CURRENT MISSION

Traveling through East, South and Southeast Asia as well as the middle East together with my girlfriend Susi while at the same time reading a book from every country we go to in order to experience it through reality and fiction simultaneously.

ABOUT ME

First of all: I'm a nice person.
Secondly: If you don't believe me ask Susi.
Thirdly: If you don't believe her either, well then I guess the only way to find out is by hosting us! :)

However, since your mum probably taught you not to trust a stranger, let me try to give you a short introduction of myself that hopefully sounds appealing enough for you to decide to hang out with me, the rest shall be left up to chance!

Therefore: I'm a 26 year old guy, (normally) living in a small apartment together with Susi and currently doing my masters in comparative literature at the University of Vienna. At the moment however we are travelling through Asia and the Middle East. We started at the beginning of April and will probably keep on going for over a year. We travelled from India to Japan, China and bascially everything in between before we finally boarded a plane again and came over to Iran, where we currently are.

As we both study literature we also decided to use this chance in order to combine theory and practice and read at least one book from every country we are travelling in while we are there. We realized how much more you sometimes understand about a culture when you study it's stories and how closely interwoven fact and fiction often are. For that reason I am also reviewing some of the books on my blog combining my critique with stories of our own journey (unfortunately this is only available in German: diefolgendegeschichte.wordpress.com).

PHILOSOPHY

If it has anything to do with anything, I'm most likely willing to discuss it! All night if necessary...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been surfing couches in a couple of countries and been meeting a lot of couchsurfers in Vienna, however for the last couple of years I haven't been too active. I'm planning to change this now though, first by surfing again and then soon also by hosting people in my own flat.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I had my first couchsurfing experience(s) when I travelled through Scandinavia (Germany-Denmark-Sweden-Norway-Finnland) alone in the summer of 2010. I stayed at the homes of a couple of different couchsurfers and I really enjoyed my time with each of them as they were all truly great people and a lot of fun to hang out with. After that I have been surfing sporadically for example in Bratislava, Milan or the States.

Interests

As mentioned, I like reading. Not anything specific, but all kinds of stuff, from philosophers sharing their ideas with the world, to fantasy novels, offering me a possibility to just let my mind drift away and finally to comics and graphic novels as I love the drawings as well as the fact that most of them actually include a really good (often also political) story. And of course everything in between these three genres. I also enjoy writing, but unfortunately I am a very lazy person.

Other then that things I like are:

- theater plays/performances (Susi is also studying this at university)
- places that make me feel as if being in another city in another country in another world
- drinking some beer or wine with some friends
- boardgames
- good jokes (hell who doesnt like em?)
- silly people with creative ideas and no fear of making them become reality
- and a lot lot more...

• culture
• writing
• books
• literature
• dining
• wine
• beer
• drinking
• comics
• reading
• theatre
• climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

Obviously one of the best movies of all times: The Monster X strikes back: Attack the G8 summit (you have to watch it in japanese though with english subtitles or it will only be half as awesome!). (I am of course only half serious, but I do really believe that this is a very entertaining movie)

Concerning books there is a couple of them I have really enjoyed: On top of my list is probably still Kerouac's "On the Road" because it just injected me with an insatiable hunger to live my life and explore the world. On a more entertaining/intellectual level I really enjoy Philip K. Dicks Science Fiction as well as Borges and Lems short stories. (There is many more great books and if needed I'd be very happy to recommend them to you!)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

For some reason one of the moments I still often think back to was when during my stay in the states, I crossed a bridge in a small village somewhere in Maine and an older man just randomly started a conversation with me lasting for about 2 hours telling me about all the things and all the odd jobs he did during his life. In a way, listening to him spreading his whole life in front of my feet really made me think...

Teach, Learn, Share

Well who can really say what you can learn from someone before you have even met them?

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, China

•