't yell at you, you don't have to wait for hours to buy a train ticket, but when they ask "How are you?" it means absolutely nothing, they don't actually care. In Russia, while an encounter with a stranger can be extremely unpleasant and the police will do anything but protect you, once you know someone and they smile at you, you know that smile means that you are extremely dear to them, it's not just a rehearsed American cultural norm. I traveled a lot during my time in Russia (it's much closer to Europe than Boston), got rid of my accent except for the English intonation, made some unbelievable friends, and gained a wholly new perspective of the meaning of these two completely different ways of life.

After my year in Moscow I returned to the US, having transferred to Northeastern University in Boston, where I decided to study Economics (I had a feeling it was the right choice) and I really loved the subject! In Boston I also found spectacular friends, many of whom are just like me, Soviet immigrants, half Jewish, grew up in the US, and torn between three cultures to varying degrees. In summer of 2006, I came to Moscow again, about to (almost) complete my studies at London School of Economics for 6 weeks during July and August of 2006. That fall, I worked in Moscow again at a combination of English schools and a couple of companies as a financial analyst intern.

Following this I studied abroad in Leuven, Belgium, and interned at the European Union Parliament for an MP representing London, who was a big advocate for Ukraine to join the EU. I loved living in Belgium, with its undiscovered-by-tourists charm and really nice, quirky people! I also did a road trip around the Rhine with my father during the spring, and made great friends with the Spaniards and Slovenians living in a nearby building through Erasmus. I later visited many other them all over Europe.

Fast forward to the present day... I have since graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a masters in Transportation Optimization, because after struggling with the question of what to do for a living, I concluded that I love to find the most efficient route to getting somewhere. Obviously this originated from my many travels! I worked as a Network Analyst at Oneworld Airline Alliance in New York City, and was able to travel very often on discounted airline tickets. I actually flew (from NYC) to Madrid, London, and Berlin for just a weekend on a few occasions. Currently, I am searching for a new job, but decided to take my time and find something really great.

PHILOSOPHY

Tough question... similar to teach/learn share...
I want to have a life that will always make me happy remembering it. When I'm too old to travel or do other things I enjoy, having a personal movie theatre of great memories to keep me entertained would be nice.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Giving local tours, meeting CSers, surfing and hosting (when I was able to-my current situation does not allow it), keeping in touch after a great experience...
I love telling people about CS and seeing their reaction. Once I explain that "no it's not dangerous", people start to think it's a great idea.
I also love finding out that someone I have known is on CS! And the best is inspiring someone to join : )

Interests

• arts
• writing
• poetry
• singing
• photography
• cocktails
• technology
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• music
• guitar
• surfing
• boxing
• business
• economics
• emergency services
• physics
• study abroad
• tours

Music, Movies, and Books

I have a long list of music/movies/books to hear/watch/read that is gets longer the more I try to get through it.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Let me tell you the stories while showing you the photographs (for a more sensory experience). I can't relay stories nearly as well by typing a blurb into a small box : (

Teach, Learn, Share

I travel to make sure to have a reason to come back.

What I Can Share with Hosts

A lot of interesting stories and ideas, along with my photographs if they are interested. People also like my cocktails, so if you are up for that, I could invent something creative for you.

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