CURRENT MISSION

Trying to get on track with my PhD in Nutrition / Medical Sciences and still having a good life :)

ABOUT ME

I grew up near / in Berlin but now live in Cambridge, UK. My life centres around a couple of things: Love, friends, Uni/Work, travelling and hobbies. I try to experience as much as I can, and try not to separate the different parts of my life too much, because that's not sustainable for me. But maybe it's not sustainable to have everything at once. I don't know yet :)

I have studied different bit of the Social Sciences, then I did Public Health, and now I am doing a PhD in Medical Sciences, focusing on nutrition. I have lived in different cities on both sides of the Atlantic, but I think I'm too European to ever seriously considering leaving here.

I think I am a fairly optimistic, happy person. I like serious conversations as much as stupid ones. I am easy to get along with and highly respectful. People say I look like a bear. I don't know about that.

PHILOSOPHY

Nothing complicated. I try to care of myself, people around me, and the environment. I am engaged in a local NGO here in Cambridge to push green issues in student and professional life. I try do stuff that has some kind of purpose for society.
I am aware of the fact that I am a white, heterosexual male from Europe. I therefore enjoy a lot of privileges and don't experience discrimination the way other people do. A Sociology degree surely helped me becoming aware of this, and I try to help mitigating this where I can. Oh, and I don't like - inequality, war, and ethnocentrism.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I started maybe in 2004 with Hospitality Club, then switched to CS at some point. I hosted quite a few people in Berlin and other places, was a guest in Spain and the Baltic states and Lebanon. It's always been great.

I haven't been participating for the last couple of years, neither hosting nor being a guest, for multiple reasons. I kind of miss it a bit, so I'm trying to pick it up again.

Interests

Main interests:
- food (love salads and fresh food, but do enjoy other stuff),
- music (indie-folk, some pop, quite ambient house)
- music (I am trying to become a producer. NOT that easy ;))
- social issues (I probably spend 20% of the day thinking about stuff like: should the railways in the UK be re-nationalized, how to stop the war, how do we overcome Neoliberalism, etc.)

• books
• singing
• concerts
• festivals
• walking
• clubbing
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• piano
• surfing
• social science

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:
James Frey, Naomi Klein, Matt Ruff, Jonathan Frantzen, Frank Mccourt, T.C. Boyle, my non-fictional favorites are Joseph Stiglitz and Noam Chomsky.

Music: Grizzly Bear, Beach House, Fleet Foxes, Rhye, MacDeMarco. A lot of random stuff due to Spotify, recently discovered classical music.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

National Parks in South America. Splendid.

Teach, Learn, Share

DSLR, languages, loads of music tips.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can cook, I can laugh.
I ask good questions and am genuinely interested.
And probably have one or another interesting thing to tell about nutrition, politics, music, and human emotions.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Chile, Ecuador, Germany, United Kingdom, United States