I'm a vagabond writer-teacher currently in Dortmund for one year on a visiting international guest lecturer contract at one of the local universities, teaching classes in Cultural Studies / American Studies. I'm happy to host travelers passing through the city (even if it's for the EUROS as I'm also a football fan -- especially so if you have an extra ticket 😜), and also quite happy to meet up with other couchsurfers living in/around Dortmund (kann fast fließend Deutsch sprechen und will es immer noch verbessern!).

If you are requesting to stay with me, PLEASE send me a personalized CS request that shows you've actually read my profile. I understand planning travel can be stressful and time consuming, so copy-pasting one message is easiest, but when I get messages that are obviously copy-pasted without any attention to why you think we might get along, I decline them automatically.
Couchsurfing is about making connections with people, so please, show me that you are not a copy-paste-spambot, but in fact a real person, who recognizes that I, too, am a real person. :)

I love CS, but miss when it was free, as it should be, but still happy to meetup/host, and can't imagine not supporting the platform, unless they raise the price to make it even more of a shell of its former self. :(

OG About Me Profile from a million (err, fifteen) years ago:
Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred...Each man's life represents a road toward himself, an attempt at such a road, the intimation of a path. No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that.
~Hesse

Not I -- not any one else, can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself. It is not far -- it is within reach; Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know; Perhaps it is every where on water and on land. If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of your hand on my hip, And in due time you shall repay the same service to me; For after we start, we never lie by again.
~Whitman

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've had the pleasure of surfing throughout Europe and the US, and hosted a handful of surfers in Boston, Montana, and Chicago. I try to make it down to a meeting once a year or so, but generally prefer to meet one on one via hosting and surfing, and now that I have my own place with a spare bedroom in Dortmund for the next few months, I'm happy to open my home to host Couchsurfers again.

Interests

Things I love:
Love
Beer
Poetry
Bicycles
Riding Bicycles
Wine
Music
History
Friends
Football
Football (Soccer)
Philosophy
Sunshine
Any combination of the above

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Wes Anderson, Hayao Miyazaki, Darren Aronofsky
Music: The Decemberists, Stars, The Faint, Jurassic 5, Cake, Andrew Bird, Ben Folds, Pedro the Lion, Interpol, The Mountain Goats, Mulgrew Miller, RATATAT, The Hold Steady, etc etc etc...
Books: Herman Hesse, Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway (when I can stomach his misogyny, which isn't always), Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Steinbeck, Italo Calvino, Denis Johnson, Jack Gilbert, Charles Wright, Ocean Vuong, Wallace Stevens, and, I have to admit, Michel Foucault.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed the Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine at 2 in the morning to see an incredible vista of Rome from the top of a 1700 year old building, all thanks to Roberto and CS

Teach, Learn, Share

I spent a few years working at a small wine and beer shop, so I know a fair amount about fine wine and craft beer, and worked as a bartender for a minute or two (or several thousand), so I can put together a few good cocktail recipes, all which I'm always more than happy to share. I also have masters degree in the history and philosophy of religion, and one in poetry, so we can chat about that -- though usually best over one of the aforementioned drinks anyhow ;)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United Kingdom, United States

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