My name is Elena and I was born in the coldest part of Russia -Siberia which was probably one of the reasons I love traveling so much :D Since my childhood me and my family were travelling all over the world. For me it's just unthinkable to settle in one place for a long time - I always feel a desire to go somewhere and explore. In the past I had an opportunity to live in Germany for 3 months as a part of exchange program. That helped me a lot to become fluent in German. This year I'm staying in US, New York state as a part of an exchange program again and I hope to travel here as much as possible.
My other passions besides traveling are photography and film making. The world around us is art and I always try to capture that on my camera.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The fact that it's free is awesome. But it's not the reason why I love Couchsurfing so much. For me it's about meeting new people and getting to know their stories and sharing mine. That's something that brings people together ,that's a cultural exchange, that's a life experience exchange .
Hotels, tour buses and tour guides is not my type of traveling . I love adventures and seeing the real part of the cities. Traveling with my backpack is something that makes me feel alive and gives me that sense of freedom .

Interests

• photography
• film making
• coffee
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• hiking
• editing
• coffee shops

Music, Movies, and Books

I listen to any kind of music, really. It always depends on my mood. But most of the time I prefer alternative rock and indie music. My favorite bands are Arctic Monkeys, Brand New, Placebo, Beatles, Radiohead, Muse, the Weeknd, Coldplay, Greenday and some others.
When it comes to books and movies , I prefer the ones that leave that aftertaste for weeks after you read/watch them . Couple of my favorite moves are Mr. Nobody, Basketball diaries, Kill your Darlings, I origins,
I really like Jack Kerouac's books , especially " On the road". It really inspired me to travel more and just in general enjoy life more

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Skydiving , Bungee jumping

Teach, Learn, Share

Regret nothing//

What I Can Share with Hosts

As I've been traveling a lot since i was a child I can really share a lot about other cultures, (and may be also give some traveling tips). I know that people generally have a lot of stereptypes about other countrieas and nationalities so I would be happy to break them.
Also, I can teach you to cook some traditional Russian food (Russian pancakes are awesome).

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Poland, Russian Federation, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Russian Federation, United States