ABOUT ME

In the first place I'm probably a person of the outside, preferably spending my time hiking, cycling around or just sitting in the sun, reading a book. If I ever have the chance, I'd love to start a camping place / scout centre somewhere in the mountains

And apart from that, I'm not really a person who likes going out that much, I rather have some friends over at home for dinner and tea or head somewhere together. In that sense St Andrews is actually a place that suits me well: as there's nothing happening in town, you have to organise your own house party or bonfire

PHILOSOPHY

A good travel destination doesn't have to be far away: why not first fully appreciate your own surroundings/country, before travelling to some far-away corner of the world?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'd be happy to be your host in St Andrews!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Particularly in Russia, I spent every night either in train or at a couchsurfer :). All of them were lovely people and so hospitable!

Couchsurfing also gave me the opportunity to make some great friends, some of them I still regularly meet as they happen to live or study in the Netherlands.

Lastly, the CS community in St Andrews might be small, but within it I got to know some great people.

Interests

I like hiking, cycling, gardening (we've got really nice community gardens in St Andrews!) and wild camping. Apart from all these kind of nature-related things, I spend a lot of my spare time cooking, drinking considerable amounts of tea and learning languages. And in the more abstract sense, I wouldn't mind having a conversation about things like sustainability issues, urban planning, globalisation...
I'm also involved with the scouts in my hometown (Groningen), helping out at camps and other events.

• books
• cooking
• partying
• drinking
• gardening
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• languages
• language exchange

Music, Movies, and Books

Almost any music goes, really. Above all though, I particularly like Tame Impala, Gold Panda, Dungen, Bonobo and a handful of Jazz musicians
Concerning books: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mo Yan, Tolstoj.. The books in my room could be about anything

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- If I have to recommend an area to go to, I would choose for the Pamir. I'm currently trying to improve my Russian, so hopefully next time I'll understand the people and the region a bit better.

- travelling with Nick through Russia and China. We had two different perspectives, as Nick is Russian himself and travelling with him from couchsurfer to couchsurfer definitely was one of the nicest, -and frostiest- and interesting parts of my trip last year.

Teach, Learn, Share

I’ve done a few language exchanges over the years. Teaching someone Dutch (rather than English) is something I really enjoy! If you know some Russian, German, Standard Chinese or Romanian, I’d be happy to learn from you.

We should definitely do some cooking together, if you feel like.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United Kingdom