CURRENT MISSION

Travel, learn more about other cultures and ourselves.

ABOUT KAI (NOTE: Kai has not updated his sections since 2018... so maybe just skip to Valerie? It's ok. I'm cooler anyways.)
Just starting to get a taste for travelling as I travel through Europe working on small, permaculture/organic/self-sustaining type farms with my girlfriend Valerie. I love it! So many different places to see, cultures and languages to learn about and people to meet, and very importantly for me, foods to eat! I love eating and cooking good food and trying all sorts of new foods.
I recently graduated with a degree in meteorology and am very interested in weather forecasting and climate change. As such, I love nature and the outdoors: hiking, canoeing, kayaking, or just picnicking in a beautiful spot! I also love football/soccer and really enjoy tennis, swimming, skiing, hockey, American football and basketball too! I really like sports.
In my rather short professional career, I’ve worked with children in teaching swimming and soccer, I’ve worked as a researcher in meteorology and I’ve worked as a forecasting assistant. After my amazing year of travelling with Valerie I will be heading back to school to do my Master’s in meteorology, but that doesn’t mean the travelling is over. We are already planning to do a cross-Canada trip after we both finish our Master’s :)

ABOUT VALERIE
Currently doing a Master's degree in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. I went vegan around the beginning of the degree but I promise I won't talk about veganism ALL the time! I love all animals...except spiders. I have a difficult relationship with spiders. Last year, Kai and I travelled across Europe for nine months. We managed to go the whole trip without ever paying for accommodation, since we either stayed with friends and family or used workaway or couchsurfing the whole time.
I'm a keen reader and learner. And although I'm badly out of practice, I am technically fluent in French. I also really love Italian and have been learning it on and off on my own for years. I love to cook, eat and drink as well as spend time outdoors (skiing, hiking, kayaking, camping). I can be quiet at times but if you prod me with enough food and drink I will reveal my sense of humour, which some (Kai) say is pretty good! Kai and I are doing long-distance right now (yay -_-) but we promise we will start accepting couchsurfers once we have a place of our own!!

PHILOSOPHY

As cheesy as it sounds, do unto others as you would have done unto you. Be open-minded, accepting, and most of all always up for a good laugh and good conversations. And be kind to the environment.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

When we did couchsurfing during our Europe trip, we mostly went with the flow of what our hosts were up for. Some were pretty busy and others had time to spend with us. We're happy to either keep to ourselves if you're busy or hang out as much as you like! We also love to cook and share recipes!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Oh my god. Where to begin? Every experience we've had has been incredible. Our first experience with couchsurfing was in Scotland for only a night, but he was so friendly that we wanted to try it again. The next couchsurfers we stayed with were in Italy during the last part of our trip. We have SUCH fond memories of those 3 guys and we still think about them sometimes!

As we said before, we both really want to host couchsurfers but, due to being long-distance and having roommates, it's just not possible right now. We will definitely change our status once we get a place of our own though!

Interests

• animals
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• traveling
• hiking
• canoeing
• kayaking
• camping
• skiing
• soccer
• swimming
• mountains
• food
• football
• snow
• learning new things
• gelato
• veganism
• cultural exchange
• meteorology
• animal training
• thunderstorms
• cold weather
• blizzards

Music, Movies, and Books

Kai: Kings of Leon, Lord Huron, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Deep Purple, Animals, AC/DC, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, The Who, Coldplay, Calvin Harris, Kygo, Axwell ^ IngrossoIndie; Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Dark Night, Pursuit of Happyness, Blindside, Green Street Hooligans

Valerie: Music - Wardruna, Hozier, and like a bunch of video game soundtracks... ; Movies: LotR and every Jane Austen movie ; Books - (here is where I should say I've read LotR but lol I haven't), Animals in Translation, Animals Make Us Human, Reaching the Animal Mind, and any decent romance novel I can download for free on the Amazon kindle store :D

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Kai: Skiing in the Rockies and the Alps
Valerie: The 9 month trip around Europe. Also, falling in love with 39 little "meat" chickens that were a part of my welfare research, then somehow finding homes (as pets) for all of them. No one else in the Animal Biosciences department (or probably my university in general) has done that before.

Teach, Learn, Share

Kai: I would love to teach anyone about weather, clouds, math, physics, and travel. I'm down to learn about anything and everything (especially food...I LOVE food).

Valerie: I can talk about most things, though I'm probably most knowledgeable about animal behaviour and welfare (and also microbiology and immunology, my BSc). I love to learn more about all of these topics, as well as writing, food, and travel/different cultures in general.

We’re also both bilingual in French and English so happy to teach and help out with French and English!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Me: Forecasting/meteorology knowledge, my passion for soccer/football, and my love of cooking and food

Valerie: My passion and care for animals as well as my knowledge of animal behaviour and welfare, and microbiology and immunology. I also love to talk about food (vegan food in particular), reading, writing, gaming and good stories.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Scotland, Turkey, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada