Hi all!

I’m a 31 year old American living in Berlin for the past year.

My interests are:

Good bars: I like bars with character. I’m not so into the bougie “hip” places that one could find in SF, NY, Copenhagen, or anywhere. From time to time they’re great, but here in Berlin what I’ve absolutely fallen in love with have been the Eck Kneipen… the little postwar (sometimes pre-war if you’re lucky), smoky, homey neighborhood bars that dot the city and have things like dart, pool, and 1.80 euro pints. My personal goal is to go to the best few in every neighborhood of the city.

Good beer: back in the states I’m really into trying all the latest offerings from different breweries… really like dark beers, IPAs (esp New England style but also West Coast) American Pale Ales, stouts… really like trying everything. But I’ve had trouble finding good beer here in Berlin! Help me find some!

Architecture: I. Love. Architecture. Especially interested in finding the remnants of medieval berlin, but am also into every movement from the Gründerzeit to the Bauhaus and through to modernism. The newest stuff doesn’t tend to fascinate me so much, but I’m always down to explore. Art nouveau and art deco are pretty much at the top of my list, but vernacular german architecture (half-timbering, anyone??) is also fantastic.

Urban planning- I’m an urban planner by trade and there is no topic i find more interesting than human settlements - how and why they came to be, the issues facing them, the people and cultures and ideas that shaped them, and the right ways today to make them even better.

Cities + urban form: There is nothing I love more than walking around a new place and trying to unravel how it came to the the way that it is. A favorite recent discovery was Rixdorf, which was a built as a farming village by bohemian settlers in the 18th century and then later became absorbed into Berlin.

General exploration: While I’m in germany/berlin (which could be forever), I’d like to see and explore as much as possible. Some trips I have been DYING to take (but have had difficulty finding people who were interested) include (returning) to the Spreewald, hiking at the Saxon Switzerland national park near Dresden, going to poland for polish food, cheap vodka, and cigarettes, and the whole area around Berlin. Really like to just hop on an S-bahn, take it to the end of the line, and explore.

Hiking & Biking: I most recently lived in California (for the past 5 years) and fell in love with the easy accessibility of natural areas. I love to get out into nature, and around Berlin there really is some beautiful countryside. Let’s explore it! (by some combination of feet, bike, and train ideally :)

German language: I’m slowly trying to conquer this beast (currently around B1.2) and would love to find people with an interest in practicing (often after 2-4 beers)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Meet new friends in new cities

Interests

Cities beer politics culture economics language urban planning transportation

Music, Movies, and Books

Techno jazz classical indie

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Camped on the Great Wall of China

Teach, Learn, Share

Language

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good conversation