"Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life."

~Wu-men

Hey!

This is the profile of Thomas and Maaike, a Dutch couple currently working and taking weekend trips to visit our European friends, and saving money for our future travel plans! We just finished our bachelor studies in Media Studies in Utrecht (the Netherlands).

We're planning to travel around Asia for around 8 months. We will be visiting Nepal, India, Taiwan, HongKong, the Philipines and we will travel back to Europe taking the Trans-Siberian railway passing Mongolia and various places in Russia.

We both lived and studied abroad for half a year (Thomas in Bergen, Norway and me in Brno, Czech Republic), where we made many new friends from all over the world. We love to meet our friends' families, stay at their homes, see the way they live their daily lives and the places they like to go; this way we can share our cultures & habits and both become enriched as people :)

Both of us are positive, happy and easy-going people who are not that demanding. We get along with different kinds of people and believe in always being friendly and kind.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To meet new people and to travel in a more authentic & local way! Not to stay in tourist hotels and only see the 'highlights' of a place but try to have new experiences that would be more difficult to have if you do not now any people/the language.

Interests

• yoga
• movies
• music
• guitar
• hiking
• food
• different cultures
• museums
• world religions
• literatur

Music, Movies, and Books

We are both really interested in Buddhism and (zen) poetry, Maaike also loves literature. Her favourite book is A visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, she also love Catcher in the Rye and The age of Innocence by Wharthon.
Both of us are really into movies; mostly classics and indie/arthouse movies. Our favourite (and first date movie) is Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders.
Music-wise we love 70s music, Joni Mitchell, but also electronics and Indian/world music.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Maaike went on a very spontaneous trip to the Dominican Republic with her best friend when they were 18 years old. It was a big culture shock at first (as it was our first time out of Europe, and our first long trip without parents) but since it I can't wait to see and discover more of the world :)
- Both of us went on an exchange programme (Thomas to Bergen, Norway and Maaike to Brno, Czech Republic). We both made many new friends from all over the world and travelled in the regions around it. We now try to visit our new friends at their homes all over Europe :D

Teach, Learn, Share

Thomas is a very good guitar player :D Maaike practices yoga. We both love cooking, movies/music and good conversations. We can ofcourse share some Dutch language skills if you might be interested in that.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good atmospheres :D We are both positive, happy and not too-difficult people.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Netherlands, Norway