I like very much the spirit of opening your house to guests, not with the idea of "free hostel" but wanting to know about the country they come from and about the guests themselves. It is always worthwhile knowing how people live in other places and cultures. It is enriching and challenging at the same time. I enjoy very much the eye-opener effect CS undoubtedly has e.g. Kaliningrad opened my eyes to Turkiye. Sounds weird but it is true.This is definitely a huge benefit of couchsurfing.

Classical music from Hildegard von Bingen to Arvo Pärt. Literature: Paul Auster (USA), Meir Shalev (IL), Efgeni Bodolazkin (RU), Haruki Murakami (JP), Z. Prilepin (RU), Javier Marías (ES), Juli Zeh (DE) Movies: zerkalo (Tarkovsky), Wenecja (J.J. Kolski)