CURRENT MISSION
On exchange in Uppsala University! Would love to meet anyone, exchange good conversations and have a great time!

Flagging the world over!

ABOUT ME

This is really tough as I don't exactly know what I am myself. Even if I knew, it would not be wholly accurate to just throw in a few adjectives that might seem appropriate for a person like me.

If anything, my perspectives are always morphing with the experiences I've had. I guess it's human nature to strive for self-improvement constantly, and interacting with personalities from all over will definitely help.

But if you really want to know my current manifestation, I'm judgmental, hypocritical, unloving, selfish and just a complete fiend at heart!

So hang out with me at your own risk! Cheers! :)

PHILOSOPHY

I used to have a portrait that said this: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I'm struggling hard to practise this on a regular basis, but hey I'm still human after all! :)

As Agent Romanoff in Iron Man 2 nicely phrased: I would do whatever I wanted to do, with whomever I wanted to.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Most enthusiastic about hosting anyone with a fun, interesting and outgoing personality. Would like to go travelling around the world to meet new people! I wish to be able to say I've travelled to every single country when I'm reminiscing about life on my deathbed!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I hosted my first surfer in December 2010 and the positive experience spurred me to continue with CouchSurfing. I want to host people from across the globe and to have fun with whomever I'm with.

Hosted:
Niko Geiger - December 2010
Jerome Augay - February 2013
Emilia Smolka - April 2013
Sirkku Isokangas - February 2014
Marion Javaloyes - June 2014

Surfed:
Lei Zhang - Qingdao, China, April 2011
Grégoire - Paris, France, March 2013
Anne-Marie Ross - Berlin, Germany, March 2013

Travelled with:
Malte Schwarzer - Singapore, March 2011
Tara Ma - Qingdao, China, April 2011
Kelton Nie - Jinan, China, April 2011
Vincent Yu - Jinan, China, April 2011
Chua Yao Xing - Hanoi, Mt. Fansipan and Sapa, Vietnam, June 2011
Nguyên Trần - Hanoi, Mt. Fansipan and Sapa, Vietnam, June 2011
Faysal Grami - Sapa, Vietnam, June 2011
Shunsuke Yagi - Hanoi, Vietnam, June 2011
Linh Le Xuan - Hanoi, Vietnam, June 2011
Thúy Kiều Trương - Ho Chi Minh City, December 2011
Sonali Shah - Singapore, June 2012
Hannah Leong - Vientiane, Laos, June 2012
Inah Siray - Singapore & The Philippines, June 2013
Dikki Choden Lepcha - Bali, May 2014

Interests

Travelling, Aviation, Astronomy, Reading, Music (can't imagine a world without it), Gym, Street Workout, Partying, Drinking, Pool (Billiards), Photography, Badminton, Cycling, International Chess, Sudoku, Marvelling at exceptional guitarists (and imagining myself playing!), Sailing (in small dinghies like the Byte & Laser), Adventure Sports, Exploring new & interesting things/places/activities, Interacting with people

• photography
• partying
• drinking
• aviation
• chess
• reading
• traveling
• billiards
• sudoku
• music
• cycling
• sailing
• sports
• badminton
• astronomy
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Rock, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, Trance, House, Electronica, Pop (some), Techno, Chill Out, Jazz, Classical, Psychedelic

Some of my favourite music artistes: Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jochen Miller, Nadia Ali, ATB, Above & Beyond, Tiesto, Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Suede, The Strokes, Deep Purple, Guns 'n' Roses, Velvet Revolver, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Keane, Eric Clapton, Jamiroquai, 30 Seconds To Mars, The Fray, Explosions In The Sky, Maroon 5, Bon Jovi, Manic Street Preachers, Greenday, deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Orson, Radiohead, Moby, David Guetta, Audioslave, Puddle of Mudd, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, Incubus, Queen, Aerosmith, Eagles, U2, Kings of Leon, Neon Trees, Augustana, The Bravery, Coldplay, Hoobastank, Avril Lavigne, Metallica, Smash Mouth, Stereophonics, The Killers, The Afters, Robbie Williams, LFO, Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Five for Fighting, Dishwalla, Vengaboys, Evanescence, Paramore, Creed, Alter Bridge, Oasis, Avenged Sevenfold, Cosmicman, Daft Punk

Movies: Wolf of Wall Street, Interstellar, Inception, V for Vendetta, Shawshank Redemption, Toy Story 3, Rush (2013), The Dark Knight, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Invictus, The A-Team, Star Wars (All), Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Transformers, Transformers 2, Avatar, Star Dust, Ratatouille, Public Enemies, Ocean's 11, Inception, The Prestige, The Departed, Saving Private Ryan

Books: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami, On The Road - Jack Kerouac, Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro, Tuesdays With Morrie & The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom, Q&A - Vikas Swarup, The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy, Norwegian Wood & Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami, The Kite Runner - Khaleid Hosseini, Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo, The Best I Could - Subhas Anandan, Harry Potter series - JK Rowling, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, The Hardy Boys

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Asked a charming woman in Delft her age, and tried to make her feel good after she said she was 40 by saying, "But you don't look that old!". Am still amazed I escaped unscathed after committing such a cardinal sin without being murdered twice over. The lady even chuckled at me. ;)

Climbed Mount Tai (泰山) in Shandong Province, China overnight just to see the fabled sunrise. Apparently, Mao Zedong (毛泽东) and Confucius (孔子) did the same thing.

Got the chance to stay with May, the "de facto" CouchSurfing Hmong tribeswoman, and got to witness the funeral festivities (Yes! They were all partying and making merry right in front of the coffin!) for their tribal matriarch.

Witnessed Iya Traoré conjure up awesome-ness live. For the uninitiated, go check him out on YouTube! :P

Did the whole "Jesus route" according to the Bible when I was in Israel (January 2014). It was a pretty epic and humbling experience. I'm still searching, though.

Teach, Learn, Share

I would like to be fluent in a couple of languages, namely: Arabic (Currently learning in University), Spanish, French & Japanese! I would love to share the music I love - I believe music transcends all cultural/religious/language barriers and they serve as a window to a person's soul and character! In return, I would love to experience wondrous and exotic sounds from your lands!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Singapore, Sweden