Hi!

My name is Tim, I'm 26 years old and currently living in Leiden, in the northwest of the Netherlands (about 40 km from Amsterdam and 20 km from the Hague). I recently graduated in MA Latin American Studies and I'm currently working at Dutch labour union CNV as a project assistant for the improvement of workers' rights in developing countries

My two biggest passions are languages and sports. From a young age I've enjoyed studying curious differences between languages and because of the fact Dutch high school students are required to learn a decent number of languages, I've become fluent in seven languages. So if you speak one of the languages mentioned in my profile, don't worry to send me a message in one of those, I absolutely love practicing them.

As for sports: I'm a huge football (soccer for our American friends) fan. I practically follow every competition out there and I'm a walking almanac if it comes to useless football facts. I'm a fanatical fan of Dutch Eredivisie side Roda JC (season ticket holder for 15 years). If you also love football, I'd love to take you out to a Dutch game or go groundhopping in the area.

Besides that, I am one of those few Europeans who is completely in love with baseball. I play second base at Adegeest Baseball and stay up late more than I should to watch the Boston Red Sox play (most games start 1AM over here). If you're a baseball fan as well and afraid you'll be missing your favorite team play whilst in Europe, don't worry: I have an mlb.tv account you can use ;)

In my spare team I further love watching movies, I read a lot of Latin American literature (a leftover result of my student years), I love playing the tenor banjo (inspired by Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly etc.) and I have a huge passion for cooking as well. If you love good food, I'd be more than happy to cook you some typical Dutch dishes.

Love to hear from you!
Tim

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

If there's one thing I've learned from travelling, it's that there's a huge difference between going somewhere to see the sights and do your round-of-the-mill tourist things and actually being invited by a local and seeing what they see. I'd rather follow a local along to his/her work during his/her morning routine than taking those same pictures of that same church because I love seeing places through local's eyes.

I have been lucky to visit some countries I'd never been before on invitation by locals. This really give me a great first impression of the country itself. There's no problem going back for all the tourist stuff afterwards, but the first impression is very important. Through Couchsurfing I hope to be visiting many new countries and seeing them through local's eyes and really being a part of place, city or country rather than visiting it from the outside and staying in the tourist bubble for the length of my stay.

Interests

Football, Baseball, Cooking, Languages, Groundhopping, Literature, Movies, Going Out (For more, read my About Me section)

• literature
• singing
• dining
• cooking
• walking
• movies
• tv
• traveling
• sports
• baseball
• soccer
• emergency services
• history
• languages
• tourism

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was very lucky to be able to attend a Boca - River game whilst in Argentina. Though the atmosphere at times was quite dangerous outside the stadium (the police tried to control a mass of fans waiting to be searched which almost ended in a stampede), the experience inside the stadium was out of this world. I was lucky to be in the popular (the hard core fan section), so there was no other choice than jumping, screaming and chanting along. I know these places can get rowdy and sometimes dangerous if you're too obvious of an outsider (I saw some other tourists who didn't speak Spanish and weren't able to sing along ordered off the stands), but this is just my adrenaline rush. I can't help to enjoy football games the more dangerous they get.

What I Can Share with Hosts

As a huge sports fan, I'd love to take you along to any sports ground/match/game you'd like to visit whilst in the Netherlands. For couchsurfers I will put my hatred for some specific football teams aside to let you in on the atmosphere of Holland's bigger and more well-known stadiums.

I also know quite a lot about Dutch and European history, so I love telling you about the history of the country and I'm quite able to show you all historic places in cities like The Hague, Leiden and Amsterdam. I am quite flexible in whatever you like me to show you, so I'd love to be your spontanious tour guide.

Food and cooking are very big interests of mine as well and I'd thoroughly enjoy preparing some Dutch foods or take you along to the cities to show some of the local cuisine. There are lots of different cultures in this part of the country, so we're bound to find some great food!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Netherlands