Hi! Nice to see you on my profile:) I'm Laurenz and I am 23 years old.
My hometown is Erlangen, a small city in Bavaria, Germany. Currently, I study and live in Osnabrück, which is an almost equally small city in north-western germany. For this winter term however, I am in Helsinki on an erasmus-exchange, studying at the University of Helsinki.

I would describe myself as a very openminded and easygoing person. I like to get to know new people and have good conversations - good company is a great thing to have. I am adventurous and love to make as many new experiences as I can. I assume we have only one life, so we sould make the most of it!
Depending on my current mood, I can also be rather quiet and thoughtful at times.

I have two younger siblings, a sister (18) and a brother (14). No pets unfortunatly, but I would love to have a cat.

However, you can get to know more about me in the "My interests"-section:)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

After I finished school in 2015, I had the urge to leave europe for a couple of months and explore diffrent places, diffrent landscapes, diffrent people and diffrent societies and cultures. Thats why I went on a trip around a world. A friend of mine recommended me to check out couchsurfing during this trip, which I did, and it was among the best things I did on this trip. I got to know loads of amazing, friendly, open, smart and whatnot people and learned a lot from them. I think this concept is just great, and I love to get in touch with local people when traveling.
Unfortunately, I have never hosted myself so far, since the citys I have lived in are not very touristy and my accomodation-situation did not really allow for it, but the time in which I can finally give something back to this community will come for sure.

Interests

I'm love climbing, which I do more or less regularly. Therefor I go to the climbing gym with friends or sometimes outside to the rocks in bavaria.
I also really enjoy visiting music festivals and go camping. When I was around 9 years old, I went on a youth camp for the first time. Since I am 16, I help organizing that camp and work with the children.
Meeting friends is always a good thing to do - no matter if we just hang out or do some party ( I do like partys:) ) - I always prefer if something is going on over sitting at home alone. Having a great time with great conversations (sometimes sophisticated, sometimes just ridiculously stupid) is what makes my student life super enjoyable. I also like stuff like boardgames - just everthing that's good for having a good time together!
Well, if I sit at home alone, I spend quite some time on the internet or play computergames. I have a large interest in technolgy in general, especially computers and smartphones, and I try to keep me up to date with current developments in that domain.

A special thing that I'm very interested in is Cognitive Sciene/Neuroscience/Psychology. At times I get a little philosophical and wonder about why we exist and who we actually are:D The most fascinating thing for me is the human brain, which is responsible for us experiencing the world the way we do. That's why I am studying Cognitive Science (currently in my 7th bachelors semester). Science is generally a thing I am very passionate about and definitly the field I want to dedicate my career to.

• pets
• cats
• music festivals
• festivals
• dancing
• ballroom dancing
• partying
• traveling
• music
• camping
• skydiving
• rock climbing
• neuroscience
• psychology
• hitchhiking
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Recently, my taste of music is influenced a lot by electronic music. When I go out at night, I prefet Techno / Deephouse / Goa / Psytrance. Hoewever, I listen to a wide variety of music, ranging from rock and metal to rap and more alternative music. My all-time favourite bands are probably Nightwish, Evanesence and Linkin Park.
When I was younger, I used to read a lot. For books and movies, Science fiction and Fantasy are my favourite genres. In my opinion, the best movies/books are the ones that make you really think about something or have a twist that completely blows my mind.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My trip around the world, including
- Volunteering in organizations for needy children in Africa
-Skydiving around Capetown
-Climbing on top of table mountain
-Teaching english in Peru
-Visiting Machu Picchu
-Mountainbiking on the world's most dangerous road in Bolivia
-Visiting Rio de Janeiro during Carneval
-Hitchhiking in New Zealand from north to south in 4 weeks
-and of course meeting lots of intersting people from all over the world on couchsurfing!

Another great experience I have made was a youth exchange with Poland. I was 15 at that time and already crazy for an adventure. We had 8 exchange partners visiting us and after just two weeks, we had been the best friends. We did not want to wait one year until it was our turn to go to Poland to see them again, so my best friend and me decided to visit them on our own. We went to poland by bus and spent three weeks there - it was such an amzing time. There is nothing better than getting to know new people you can spend an amazing time with.

And of course, studying Cognitive Science is one great amazing experince. I got to know many super cool and interesting people and learned a lot of fascinating stuff.

What I Can Share with Hosts

What I Can Share With Hosts - that's not really easy for me to anwer. I feel like there is nothing special I know that I could really share. What I want to do is making my host feel as comfortable as possible with my visit, being friendly, polite and helpful at any time. I can help in the house and fulfill whatever tasks the host might have to be done and I am capable of doing. What I can share are my opinions on differnt things and my experiences on traveling or whatever else. Also, I am glad to share my knowledge about technolgy. If you need a new phone or computer, or have a problem with either, just ask me.
Having good conversations, expand one's horizons and share a good time together - I think that is what couchsurfing is about and that's what I want to make possible for my host:)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany