Hello, I'm a 20-year-old, solo-traveller hailing from Basel, Switzerland. I also go by the abbreviation of my name; Yarik.

I'm currently on a indefinite trip which is supposed to bring me around the world at least once.
As I'm finished with my Matura (the swiss equivalent of the british A-Levels), I have all the time in the world to travel the same in the most chill way possible.

Meanwhile I want to educate myself on the various ways of living and thriving on this pale blue dot, by meeting and talking to all kinds of people, wherein I'm particularly interested in eastern and northern cultures.
Of course no study of people is complete without understanding their reasons, so my interest lies also with the philosophy and history of the places I visit.
Generally, I try to be aware of my surroundings and the deeper my understanding of it grows, the better.

I'm a rather talkative person, always using an opportunity to practice the art of conversation and potentially learn or teach something new. Often I jump straight into the deep end because of that.
I also love writing, as it is just speech in its pure, crystalline form and witout a time limit on the conversation. Although I don't have all that much material to show as of yet, it's the most fullfilling activity I can think of.
The same applies to reading, as I read just about anything that wakes my interest, particularly poetry, philosophy, history and, to a lesser degree, fiction.

I'm an avid listener of music with a foot in nearly every genre, spanning the whole spectrum. When I listen to music I seldomly manage to remain still, more often than not unconsiously beginning to dance. For this reason I'm a passionate raver and, consequently, convinced hedonist, indulging in all forms of pleasure.
I particularly love food, especially if I cook it myself, alcohol (Calvados!) and spices. Fine cuisine in general I indulge in the most.
I adore strolling through a city, dandering from one café to the other restaurant to some guests etc..
Art is something that continually amazes me anew and I feel very at home in alternative art spheres. As long as I don't grow hungry I can waltz through museums and city-scapes for hours.

Not only do I love dancing, I love movement in general.
I am an enthousiastic sportsman, not shying away from any activity, although I'm not really good at chasing around balls, especially footballs.
I've got now a little over a decade of karate instruction under my belt (ha!) and I've been a passionate karate-ka for most of my life.
I also adore cycling, skiing, hiking, swimming, cliff-diving and running, in that order.
Something I would love to try is sailing, parachuting, para-gliding (and skiing), bungee-jumping and flying with a wingsuit or a jetpack.

Regarding nearly everything in life I'm a very open-minded and curious person, although I'm also quite stubborn, remaining vigilant regarding my own opinions and wishes partaining to my fate. I'm not easily disturbed and I cannot reasonably hate anyone.

As my interest in philosophy, history and anthropology overlap heavily, especially in the present, I'm also a pretty political person, engaging regularly in political activities and staying up-to-date with current events.
If that bothers you, just tell me. I won't be offended and I'll shut up about it.

One of my main issues is the environment and climate change and I try to do my part in keeping the world beautiful by having a Negative-Waste policy everywhere I go.

I always try to be a good guest, giving my best to act according to the customs of my host. I already lived by myself for four years in a flat, so I'm intimately accustomed to the upkeep of a household and the hosting of guests, although that was before I knew about couchsurfing. I know from my own experience how frustrating inconsiderate guests can be and I very much hope that I won't turn out as one.

Now, that flat is no more and I'm on my way around the globe.

If you want you can add me on

Facebook: www.facebook.com/yarik.kuznetsov

Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/mrricidee

or read my travel blog: www.wheresyarik.org
(so far there's nothing on the blog, yet.)

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

I'm on couchsurfing mainly to travel in a way less boring and expensive as tourism. I've already made a few friends here and there in the world and I enjoyed it greatly being hosted by them.
I'm optimistic that my experiences on couchsurfing will be comparable to those in my past and that I will make a great many friends on this platform.

兴趣

I am intersted in life in general and if anything should not be listed here, I either forgot it or am easily enthused for it. Furthermore, if I'd try to list everything I'd exhaust the databank of couchsurfing at some point hahaha

• writing
• poetry
• fashion
• dancing
• cooking
• wine
• coffee
• fine dining
• meditation
• partying
• politics
• technology
• chess
• reading
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• skiing
• swimming
• anthropology
• ecology
• economics
• history
• journalism
• philosophy
• political science
• hitchhiking
• nature
• theatre
• techno
• karate
• gastronomy
• fine arts
• psychedelics
• kubb

音乐、电影和书籍

I can't tell you what my favourite music, movies or books are, because - and believe me I've tried - the list would be to long.
I'm generally really bad in comparing apples to oranges.

atm I'm listening to Moby's album "Play"

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

I ate, slept and got inked on treehouses. Braving storms in hammocks like sailors do on ships in the open sea. Very interesting adding another (vertical) dimension to movement in every-day life.

Also, I've once stood before an audience of nearly 400 people holding a speech in defense of a political resolution for the European Youth Parliament. That was quite the situation retrospectively.
In the middle of my speech, my phone, on which I had written down the speech, died on me and I had to improvise the rest of it from memory.
Written down like this it may seem like not that big a deal, especially considering that in the end all went well and I successfully finished my speech, forgetting almost nothing.
But that brief - and somehow still infinitely streched - moment of panic before those 400 confused faces and its nonchalant resolution will stay with me forever.
That was the most direct attention I ever had in my life and it was brilliant.

教，学，和分享

I'm of the opinion, that in life one is learning continually. I see life as one grand anthropological field study.
For this reason my ultimate goal is to learn everything, although at the present moment I still prioritize by interest.
I'm ready to teach you anything I know, although I don't know everything I know or everything at all.
Of the top of my head I can teach you to cook and to defend yourself with karate. Everything else usually just comes up in conversations with me.
I enjoy sharing stories, good books, music, works of art, food, drinks, joints and tents.
I like company in general, although I'm not dependent on it.

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

I can share with you my life's stories, as I'm pretty open regarding my past, altough I prefer to do that in person. At least a part of them you'll be able to read on my travel blog, linked somewhere above.
Other than that I can share with you my person and stuff, but that again is rather difficult over the internet.
I hope in this short(?) bio I gave you at least an impression of who - and what - I am, even if I got carried away a bit, and I hope to meet you, dear reader, for a coffee someday.

tl;dr: Let me sleep at your place and I'll cook and talk with you.

我游览过的国家

Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Netherlands

我居住过的国家

Russian Federation, Switzerland