Hi, I am a PhD student from St. Petersburg and my PhD thesis is titled "Effect of superfluid vortices on dynamics and observational properties of neutron stars". It's absolutely OK if these words are scary or do not make any sense to you; but if you are interested, I can tell you something about neutron stars, astrophysics, general relativity or physics in general=) Also I work as a programmer (I build tools for programmers).

Thanks to my research activity, I visited some beautiful European cities (Barcelona, Trento, Coimbra, Warsaw, Sofia), where astrophysical schools or conferences were organized. Every time I had really nice time with my foreign colleagues.

Apart from physics ("how the physical world works?"), I always wanted to know how the brain works - so I read some books and articles about brains, consciousness, cognitive biases etc.

I play guitar and bass guitar (not at a professional level though), and I hope someday to learn to play the drums as well=)
Recently I also started dancing brazilian social dances (samba de gafieira and forro), and now I am passionate about them too, especially about samba!

I have fallen in love with mountains since I was 10 - it was the first time my parents took me to some trekking route in Lovozero massif. Since that time I have been to Caucasus (6 times), Khibiny (2 times) and Altai. The higher I climb to snow and glaciers, the more impressed I am.
Also I had a bike trip from Munich to Milano with my Moscow friends, and it was really beautiful journey. It was especially interesting to observe how all the environment gradually changes from German/Austrian to Italian.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I would like to make friends with interesting, active and open-minded people: such acquaintances always inspire me. We can share our thoughts, emotions and stories from our lives and our countries. Also I am interested in discovering the culture of foreign countries beyond standard touristic routes. Last but not least, I would like to improve my English and communication skills in general.

Interests

• cats
• music
• rock music
• guitar
• blues
• hiking
• physics
• science
• mountains
• freedom
• trekking
• biking
• pink floyd
• programming
• bass guitar
• forró
• astrophysics
• samba
• progressive rock
• brazilian music
• samba de gafieira
• cognition
• neutron stars

Music, Movies, and Books

I am passionate about music - not about any particular genre, but about some quite different songs and bands. In recent months, I mostly listen to brazilian music (samba, forro), blues and progressive rock. And I would like to discover something new, regardless of the genre.

Some of my favourite bands/musicians:
Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Iamthemorning, Judas Priest, Halford, Bet Hart & Joe Bonamassa, Blackmore's Night, Joe Satriani, Rhapsody Of Fire, Владимир Высоцкий, Михаил Щербаков

movies:
movies with Edward Norton (Primal Fear, American History X, Fight Club...), Tarantino movies, Pink Floyd The Wall, The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Sherlock, Lord Of The Rings, Clockwork Orange...

books:
"Hard to Be a God" (Strugatsky), "For Whom The Bell Tolls" (Hemingway), "Touching the Void" (Joe Simpson), "Blindsight" (Peter Watts), "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Kesey), "Anna Karenina" (Tolstoy), "Steppenwolf" (Hesse), "The Art of Loving" (Fromm), "Brave New World" (Huxley), "Animal farm" (Orwell), "Harry Potter" (Rowling), Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Heinlein, Wells...

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can tell you a lot about my life and things I'm interested in: from astrophysics to pseudoscience and cognitive biases, from mountains to brazilian social dances etc. I can share my favourite music (if you like), play some songs on the guitar or give you some tips on the guitar/bass playing or music theory. Also I can listen with interest about what you are really passionate about.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation