Having grown up in quiet German suburbia, alongside my chaotic parents and my wonderful, disabled sister, I had to become self-sufficient and autonomous relatively early. Therefore I lived a joyful and unfettered childhood. Even though it had been tough being on my own from time to time, I happily experienced all the pleasures of growing up in such a creative, yet safe environment. As I got older, I realized that people, travelling and art are my essential interests. Playing the piano or in a drama group, cooking with friends, travelling through unknown territory and so on became my fascinations. After all and despite the fact that I'm hardly capable of describing my current self, I think that I am an empathatic and sensitive boy, who enjoys the company of humans, whilst remaining independent and able to think logically and rationally. I'm neither too much of a weather vane, nor too narrow-minded. I love to learn.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To me, Couchsurfing has been the ideal opportunity to travel far beyond mainstream-tourism. Couchsurfing provides the possibilty to really gain a deep insight into a foreign culture and also to get to know open-minded and lovely human beings. I've learned some of the biggest lessons of my life from people I met right here. Whereas it also enables you to travel much cheaper, I also regard Couchsurfing as a win-win-situation, since guests and hosts both profit from their gathering, getting to know eachother in a way strangers do not usually get to know eachother in. The only thing about Couchsurfing I disapprove of is the fact that it has become a for-profit organization. On long term, I am hoping that websites such as hospitalityclub.org or warmshowers.org gain the network and community to compete with couchsurfing.com.
Currently I am planning to travel through Java, Bali, Singapore, West Malaysia and South-east Thailand.

Interests

I am hugely interested in the arts, especially poetry, lyricism, literature, music and film. Even more than that, I am interested in the human nature and how it behaves. How we become addicted to things that destroy us, how we fear things that do not even jeapordize us and how we ignore things that actually make us happy. I believe that we oftentimes make life far harder for ourselves than it has to be. Above that I am interested in any ideas on things beyond human perceptions, such as metaphysics and spirituality. I like to view such things quite rationally, but I do belive in a universe that follows some deeper principles and reasons.

• arts
• culture
• literature
• poetry
• film making
• environment
• cooking
• traveling
• music
• piano
• economics
• mathematics
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

Lately I've been interested in a bunch of socially critcal and political documentaries, for example Citizenfour, Inside Job or Fahrenheit 911. In the area of fiction, I truly enjoyed movies like Into the Wild, Forrest Gump, Good Will Hunting, The Social Network and 12 Angry Men.
Books I've really liked include The Old Man and the Sea, The Little Prince and The Alchemist. My taste in music varies from classical music, jazz and blues to classic rock, house music and even hip-hop. I find it hard to describe my taste in music, so i'll just go with the fact that I appreciate good music.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

When I was 15 I shot a full-lenght movie together with my cousin. It has been a huge effort and I cannot even remember what drove us to stick to our ideas, but it has also been something that makes me proud to this day. On our roadtrip through the states, we stayed with Navajos over christmas and took part in one of their ceremonies. Sitting throught that night in the tent deep in the desert of Arizona was such an important experience I would never want to miss. Having written all these things, I must honestly say that the most amazing thing of all the things I've done so far is falling in love, in love with the girl I deeply admire to this day.

Teach, Learn, Share

It's paradox. On the one hand I would not even know what qualifies me to teach you anything, whereas on the other hand I believe that I am still someone to learn quite some things from. I think people learn most from eachother if they just share their company with eachother. More practically, I could teach things about screenwriting and filmmaking, as well as German, mathematics, economics and a buch of random other stuff.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Whatever you like me to share with you. I am willing to always help out where I can, to cook and clean if you want me to, or just have a great time talking through evenings, playing games or going out to experience something in your local area. Also I am always willing to get and stay in touch, but I also respect hosts that insist in there private space and want me to be as unobstrusive as possible.