I've never been good in describing and 'advertising' myself, but I'm gonna try my best here and hopefully I'll learn more on that here.

I grew up in a small mountain village until I finished high school, moved to Bucharest for my bachelor, moved to Rotterdam for my masters and now I'm in Braunschweig pursuing a PhD in the aerospace field. Although I grew up in the mountains and on the coldest region of Ro where -30C in the winter was just another Tuesday in January, I also enjoy the seaside and the +30C warm weather. I don't have a favorite season, as all 4, or what remains of them, have something that I like. I'm the type of guy who doesn't need much convincing to go on a spontaneous trip. I like to hike, as you can see from some of my pictures going to several nice mountains in Ro. I'm on two wheels (bicycles) since I was around 5 y/o, then I added motorcycles at 16 and now I end up owing two (a Triumph Speed Triple and a Honda Transalp). Big fan of motorsport and cars as well, especially of the classic/retro cars, they just seem to have something extra for me. I like to enjoy my food and sometimes I cook it myself, since it's often easy to make something better than at the regular restaurants (unfortunately I only know a few dishes). DIY is also something that I'm trying to get into, especially when it comes to simple car and motorcycle maintenance, but more importantly on automatization, as I'd like to have a small greenhouse in which to grow the stuff that I like. As you might have guessed from the previous phrase, I also like gardening, me being the one that planted and maintains around 30 fruit trees and bushes.

I missed a few things on purpose, as I'd rather keep a few trump cards for possible future conversations. Ah, and if it's of any importance to you, or you're concerned about your safety, I'm also vaccinated against Covid-19.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Needless to say, I like to travel, and lately I've enjoying more and more the 'social/cultural' aspect of travelling. That started with doing my masters in The Netherlands, where I made friends and got to interact with people from all over the world. It was a really nice experience, as we got to exchange music, food, movies and enjoyed finding out the differences and similarities alike between our cultures.

Interests

• motorcycles
• gardening
• movies
• cars
• music
• hiking
• art
• food
• travelling
• nature
• farming
• motorsport

Music, Movies, and Books

My taste in music is something like a shawarma, it as a bit of everything. I don't have a particular genre of music that I like, but mostly I listen to pop, rap/trap and R&B and sometimes to some EDM, Dubstep, or some live orchestra concerts (like the Hooverponic master piece at Koningin Elisabethzaal 2012).

While my taste in music is all over the place...with movies and series the situation is exactly the same. Generally I dig everything that has adventure, action, fantasy, or sci-fi in it. Some relevant examples here would be the superhero movies (be it marvel, DC, or other), LOTR, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, Interstellar, Inception, Django Unchained and many others.

Books? I have to admit that I'm not an adamant reader. Generally I get sleepy when I have to read something, except when I'm really into that topic. The ones through which I went like a hot knife in butter were about the universe and religion/spirituality.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Once I made an otherwise ignorant cat to move from its comfy place and come on my lap. I know it might sound easy, but trust me, in that case it wasn't and it made me feel like 'the chosen one'.

One other thing would the the fact that I may have crash landed a glider like a boss with a 160 deg spin or so and without inflicting any damage on it. Although a bit terrifying, it was literally amazing!

Went from Romania to Nordkap on a solo motorcycle trip using mainly couchsurfing.

Teach, Learn, Share

I do have the authority to teach in my country up to second grade of high school, but I still don't know what I could teach someone my age. If you're interested in food, I can definitely teach/share a few simple recipes (desserts included). Otherwise it would have to be on stuff that I'm into, like gardening, vehicle maintenance, flying and the aerospace sector overall.

What I'd like to learn first and foremost is about you and your culture, that's way I'm here. I like to hear about traditions and special holidays, food, cool music that often cannot make it across borders and this type of stuff.

Crazy stories and cool music, these are perhaps the two things that I'd like most to share with you. As I grew up in a village, I got plenty of 'only in Russia/Florida' type of stories that would make you laugh your ass off and also some that would make you think twice about preconceptions in general. As for music, depending on what genre you like, I like to think that we have plenty of really good music in Ro that unfortunately never made it abroad or it's in the 'wrong' language. In the event that also for you it's the 'wrong' language, that's ok as I also know quite a few underrated songs in English as well.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Spain