CURRENT MISSION

Live life to the fullest! Go!

ABOUT ME

I am Marij, a lively girl with a taste for adventure! Currently I am studying, but I have enough breaks from this to do fun stuff and to travel around. I especially enjoy those kinds of experiences that go beyond the usual touristic pathways. This means I enjoy doing volunteer projects and hitchhiking a lot!
When I'm back home I spend my time with all kinds of art (painting, drawing, murals, other stuff), reading, gaming on the pc, performing cabaret, cooking, watching movies, playing piano and more...
I have a really sweet cat! Big weak spot for animals in general ;)
I'm a real animal and nature lover and I love the outdoors. Something I really miss here in the Netherlands.
I think that covers the basic stuff... Come around to discover the rest ;)

Current project: Finishing my studies so i can volunteer abroad!

PHILOSOPHY

Personally, I think two very important aspects in life matter:
Making your dreams come true (don't wait for them to 'happen' to you!)
Respect people and nature around you! (try to sympathise with others and think about your impact on the world) Think about what world we want our children to live in.

That should give a nice start to a good world to live in. Also, for this reason, I'm a vegetarian and try to do other stuff that reduces my ecological and water footprint on this world. Furthermore I try to gain an understanding of other people and cultures by traveling around and seeing how other people live their lives.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have surfed one time and really liked it! Hope to participate more by hosting some people in the future :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Recently had my first experiencing, surfing in Ljubljana. Had a really great time there and hope to be able to do a lot more in this community ;)

Interests

See above :)

Apart from my own personal time-consuming interests, I'm also interested in you! Other people's views on life, science, religion are very interesting to me as well.

• animals
• rodents
• arts
• culture
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• walking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• piano
• outdoor activities
• surfing
• religion
• science
• hitchhiking
• volunteering
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music - I used to listen to a lot of alternative and metal music. Although this still has my preferences, I have a broad taste. Some bands I used to adore: Apocalyptica, Rise Against, My Chemical Romance, Muse, Rammstein, Sonata Arctica, Explosions in the Sky, Paramore, Porcupine Tree, Flogging Molly, Russian Circles, Porcupine Tree, Kamelot, and many more.
Movies - I love a movie with a good storyline. Some favs: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sweet November, Requiem For a Dream, V for Vendetta, Into the Wild.. Many, many more... For the rest I'm crazy about Disney (love to sing along with all their songs ;) ), and there are some really good anime's out there too!
Books - Yes :) I do really enjoy reading. Mostly I read fantasy and prehistory novels, but I enjoy good romans too. My aunt has a huge bookshelve, so when I'm there, or when I'm traveling in hostels with a bookswap, I read a lot of other stuff too.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveling in Ecuador by myself was a really big experience for me. One of the highlights of this trip was a 3-day walking trip called the 'Quilotoa loop', through the mountains, valleys, grassland and farmland of the more remote Andes.

Teach, Learn, Share

What could I share? I guess I can share a lot of my travel, student and life stories. I can share my food and my room :)
Furthermore, I can teach you stuff as well. I really like creative painting/drawing, and as our apartment will be torn down within a year, I have a lot of wall space where we can experiment on ;) I can teach you the basics of DNA and how your genes work. I can teach you about the Dutch culture and habits. I can teach about vegetarian cooking. Playing piano. And I can touch my nose with my tongue and lick my elbow, but I'm sure if I could teach that to others as well ;)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Nicaragua, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands