CURRENT MISSION

See the world and make friends along the way.

ABOUT ME

So - I'm Finn, a hopeful one day travel writer or some other exotic profession including travelling, but humble student in European Studies at the moment and having enormous fun at college. Generally I spend my time reading books, learning languages (a bit of an obsession), hanging out with friends or just exploring stuff. I like to think of myself as a positive person, although I love the cynical side of life and any dark sense of humour. I can usually be found taking a photo of something, as photography is a big hobby of mine, playing the piano or sipping coffee. Also, I am currently turned on by most things Spanish. B-)

PHILOSOPHY

I think broadening your horizon is probably the most important thing in life - along with being happy. That doesn't mean you should always be liking everything you see, but it does mean stepping over yourself from time to time and just do something new you'd never thought you'd see yourself doing. Or stepping over prejudices you have, consciously or unconsciously, whether through religion, cultural background or ideology.
Staying positive is another very important thing for me. Sure, bad things happen and we shouldn't ignore them, but I prefer to see tham as things to laugh about later, or the ingredients of your next great story.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Okay, I'm completely new to CS but in late August me and my friend Beth will be travelling through Switzerland together and may well have our first CS experience! At the moment my home situation is a bit of a mess involving country-hopping and student accommodation so I might not be able to host soon but any experiment that wants 'to make the world a bette rplace one couch at a time' is something I have to try :D.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None as yet..

Interests

Travelling, my friends, books (literature, travel books, photo books), photography, piano, food - although i'm a rubbish cook, travelling again and going out.

• writing
• books
• literature
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• pub crawls
• reading
• traveling
• piano
• languages
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: As it is in Heaven (Sa som i Himmelen), Goodbye Lenin, Volver, Amélie, the Constant Gardener, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Little Miss sunshine,Festen, the Motorcycle Diaries etc.

Music: Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Beirut, Devotchka, KT Tunstall, Imogen Heap, Jack Johnson, Feist, Jaymay, Tori Amos, Wir Sind Helden, much from the Putumayo label, especially South American (tango, salsa, samba etc) music but also flamenco, fado, Irish trad and other folk occasionally. It's all a bit random really.

Books: the Book Thief (M. Zusak), Gabriel García Márquez (especially A hundred years of solitude), Life of Pi (Y. Martel), Sophie's World (J. Gaarder), Max Havelaar (Multatuli), Fingersmith (S. Waters), Everything is Illuminated (J. Safran Foer)L'Élégance du herisson (M. Barbery) and many, many more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm not sure it was that amazing, but a month after I turned 18, I went travelling through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia on my own for a month. It sure felt like a big adventure to me :).

The most amazing thing I have ever seen was probably the Australian outback in 2008. The hugeness. The flatness. The redness. The kangaroos. Another was snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef, and realising it was within touching distance, when a sea turtle swam under me. A third was my first proper Irish pub night and realising Irish people really are that friendly.
Lastly, the fourth time I saw the Eiffel Tower - I was still marvelling at how beautiful it was.

Teach, Learn, Share

Choose a language - I'd love to teach you some stuff from Dutch, English, French, German.. and some help with my very basic Schwytzerdütsch would be muchly appreciated :). I would also love to learn Swedish, Arabic and/or Russian one distant day..

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Canada, Croatia, France, Greece, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland