Hello, hello, Dear Couchsurfing people, My name is Hidde and I like to meet other Europeans in my summer vacations, all the while experiencing the culture and nature of my dear continent. This summer, all things go a little bit different. Yet in line with -and with special attention to - the official advice of authorities, I have decided to still do some traveling through Central Europe this summer. Couchsurfing is how I would usually get around, and I would like to see whether people are still willing to kindly offer me a place to sleep. Please, if you feel like hosting me, but have COVID-related reservations, tell me if you want me to take special repercussions. I am very flexible in this regard, ok with keeping physical distance, and carry sufficient masks and disinfectant. Having covered that, a little bit about myself: I am a student from Groningen, my study programme is a convoluted mess that involves International Relations, some Cognitive Science and Critical Theory and I have studied some Russian, which I am always up for refreshing. While I am broadly interested and like to learn about most things, I especially love exchanging thoughts on politics and culture. Not a huge party guy, I generally prefer a sit-down cafe over a full night of clubbing. I’m not one of those who consider CouchSurfing a type of free (or rather cheap nowadays) hostel, so for me the social element is important. Yet at the same time I respect people’s schedules and can easily amuse myself on my own if needed. The main reason I use Couchsurfing is because I feel like it is one of the best ways to have meaningful interactions with people while traveling. When I go someplace and only meet people in commercial contexts (as most tourism works), I feel like I never get fully honest answers to my questions and like I can’t get an authentic of what life like here. I don’t fly anymore, so my vacations are de facto limited to Europe. This, together with the fact that I have more time than money, means I have a lot of attention for detail, and don’t really need to focus on seeing major attractions. My interest goes to the small, the strange, the easy-to-miss and the hard-to-forget.