CURRENT MISSION

To travel as much as possible while I am still young and have no responsibilities. I also want to return the hospitality I have found when I have travelled in the past, by inviting people to stay with me in return.

PHILOSOPHY

I think my entire philosophy is summed up in Rudyard Kipling's poem "If". For those who are unfamiliar with it, here it is:

"IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"

For me the most important bit is:

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same"

I think you have to take the good with the bad and this applies to people, situations and the highs and lows of life.
I'd love to say that I manage to follow the philosophy of this poem all the time, but I know that I don't always live up to it. But it is always the thing I read when life doesn't go my way and it always manages to make me feel more positive when I do.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I haven't had any couchsurfing experiences yet, but I'm hoping that will change soon!

Interests

• running
• traveling

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: all the Studio Ghibli films; anything with Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart or Grace Kelly in; Star Wars 4-6; The Life of David Gale, American Beauty, The Matrix, Gladiator, 300, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Big Lebowski, Memento.

Music: I love House music, DnB and Dubstep. My fav DJs include: James Zabiela, Carl Cox, Riva Starr, Derrick Carter, Fake Blood, Soulwax, Hot Chip, Jamie Jones and Japanese Popstars. I also love The Doors, The Clash, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Jeff Buckley, Blur, Pulp, Arcade Fire, Nico and many more.

Books: I like Mary Higgins Clark's books, I like reading autobiographies, I like LOTR and The Hobbit, I love Shakespeare and Dickens and the Bronte's novels. I'm making my way through Hunter S. Thompson's books atm.