CURRENT MISSION

Student

ABOUT ME

I'm a student of science of religions, cultural and social anthropology, development studies and Arabic-Islamic studies. In future I'd like to become a researcher or take part in international projects as a consultant.

I get easily excited of new things and a curious personality connected with restlessness drive me constantly to travel.

Despite of my eagerness my lifestyle is quite slow and I enjoy long days reading in the hammock and sipping wine or playing board games with friends.

PHILOSOPHY

"He deserves paradise who makes his companions laugh" (The Qur'an)

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

After trying Hospitality Club I haven't done much in CouchSurfing: I only had 2 guests and then I moved to a tiny apartment. However, the idea of sharing your house with strangers is not new for me and I've done it for years as a guest and a host. This summer me and my boyfriend will be traveling across South America and be active couch-guests and in the autumn I hope to be able to host people in my homeland.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I like the idea of trusting people and having an open, relatively (but not compulsary) active, democratic community. The basic philosophy of mutual help and long-lasting friendship - giving and receiving (and not just the law of supply and demand as in commercial life!) is what attracts me.

My experiences so far have been scarse but pleasant. When I finally get another apartment, couching becomes possible once again. Meanwhile I try to share and teach some of the knowledge and skills I'm equipped with. I think being a couch-guest also means sharing the household tasks and doing favors for your hosts - it's not about going to a free hotel.

Interessen

Cultures, reading books and comics, vegetarian food, myths, Latin music, playing the piano, singing, religions, sauna, dancing, coffee, politics, feminism, languages, seasonal ascetism, friends, hiking (slowly), taking naps, cheap red wine, Middle East, green values, children, boyfriend's cats, philosophy, history, skiing.

• cats
• culture
• books
• singing
• dancing
• womens rights
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• red wine
• coffee
• vegetarian
• vegan
• exercise
• sauna
• clubbing
• politics
• comics
• board games
• reading
• traveling
• music
• latin music
• piano
• hiking
• skiing
• muslim
• sports
• rock climbing
• anthropology
• history
• languages
• law
• religion
• science

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Movies: Almodóvar movies; Buñuel movies; Bergman movies; Paris, Texas; A Prophet; Thelma and Louise; The Wickerman (the original one!); Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Monty Python movies; David Lynch movies; Aki Kaurismäki movies. And many more.

Books: this part is too hard to introduce right now... Tove Jansson, Arabian Nights, Tolkien, Virginia Woolf, just to start with.

Music: there is something interesting in every genre. Classical music (because I used to play the piano and the violin). Ambient, folk music, latino music and numerous rock bands comprise mostly my playlist. Punk and black metal to a lesser extent even though I have become acquainted with them, too.
All-time favourites: angry young women (Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Kate Bush, Björk), Röyksopp, The Smiths, Queen, David Bowie, Yasmin Levy.

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

Climbing the Maya pyramids in the jungle of Guatemala was quite unreal given the dizziness following from the heat and the exercise combined with the feeling of simultaneous presence of different times.

Lehren, lernen, teilen

I hopefully can teach something of particular cultures and universal culture patterns (if there are any), different religions (especially Islam), gender-sensitive approach to everyday life as well as to society. I also like to share vegan/vegetarian cooking tips - especially in practice.

I'd like to learn things about local culture, particularly young people and their (possibly changing) attitude towards religion and the way they practice it. I also want to progress my language skills. I'm not afraid of trying new things - local sports for example.

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vatican City State

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Egypt, Finland