Hey cs community, my name is Georg from Graz, Austria. I am genuinely interested in a lot of different things and described by my closest friends and family as outgoing, open minded, happy, fun and easy going. That's how I feel about myself as well, so that's most likely how you're gonna experience me too. I'm easy with meeting new people and I enjoy good company. I can be very spontaneous and generally I'm in for crazy adventures and quite a bit of risk taking, but on the other hand I'm also a little perfectionist and love to plan ahead properly. I will say, that in some situations I can be slightly overoptimistic, but luckily I've mostly gotten rid of that. I tend to build strong relationships with people that are close to me. Mostly you will see me being very happy and motivated, always keeping a positive mindset with a confident view into the future.
As goes for the things I do in life right now, this would mostly be studying and pursuing a very much out and about traveler lifestyle. Even tough the recent times with the pandemic have impacted my travel plans, I have still managed to do a lot of great trips around the world, from New Zealand, Singapore, to the Caribbean and the US and Canada. I started my studies of art history a little more than three years ago back at home in Austria and spent an exchange semester near NYC last year. My future job opportunity (hopefully) and hobby, namely photography, has taken up more and more space up in my life recently, I practice it a lot, both analogue and digital. I spend my time with writing, telling stories, exercising (esp. cycling, my 2nd passion), singing, traveling, learning new stuff at university, cooking and food in general and also socializing in any way. Also I'm really into cars, I'd say I'm an enthusiast, but don't own a car myself.
I love my home, there's a deep connection especially to the language, culture and nature in Austria within me. Still, I constantly renew my appreciation for this place by going abroad. Homecoming feels all the better after a long trip.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Having friends over at my place to spend the night was always the most usual thing in the world. Sometimes they would just live an hour away but did not want to spend money on accommodation and oc I let them sleep at my place. As I really got into traveling I found out that there is already a system out there that works around the same idea. And I found it to be brilliant. Only after my first cs experience I got to understand the full potential of this concept. It's not so much about a place to stay, but about the encounters you have with people from all over the world. As most people on cs have traveling as their common ground, its often so easy to connect and that's the lovely thing about cs. You build friendships for a lifetime. At least I did. Hosting and surfing likewise are for me a cultural, social and personal enrichment. That's why I'm here.

PS: also I wanna be able to stay in places where there maybe is no airbnb or hotels around, but with cs I can stay almost everywhere. Love it.

Interests

• writing
• singing
• architecture
• contemporary art
• photography
• cooking
• running
• traveling
• cars
• drawing
• cycling
• hiking
• skiing
• cliff jumping
• volleyball
• art history
• geography
• history
• gaming
• videography
• orienteering

Music, Movies, and Books

I do love Jazz in any form and style. Esp. 30s and 40s American jazz, but also some European stuff, one of my favorites is Paolo Conte. I occasionally do Blues and Soul, not so much Rock or Pop, some classic music as well. Weirdly enough I'm a huge Queen fan and 80s in general. Also contemporary Austrian and German sometimes.

I'm not a big movies guy tbh, I do have some shows tough that I enjoy very much. The Crown, Mad Men, Narcos, Game of Thrones are some. I can recommend some good films, such as 'Epicentro', 'Rain Man', 'Pieces of a Woman', 'Bridge of Spies', 'Whiplash'.

With books I had a very intense phase during my early teens when I was reading the entire Song of Ice and Fire in just half a year. In German, mind you, where for every book released in English it was split up into two parts in German, equals 10 books in the end. I went on to read mostly novels, never got into big classics like Harry Potter. Since then I have done a lot of different genres, I was reading 'Narziss und Goldmund' by German author Hermann Hesse recently. But certainly I do a lot of nonfiction on art, architecture and photography. These have become not only subjects of study but also books that I read for pure enjyoment.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Driving 155 mph on the German autobahn. I'm pretty sure it's not really amazing for most people, but for me it definitely was.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to learn new stuff, but also I love to share my skills with other people. I am, generally speaking, good with explaining stuff. I love to share knowledge on photography, bc obviously its my passion. Also I can teach cooking and have a lot of traditional Austrian dishes that I can show you, but also I've got some tricks in my sleeve when it comes to cooking. Also I can teach singing, a little dancing, driving a car, skiing and probably a bunch of other stuff too. I love to share my travel stories, adventures and experiences as most travelers do. Also I can tell you a lot about my home country in any aspect, be it history, culture, traditions, politics, art, pop culture or its people. I love to tell stories about people, be it weird "once-and-never-again" encounters or life-long friends. Oc there is also my field of study, namely art, about which I could ramble for hours, bc that's what art historians do after all, right. I can be very passionate about architecture too and might show you some of my favorite projects.
Also I love to talk about sports and especially about how I combine cycling and traveling in a unique way. I'd say due to my open-mindedness I love to share just about anything and the same goes for learning new things.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good company, cooking skills and recipes, interesting stories, recommendations for movies, shows, books and music, travel experiences, showing my photos, reading from my writings, knowledge about my home country Austria, very passionate lectures about art and photography, good humor, an easy going mindset, my good mood, insider tips for travel destinations, restaurants and food, travel experiences and cozy hostels, finally, I can recommend you awesome CSers all around the globe.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Canada, Croatia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Martinique, Monaco, New Zealand, Poland, Saint Martin (French part), Singapore, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, New Zealand, United States