I've been involved with Couchsurfing since 2013, when a flatmate of mine in Warsaw introduced me to the community. Since that time, I've done a bit of surfing and hosting, but, nowadays, my work makes those things a bit difficult, so I mainly just go to events and use the Hangouts feature. (Lots of interesting experiences with that, haha.) The community is a bit different now, post-pandemic, but I still find that it's a great way to meet people who are adventurous, open-minded, and genuinely interesting in what thoughts and experiences they have to share. It's been a privilege to have been able to make so many friends in so many parts of the world through Couchsurfing.

For music, my tastes are pretty broad not really so genre-bound, and I'm not sure how accurately I could cover them without making a laundry list. For cinema, I've lately been into a variety of independent films. (See Hong Sang-soo, Thomas Vinterberg, Wong Kar-wai, Éric Rohmer, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, among others.) My reading generally relates to the abovementioned "interests." I'm especially fond of narrative and / or more journalistic nonfiction that captures the spirits of places and peoples. A few favorites: - "How Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region," by Joe Studwell - "Capital: The Eruption of Delhi," by Rana Dasgupta - "Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City," by Russell Shorto - "The Almost Nearly Perfect People: The Truth About the Nordic Miracle," by Michael Booth - "Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land," by Joel Brinkley - "Down and Delirious in Mexico City: The Aztec Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century," by Daniel Hernández - "Bangkok Days," by Lawrence Osborne - Peter Hessler's books on China