I'm a physics student in London going into my final year. I'm interested in meeting people from around the world, and going for a drink, for a meal, to a concert, to a museum, to anything with them.

I've been lucky enough to live with and meet people from so many different countries while I've been at university and have learned so much from them. Being a physics student I think can be quite insular, and the opportunity to develop a diverse group of friends and acquaintances is very appealing. I realised when I signed up for CS that a surprising amount of people I know are active users of it!

I'm lucky enough to live in what I think may be the most beautiful area of London - Hampstead. We have a couple of museums, some great pubs and cafes, and most importantly we have Hampstead Heath here, London's biggest park. Having grown up on the edge of the countryside near Nottingham, it's nice to have this big open space near me now.

I really do adore London, but there is so much more to the world, and it's my aim to move to continental Europe to do a PhD after next year. There is a lot of very exciting physics going on in Europe, as well as immense amounts of culture. Which leads me on to...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm travelling by myself for the first time ever, just for a few days, and I really want to learn things about the places I'm going to and the people who live there that I couldn't learn by myself, as well as just finding out about people. To be completely honest, I would be worried about being lonely when travelling by myself, and this community seems like an incredibly good way to meet people and learn.

I am particularly interested in Scandinavia, Germany, Holland etc - I guess if you were a historian you would call this "Germanic Europe". The amount of culture in these countries is just astounding.

Interests

As well as physics, I love music of all forms. I love classical music, from Bach to Penderecki, and play double bass in orchestras myself as much as I can. It's hard to describe how wonderful the experience of orchestral playing is for a musician. I also played piano for 12 years but sadly I'm rather out of practice now...

I'm not only interested in classical music though, I think I probably will happily listen to anything. I like electronic music and am also currently going through a phase of really enjoying Swedish songwriters like Hello Saferide and Jens Lekman.

Obviously, physics is my big interest. My current field of study, which I will be researching come September and hopefully completing a PhD in, is Quantum Information Theory. If you really want, I can talk to you about it! I'm currently working on something a bit different, looking at how droplets of sulphuric acid form in the environment.

Outside of these 2 things... I love cooking (and eating), and am currently baking quite a lot. Kind of along the same lines I really love coffee and craft beer.

I used to go through hobbies at some rate so I've been interested in a lot of things: photography, design, climbing, badminton... I'm sure we'll have shared interests somewhere!

• culture
• architecture
• design
• photography
• concerts
• festivals
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• coffee
• baking
• drinking
• pub crawls
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• classical music
• electronic music
• piano
• rock climbing
• badminton
• history
• physics

Music, Movies, and Books

As I say, there is very little I dislike in music. I do enjoy films when I manage to watch them, but I find it hard to find the motivation to do so, and to stay focused when I start watching them. A couple of films that I really did love are Blue Is The Warmest Colour, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, though.

I used to read an awful lot - when I was 8 a doctor I was next to on a train told me it was bad for my eyes because I'd been reading for so long. Recently my reading has been more for my studies, but I would have to say that Albert Camus L'Etranger made a huge impact on me as a 17 year old (unfortunately I can't speak French, I read a translation). I also enjoy scientific biographies as it can be very interesting to learn about the people whose ideas I've been taught at university.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I think this is hard to answer! I've done quite a lot of things but it's hard to say what's amazing, I guess it depends on how I feel at the time... I will go for an easy answer and say that playing Brazilian percussion at a festival in front of a huge audience was an amazing thing I've done.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, I'm all about learning, and will happily learn anything that you can teach me about. I'm not sure what I can teach... I can talk about my experiences and interests and if that interests you then we have a good deal! I do love cooking and a great thing to share would be cooking a meal from your local cuisine together.

More broadly, I enjoy a good museum/gallery, or really amazing architecture. I can't recommend the V&A and the Barbican in London highly enough.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share conversation and food - do we need anything else? Drinks too, should the need arise.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden