Hello there!

I'm Artyom. I live in Zagreb with my girlfriend Maria. Back in 2014, I worked at Bosch factory in my hometown but decided that there was a whole world to see and sitting here wasn't doing me any good. I needed a challenge, so I packed all my stuff and moved here with just a backpack and job offer from some boring Korean company. Since flying the coop, I've got to work in all sorts of jobs, from car engineer to fish specialist. Now I'm working in clinical trials. And as a hobby, I do a video blog about beer, learning Hungarian and making a photos of sleeping people in the street. After the war started I've moved to Croatia. So I have some stories to tell :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am a traveler, not a tourist. Seeing the sights is only half of the adventure. Tourists can go and see things, take pictures and say they had some sort of foreign experience. Without actually living there, seeing what it is like and experiencing the lives of the people that live there, how can you say that you actually know much of anything about a place? I am interested in actually experiencing the world, through my eyes as a foreigner, and at the same time, through the eyes of a native.

Couchsurfing can give me the opportunity to share my culture with others (especially the food... I'll be sure to cook something good for you) while also learning more about cultures of the places I go.

Interests

• modern art
• music festivals
• politics
• hiking
• history
• techno
• sci-fi
• cultural exchange
• wine!

Music, Movies, and Books

I love music. It's a passion that has just grown with time. I mostly prefer techno, and thanks to KEXP, I've found a lot of new artists for my playlist. My current music tastes have beem centered around SNTS, Still Corners, Takaaki Itoh, Young Fathers, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Spirit Award, and Ancient Methods.

The last two movies that impressed me were "You Were Never Really Here" and "Bunny and the Bull". I love all of Tarantino, Wes Anderson and most of the Coen Brothers' movies.
As far as books go, I prefer speculative fiction, such as Pratchett, Kuttner, Miéville, Sapkowski and early twentieth century Russian poetry.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well... at 22, I was appointed the chief of a military hospital for half a year. It's a long story :D

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm interested in history. History is a bunch of little stories. And I love stories :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Some stories from the cold taiga, tales from hot steppes, lore from wild swamps (tho sadly, no stories from the mountains... Hope you got some), good vibes, some new music. And a taste of home cooking, just like babushka makes. I'm sure there's more tho :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Croatia, Russian Federation, United States