Hi, there, I am Tobias, or Toby for short.
Most of the time, I travel alone for teaching and research, somewhere between Cologne, where I live, Bordeaux, where I work, Bucharest, where I teach a bit and places that I need to see for work or want to see for fun.
Sometimes, I take my family along, and they are really funny. The twin boys are wight and will remind you of the minions, the teens are entrepreneurial and entertaining.
I am pretty talkative, but often, after a shared ride or a stay-over, people invite me again.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I like to meet people. I have made great experiences when staying over or having people in.

Interests

• jazz
• novels
• classic

Music, Movies, and Books

Most of the time, I prefer talking over listening to music. But being trained as a musician, I focused on Scandinavian piano jazz in recent years.
My favourite classic is Benjamin Constant, my favourite modern probably Alan Lightman.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I practice the sharing economy since the early 1990s already. I met this Scottish person in Leuven in 2000 and somehow arranged that our paths crossed time and again. So while moving across the world, literally, we managed to see each other.

Teach, Learn, Share

I used to do intensive commuting. I once took a student from another city. A while after, she called me to ask me to give a workshop at her institute which I did for free.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, laughing, experiences, training and a good talk about the smartness of cities.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Netherlands, United States