Hi there,

My name is Gijs, Apeldoorn, Netherlands is where I currently live, and Zwolle is where I am studying.
I'm a rather introvert person, tho with my close friends I can be very spontanious and weird.
I don't like being in a huge crowd of people but I enjoy being in a group of close friends, or people that I connect with.
Right now I don't have very much traveling experience, the only places I have been were fully organized trips with family or with friends.
I enjoy reading and listening to music and going to concerts with my friends. Will and the People and Enter Shikari are part of my favorite live experiences.
Along with the Dutch Kyteman Orchestra.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The main and first reason I am on here is because I am planning a trip with my girlfriend trough Ireland, and we don't want to spend the night in hotels if we don't have to.
I want to meet all the different people that Ireland holds, and really live the culture there.

Interests

My interests are mostly in my personal field of expertise, if I can call it that, which is animation/multi media design. Animating is something that I love to do and experiment with. Find new ways to tell stories and give people information. I'm also really proud of the fact that I can call myself an animator since the art has such a magnificent history and so much potential still.

Other than that I am currently in the process of finding out my viewings on different aspects of my life.
I've had some turbulent times, wherein I was not the optimal I could have been, and I'm currently trying to find out why and how I can prevent this in the future. A personal journey of you will.

• arts
• culture
• design
• concerts
• reading
• traveling
• music
• animation
• communications
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Music, is such an important part of society nowadays. Everybody expresses themselves throughout the artists and genres they prefer to listen to. And I'm no exception to that rule.
My musical taste has evolved quite a bit during the last few years. For me it started with metal and hard-rock. Bands like Disturbed, In Flames, Lordi, Linkin Park, Bullet for My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon are some examples.
But at the moment I listen to a lot of different artists; Arctic Monkeys, Gentle Mystics, Nirvana, Kaiser Chiefs, Louis Armstrong, The Corrospondents, Underworld, Daft Punk.

In terms of movies, I prefer the ones with a good immersive story. Be it fictional or based on real events like The Immitation Game. A movie has to take me on a journey from which I have a hard time coming back. And the same goes for me with TV series. Some examples of my favorites are, Big Hero 6, Whiplash, How To Train Your Dragon, Mad Max( not the best of stories but I like the whole world they created there), Game of Thrones, Batman, Daredevil, Breaking Bad, Wayward Pines.
Books is for me kind of the same storie, immersive and interesting; Everything Is Illuminated, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Road, Fight Club, Rant, Game of Thrones, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Raven, you get the picture here.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In terms of travel there is not much going on yet since I'm just beginning to learn the ways of the world. But so far one of the coolest things I've done is making a music video for a band in the Netherlands. The song is called Devil's Blood and the band is called De Staat. I got to make an animation due to a contest they posted on Facebook and they selected my submission as the winning one for that song. It's something I'm quite proud of since I've put a lot of time and effort in it, and it paid of quite well :)

Teach, Learn, Share

Something really cheesy here but; always be true to yourself.
You are in your best interests and don't let anything stand in the way of you feeling good. This doesn't mean that you should disregard other people, far from it. Rather surround yourself with people that you feel good with and you can share your life with.
Be happy, you deserve it ;)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm an organized individual that likes to know what he's up against. I'm not afraid to do dirty work, (dishes, cleaning) and I have some experience working in restaurants and sandwich shops.
I like to hear other people's stories and will always listen to your troubled minds, I'm also not secretive about my past and really open to any questions you're willing to ask.
Let's share some stories shall we?

Countries I’ve Visited

Denmark, England, Spain