Hi there! Wherever over the world you're reading this. Internet is such an amazing tool. You can read my lines (which were once) written from a café in Istanbul, from your beloved couch kilometers away from me.

Let me introduce myself. I am Bilge. I am currently a student in London (after spending two years in Philadephia), but I was born and raised in certain different cities on the grounds of Turkey. I make music, and probably am made up of music. I sing, write songs, busk on the streets, record stuff. I also love traveling and I believe that it is the best experience you can get from life. It's the fuel to my spontaneity, it's my way of finding myself, it's a tool of understanding others as one with yourself and as completely different, too.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I carry home around me: in my hunch, in my shell. I think meeting you; learning your perspective on life; hearing your favorite songs; hearing about the places you've seen, your adventures; and taking your guidance are most priceless teachings. Traveling is more than a spatial subject, and I don't see the point in it if it does not include a form of human interaction - be it with other people, or your own self.

Interests

MUSIC. I'm a musician, singer, songwriter, and voilà, my SoundCloud profile if you're curious: soundcloud.com/bilgeny. Also I remain a total geek about polyphonic vocal music/choir music/a cappella etc. as well as 3024206 other genres.

I also have a huge interest in languages, and I try to catch every opportunity to learn more.

I write. Sometimes. Here's my blog: heygodot.blogspot.com

I dance instinctively. Although I do have a bit of a Latin dancing past. One, two, three, pass your hand to me. Recently started contemporary. It's more about the emotion, they say.

I love food, just as much as I love cooking. Big time foodie. Though after all that gourmet stuff, my favorite food might simply be pasta. Al dente.

• poetry
• singing
• performing arts
• salsa dancing
• cooking
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• piano
• backpacking
• languages
• philosophy
• cinema
• dance
• choir
• musicals
• music journalism

Music, Movies, and Books

My heart beats alternative/indie rock, yet I'm very much open to all sorts of experimental music. Obsessions include Fiona Apple, Andrew Bird, Peter Broderick, David Bowie, Muse, Radiohead, Slowdive, Grizzly Bear, Björk, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Strokes, The Killers, Sigur Ros, Matt Elliott, Fionn Regan, Pulp... Oh lord, there's so much I can't. Ask me and I'll let you know.

For literature, there goes Vonnegut, Kundera, Camus, J.D. Salinger, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Baudelaire, and so on.

Funny Games (1997) might be my favorite movie. Psycho-thrillers are cinematic gems. So, I'll just go with Haneke & Kubrick as my favorite directors. Then there's Michel Gondry, Coens, Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, Xavier Dolan.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Busking and saving every penny to travel abroad (for the first time!) to see my favorite band, Muse, perform live at a festival when I was 16.

You know, it's a start. More to come. Audentes fortuna iuvat.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to make certain animal sounds! Well.
I can also teach some guitar, singing and piano. WE CAN JAM TOGETHER. Crazy.
Or I can give mini acoustic concerts to you and your neighbors...
Some Turkish cuisine?
Basic dance moves?
How to disappear completely and never be found again?
And of course if it's any language I know, I'll help you learn it! (And vice-versa.)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Åland Islands

Countries I’ve Lived In

Turkey, United Kingdom, United States