CURRENT MISSION

Setting foot in Shanghai

ABOUT ME

Grown up in Halle, Eastern Germany, I have been a pretty normal boy till the end of high school and civil service. Soon I began to have my own mind and made decisions by myself: No studies like all of my classmates and instead doing an apprenticeship. After spending 2,5 years as a trainee and being fed up with workaday life I was lucky enough to became part of the barely established German volunteer program "weltwärts", a gate to leave the well-known neighbourhood. Heading for Cambodia I eventually found myself supporting a local NGO for 17 months. The experience I made during that time while travelling across Southeast Asia, staying in remote provinces like the Cardamom Mountains and enjoying fancy Phnom Penh was extraordinary. To an extent I adapted to the different approach of life and a piece of my heart will always remain with Cambodian culture and its people. Farewell wasn't easy.
Well, eventually I decided to travel back by land and it took me 8 months to cross Asia;

Back home since a while and still sobering....
Anyways, the show must go on. I finally found a path whorthwhile to follow up and started studying 'urbanistics' in Weimar. For my 5./6. semester I will move to Shanghai and become an exchange student at Tongji University.

PHILOSOPHY

Travel matters, not the destination. Rely on the coincidence of circumstances rather than your itinerary.
'To travel' and 'to make holidays' is not the same.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

While on the road through Asia CS gave me the opportunity to step into 'local cultures' and meet genuine characters. Thank you guys. Thumbs up.
Since May I am back in Germany and, as promised, will become more active with hosting. Please come and be my guest.
Writing references is not my strong point. I beg your pardon.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

'The couchsurfing project' is great but hospitality is not an invention of the 21. century. For many cultures, e.g. Islamic socities, kindness - in particular towards travellers - is courteous and part of the daily life. There has always been a natural way of couchsurfing and if our world would be an ideal one, networks like this won't be necessary.

Interests

People. Politics. History. Life. Things in-between.

• culture
• writing
• politics
• traveling
• muslim
• history
• volunteering
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

E. Hemingway: 'The Old Man and the Sea'; E.M. Remarque: 'The Black Obelisk'; H. Hesse

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Fell in love with Cambodia & travelled overland through Asia and Europe for 8 months.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can give you an advanced training on bargaining techniques or some German language, perhaps. Anyone?

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Malta, Nepal, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Cambodia, China, Germany

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