Hi! I'm Alicja. I am from Poland. Currently, I am a student of Scandinavian studies at UCL. My true passion is languages. As of now, I am learning Swedish and Finnish. I remember when I heard Swedish for the first time and completely fell in love. It was through the language that I got interested in Scandinavia and decided to study it at the university. Last year, I did my exchange programme in Uppsala, Sweden. I used this time as best as I could to explore Sweden and practise my Swedish and meet new people. But my interests are not just limited to Scandinavia. I love to learn about other cultures and languages by listening to people's stories.

My dream work is to work at a university as a researcher. I find the university environment to be incredibly stimulating and constantly evolving. Most of the people who've been my role models were my teachers. And so I would like to also be able to make a real impact on someone's life through education.

I've been travelling since I can remember. It was extremely important for my parents to take me and my sister to different places. They taught me how to be curious and how to admire other cultures without judging them.

I've never been ashamed of the place or the culture I come from. I cherish it. I find Poland to be an incredibly interesting country with its complicated history, beautiful culture, tasty food and a language that sounds like wind. I love telling people about Poland and, especially what's best about it but I don't hide the bad sides either.

I come from a very small town in Northern Poland. It's fair to say that I both love and hate this place at the same time. It will forever be my home, the place I feel the safest. I love its vast forests, lakes and simplicity. There's nothing like waking on a summer morning and picking up berries from your garden for breakfast and then taking a bike trip to the lake. It's blissful and careless.

On the other hand, I always felt like I don't fully belong there like I need more: more diversity, more open-mindedness, more curiosity, more perspectives. Travelling with my parents made me realise that all of those more's is out there and I have access to them.

I spend my whole childhood wanting to get out of my small town. I moved out of my parents' when I was 15 to go to high school in a bigger town, then when I was 18 I moved to London to go to university. I wouldn't change anything about those experiences because they made me the person I am today. I learned a lot about the world and myself and I met wonderful people. But the older I get the better I understand that big-city life is not for me. I can accommodate pretty much everywhere I go but I found out I relax best when I am in nature. Forest and a lake is the view I would like to have from my future house, preferably a tiny house that would allow me to travel.

I like to think of myself as a social introvert-adventurer. That means I both enjoy being with people but I also need time alone. It is extremely important for me to have a community but also to constantly listen and be at peace with myself.

I like learning new things and being creative. I explore my creativity through knitting/crocheting, amateur photography and cooking.

I would love to live my life slowly and savour every breath of it. I don't want to lose passion and interest in the things happening around me.

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

It's the people and their stories that make a country/place/culture special. Whenever I get the chance to travel someplace new, I always take some time to sit down and watch people live their lives. It's a very enriching, grounding and interesting experience. I always feel this longing to know these people's stories but never was brave enough to come up and start talking. I think that Couchsurfing is a platform that enables you to do just that.

兴趣

• languages
• food
• linguistics
• hip hop
• scandinavia

音乐、电影和书籍

I listen to all types of music depending on my mood or the task I am doing. Lately, I've been listening to more classical music as I find it to be a perfect soundtrack to studying, meditating and cooking. Normally, my playlists are filled with everything from pop to jazz. I have a particular interest in hip hop music: I'm writing my undergrad dissertation about Swedish hip hop music. I find this genre of music vibrant, dynamic and linguistically very intriguing.

I'm not a huge movie person but I am always interested in people's recommendations. My cinematographic taste is however not as diverse as my music taste ;) I like movies that are funny, witty and heart-warming but not tacky.

I used to read a lot when I was younger but the university changed that. I still do read a lot (probably even more than before) but it's mostly course literature. I also realized that I enjoy reading reportages and history books. I do, however, have a favourite novel and it's "Bieguni" (Flights) by Olga Tokarczuk (an absolute must-read for everyone).

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

I'm not sure if it counts as an amazing thing but it was definitely one of the proudest moments of my life. It was a hike I did last June with my friend on Gotland. We walked about 45 km in three days. It does not sounds like a lot but it was definitely a challenge to climb up the hills on Gotland's coast with a 12 kg backpack on my shoulders (I'm a very petite person). Luckily every night, we were able to watch the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises, which was the best reward ever. This experience showed me how strong of person I am, both physically and mentally.

教，学，和分享

I am always looking to work on my languages or to help someone work on theirs. I work part-time as a Polish and Swedish tutor. I love knitting and crocheting and will gladly teach anyone interested. I also love cooking and talking about food and will be happy to cook something for you.

我游览过的国家

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales

我居住过的国家

England, Poland, Sweden