CURRENT MISSION

different student

ABOUT ME

NO SPACE TO HOST ATM!
helping a friend out.

I'm Arjen,

32 yr old student from Amsterdam. I love photography, traveling, riding my old fixed-gear-racing-bike (a 'fakie'), being busy with my oldtimer car (Ford Escort '84), busy building a small boat, (these kind of projects tend to vary greatly :) ) and trying to finalize my study at the same time. I started late; at 27.. so give me a brake ;)

PHILOSOPHY

I think I actually don't really like our post-modern / industrial society.. so I'm creating my own and everybody is more than welcome to join in for a few days :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I rent a small house in Amsterdam West (De Baarsjes near Mercatorplein), and I got a couch :)
And perhaps I'll try to find a few couches somewhere in the future :)

and I post some info in the Amsterdam groups every now and than. Info on Amsterdam/couchsurfing/travelling:
Ramon Ster is a very active CSer, his profile is full of hints tips and information:
http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/ramonster/

he also made a nice map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115296959120275416142.000450662c7289c708b2e&ll=52.370149,4.892178&spn=0.06582,0.128574&z=13

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

that was before CS existed.. stayed with some friends at peoples homes in Germany, in Romania, in Poland, in Ireland, in England.. uhm.. and some other eastern European countries ;)
We just looked for a way to find a contact in a country we wanted to visit, usually via somebody in the Netherlands who was married to somebody from.. who got family in... etc.
Or got invited to put up our tents in backgardens/stay over for diner/hanged around a few days with some locals we met on the spot.
If you want to prove you've really, really, read my profile; ask to put up your tent in my garden :)
Not that I'm very strict, but some effort in the request ìs appreciated.
Now summer has ended I only seem to get requests from people who clearly didn't read my profile, or only the part about my couch.
If I think you didn't read my profile when sending me a request, I refered you to this section of my profile;
Search on this site in the groups on how to write a couchrequest. You dont have to tell me what you do, or what you like, thats what a profile is for. Tell me why you want to spent time with ME. I am not a hostel, I joined this site to get positive energy into my house and show nice people my nice city.
I don't do second chances.. well not on CS :) If I wrote to you to look into this section, don't come back to me and say you are sorry and didn't know.. I allready found out you didn't know :)

Interests

Music (really broad; only metal with grunting, commercial crap and stuff in Dutch are not allowed at my place ;) )
Photography
Movies
Sociology
(practical) history
Fixed-gear-race-bike
Parties/going out
live music in general
Leftie
Reiki
Martial arts (not very active)
Art/photography exhibits
the Internets
alternative energy
lowtech solutions
and travelling!

• arts
• photography
• coffee
• partying
• gardening
• boating
• movies
• traveling
• music
• live music
• cycling
• martial arts
• cartography
• history
• sociology

Music, Movies, and Books

John Coltraine, Miles Davis, Stones, Bill Withers, Fleetwood Mac, Curtis Mayfield, JJ Cale, Jefferson Airplane, Doors, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmie H, The Clash, Radiohead, Sasha, Digweed, Richie Hawtin, Dave Seaman, Nick Warren, Paul Elstak, Chris Liebing, Adam Beyer, Dave Clarke, Satoshi Tomiie, Deep Dish, Sven Vath, Paul van Dyk (live), Modeselektor, Orbital, Rza/Rakim, Ghostface, Common, Immortal Technique, Inspectah Deck, Beastie Boys, Cyprus Hill, The Roots, Mos Def, Atari Teenage Riot, NOFX, Rancid, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Allice in Chains, RATM, Metallica, The Hives, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Gorillaz, Morcheeba, Air, Moby, Hooverphonic, Buena Vista, DLG, Morgan Heritage, Bob M., Gregory Isaacs, Spearhead, Bredren (local support), and the list goes on..

reading:
unbearable lightness of being, being there, curious incident of the dog in the nighttime, life of Pi, Garp (hate/love thing), ordinairy people, winetou, biggles (last 2: youth sentiment), thrillers, easy reads, de groene Amsterdammer, (saturdays) newspapers, etc..

Movies:
Pi, Cidade del Deus, Amelie, Luc Besson, Cohen brothers, Dark City, Memento, Children of Men, Snatch, Little miss sunshine, Leon, Lola rennt, Bourne trilogy, Revolver, Planet Terror (not Deathproof), inglorious bastards, etc etc etc

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

just the small things in life.. hapiness can be found even in the worst of conditions or at the weirdest places..
a sunset, a hug, kids, cup of coffee, rain or meeting a nice person.

Teach, Learn, Share

reducing energy consumption and getting clean energy sources.. minimizing income differences, mixing all races and stances at pre-schools and keep that mix all the way during life :)
(ask me for articles ;) )

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands