Hi everyone!

My name is Cristina. I am 21 years old and I am from Transylvania, Romania. This year I have graduated Computer Engineering, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and before getting stuck for the rest of my life in front of the computer I'm taking a gap year so I can do some travelling around the world.
I started this summer by having a work and travel experience in Ohio, USA. After travling a bit through the states with the great highlight of Hawaii this year, I started backpacking through Sout East Asia which I'm planning to do for the next couple months.
What I can tell you about myself that is I'm a very pro-active, enthusiastic and sociable person. I do believe that the world is a pretty nice place to be and, of course, that makes me want to know more about it. One favorite thing of mine is discovering step by step, part of it all, getting to know different types of people and personalities, different ways of living, different goals people have, different habits, different life approaches.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been traveling a lot all those years and maybe that's one of my favorite things to do in life. I've been in great cities, amazing countries, I've seen a whole lot of famous places but I still think that for my soul the most important in all those experiences were the persons that got in my way.

I met a lot of great people. I had a very diverse cultural exchange making friends from all over the world, people I still keep in touch with, people who opened homes and their hearts for me and who gained a place in mine.

And which are the chances to do so if not by doing couch-surfing? I think this platform gets together in one place the coolest people in the world - those people who understood that freedom of mind is most likely a state achievable by gaining as much different experiences in different places, with different types of people. Those people who understood that each of us is responsible to leave a footprint, if not on the world itself, to the people living on it. To those who still believe in people, in humanity who are as thirsty as I am for new experiences every here and there with other open-minded person as they are.

Interests

I'm quite the "experience-it" type of person so there are couple things I've been trying and I really enjoyed and would like to share it with you - maybe we can find common passions?

I'm a lot of a sports person. I've been playing volleyball professionally for a while, when I was in high-school, but now that I'm so busy with my studies "I have retired", but ok, I still do it for fun. I go to gym (almost) daily to keep in a good shape, of course, but what I really love is doing most likely team-sports. I like playing basketball, handball, even football, sometimes with friends. Every winter I do skiing or snowboarding. Next to my hometown there's a great skiing resort so I've been doing this since I was very little. In the summer I love swimming in the seaside or hiking in the mountains. I just can't stand the heat of the cities. I love music and art. I can play the piano, I took some acting lessons recently but did not get the chance to perform much. I love to go to the theater, though, and concerts but my very favorite thing are the festivals. I love listening to live music, camping on the beach or in the mountains, bonfires, guitars, new friends, life-time stories with people you might never ever meet back again.

• arts
• theater
• performing arts
• acting
• concerts
• festivals
• traveling
• music
• live music
• piano
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• skiing
• snowboarding
• sports
• basketball
• soccer
• handball
• volleyball
• swimming
• computer science
• engineering
• freelancing
• science
• beaches
• mountains

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Since I started University I have gained a lot of freedom I never had back in the days when I was living with my parents so I started to get more opportunities of travelling and really experiencing life at a new level.
Since then, every summer I've been trying to live in a different place. In the first year I've been doing the "Work and Travel" program in USA and stayed there for the summer - spent all the money I have gained on travelling. I did Washington, NY, Miami, California, LA, Vegas, San Francisco, The Grand Canyon and many others. I've been staying in Canada for a week and got the chance to see Toronto and the great Niagara Falls. Next year I've repeated the experience but I've picked UK as a landing place. I lived there, in the Lake District, for the summer. I got the chance to see a bit of the Netherlands, I've been to Germany and Italy in my short holidays and after I've finished the program.
After I finish University I'm planning to take a gap year when I just want to travel, not spend more than a month in a single place - probably work as a freelancer to get the money to make ends meet but travel all the time in different places. Afterwards I want to do my master degree on the Australian land I've been dreaming about since I was little.

I think life offers so many opportunities for those who have a fine spirit and an open mind vision, like people over here on the Couch-surfing platform.

I think the most amazing thing you can do is just making your own money and then getting out there to discover the undiscovered, the world, yourself.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share pretty much any travel or life experience I had in those years. As long as people are open to new thoughts, ideas, experiences, I think it's a win-win and I'm really looking forward to it.
(If I'm travelling from Romania, I also like to share some of our traditional stuff tourists from other countries are really crazy about).

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Moldova, Netherlands, Philippines, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Romania, Spain, United Kingdom, United States