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Overview
About Me
Digital Nomad | Technology Enthusiast | Software Engineer
A Canadian-Azerbaijani Master's Student @ the University of Tartu who lives in San Francisco 🇺🇸 and works as a full-time remote Software Engineer. Interested in technological innovations, startup ideas, local coffee shops, walking and exploring the cities, mountain hiking, etc.
My score is 20 on the Lonely Planet's 100 Best Cities in the World: https://www.listchallenges.com/lonely-planets-100-best-cities-in-the-world - What is your score?
I'm also trying to learn 🇩🇪 and 🇫🇷 on Preply and practice them with 🇷🇺 on Duolingo.
I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, but my origins are from the hills of the Southern Caucasian mountains. 23AndMe tells me that I'm originally from Kermanshah Province in Iran, with 65.7% of my genes belonging to Iranian, Caucasian, and Mesopotamian roots, whereas 29% belong to Anatolian. On the other hand, AncestryDNA tells me that I'm 56% Anatolian + Caucasian and 41% Iranian/Persian. Some percentages are also from Central, Eastern, and Southern Asia, Northern Africa, the Levant, and Eastern Europe.
At 18, I moved to Canada 🇨🇦 to study for my bachelor's. After living in Ontario for 10 years, I decided to go to Estonia 🇪🇪 for my master's and explore some parts of Europe. Now, I am in San Francisco, still not settled, and wandering about the cultures, people, and new unexplored places.
Well, I have been to London in UK🇬🇧, Dublin in Ireland🇮🇪, Lisbon in Portugal🇵🇹, München (3x), Berlin (3x), Hamburg, Siegen, and Frankfurt (3x) in Germany🇩🇪, Zürich, Geneva, and Lausanne in Switzerland🇨🇭, Copenhagen in Denmark🇩🇰, Stockholm in Sweden🇸🇪, Helsinki (3x) in Finland🇫🇮, Tallinn (6x) and (lived in) Tartu in Estonia🇪🇪, Riga in Latvia🇱🇻, Vilnius in Lithuania🇱🇹, Warsaw in Poland🇵🇱, Prague in Czech🇨🇿, Vienna and Innsbruck in Austria🇦🇹, Tbilisi in Georgia🇬🇪, and Istanbul (3x) and Izmir in Turkey🇹🇷.
In US🇺🇸, I visited San Diego, Santa Cruz, and most parts of San Francisco Bay Area in California, New York City in New York, Boston in Massachusetts, Washington DC area, Miami and Miami Beach in Florida, Chicago (spent ~10 weeks in the last 5 years) in Illinois, and Austin in Texas.
I mainly lived in Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto in Ontario, Canada🇨🇦. Besides that, I visited Vancouver and North Vancouver in British Columbia, Ottawa (my residential address), Niagara Falls, and Algonquin Park in Ontario, and Montreal and Québec City in Québec.
And I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan🇦🇿 and spent lots of time in a beautiful city Sheki on the hills of South Caucasian mountains since my grandparents are from there. Besides them, I also visited Lankaran, Gusar (Shahdagh and Khinalig), and Kapaz in Azerbaijan🇦🇿. As I mentioned above, I also had a chance to climb to the peaks of Shahdagh and Kapaz Mountains.
This year, I plan to visit, at least, Porto, Portugal🇵🇹, Buenos Aires, Argentina🇦🇷, Seattle in US🇺🇸, and Banff and Calgary in Canada🇨🇦. Still, a lot to see, especially, Western and Southwestern Europe, Central and East Asia, and Latin Americas.
Starting this upcoming February 2025, I will be able to start hosting people at my place again :)
Why I’m on Couchsurfing
To meet with travelers and various types of people and I think it's super great to know the people from multiple places. To contribute to the platform by hosting and getting hosted whenever visiting some other places.
Interests
Travelling, Technology, Coffeeshops, Hiking, Walking
Music, Movies, and Books
No specific music taste, but I do enjoy Daft Punk and the soundtracks, mainly by Hans Zimmer.
Regarding movies, depending on the severity/level of the fiction, I love Sci-fi such as Interstellar. The Dark Knight Trilogy is the best compilation about Batman; other than that, I don't watch anything fictional.
Requirem for a Dream, Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind, Inception, Pi, a Beautiful Mind, Predestination, Into the Wild
Regarding TV Series, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Afterlife, Black Mirror, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, Silicon Valley, Parks and Recreation, etc. Forever The Office fan! :)
Self-improvement and self-productivity books, especially the ones written by Malcolm Gladwell.
My favourite quote that I live by is "Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known." by Carl Sagan :)
One Amazing Thing I’ve Done
The COVID-19 pandemic forced most software engineers to work from home, and I decided to roam and travel Canada and then some other areas while working instead of paying monthly increasing rent in Canada. I ended up attending UniTartu to get a master's degree by my 30s. In general, the shift I have done in my life is fantastic.
Another fantastic thing I could recall was that I had a chance to climb to the second most challenging peak in Azerbaijan, Shahdagh, with 4243m in July 2021. Unforgettable memories I still carry with me.
Recently, in January-February 2024, I started travelling spontaneously, starting from Prague and then using trains to Vienna, Innsbruck, Zürich, Lausanne, and Milan. In this, my Couchsurfing experience was quite unforgettable.
Teach, Learn, Share
Can Teach Programming, Math, and some nerdy stuff 🤠 would love to learn German, French, and Russian, playing tennis, swimming, and improve my biking skills.
UPDATE: In fact, after writing the sentences above, I started learning French and German on Preply and practice Russian, French, and German on Duolingo.
What I Can Share with Hosts
My stories, experiences, and tips from my experiences.
Countries I’ve Visited
Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States
Countries I’ve Lived In
Azerbaijan, Canada, Estonia