Let's start with my age: I am 24 years old (25 in march.) However that's not very telling. Sometimes I feel a lot older than my peers, sometimes I feel a lot younger. As an overall image I hope my friends would describe me as a calm, funny, tolerant, open-minded and interested person. A negative aspect about me is the fact that I can be a horrible perfectionist. I very much try to make something of my life by studying and reading a lot about the things I like (economics, politics, languages, a lot of music and funny nonsensical stuff to play down all the previous serious stuff) and being around a lot of people. To go and drink and talk and laugh or party is something I also like very much. My friends are really very important to me. And together with being around and participating in music they form the most important parts of my life. I am studying jazz piano (and to some degree improvised music in general) for the moment as an Erasmus student close to Paris. The biggest part of my life I've lived in my hometown Ghent, a beautiful medieval town in Flanders. Another, more recent part of my life, I've lived in Berlin, while studying musicology.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

My parents have taken me to all sorts of places my whole life. This has been an amazing experience and I'd like to encourage these kinds of things by meeting a lot of different people of different nationalities. It opens up everyones eyes and opinions which is sometimes quite desperately needed in this world.

Interests

- Music, music, music. First and foremost a lot of Jazz and Classical music. And then some pop-music, reggae, hip-hop, funk, soul, blues, r&b… You name it. I am not really into hard rock or metal. But hey… You never know…

- Sports: I enjoy it and do it regularly but it doesn't play a big part in my life.

- Travelling: I love it! But since I already saw mostly urban areas, abroad, I like to discover nature more these past couple of years.

- Cooking: my mother taught me a great deal and then I picked it up for myself.

- Visual Arts: I don't practice it myself but I like to go to a lot of exhibitions and museums. I recently saw great exhibitions of Rothko, Richter, Lichtenstein, Rubens, Borremans, Da Vinci.. Van Eyck is coming up.

-Movies: I have something with Sci-Fi. It can even be a bad movie. I'm really just into the fantasy of it all.

• arts
• writing
• theater
• concerts
• festivals
• education
• cooking
• running
• partying
• drinking
• politics
• movies
• reading
• music
• classical music
• jazz
• piano
• blues
• sports
• swimming
• art history
• economics
• teaching
• history
• languages
• visual arts

Music, Movies, and Books

- Music: Ah, I could name too many people; The most important ones: Keith Jarrett (!!!), Miles Davis, Ravi Shankar, The Beatles, Wayne Shorter, Nick Drake, The Beatles, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Debussy, Beethoven, Mozart Schumann, Schubert, Mahler, Wagner, Strauss (both Joseph and Richard), Kendrick Lamar, Alt-J, Paul Simon, Sting, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, The Velvet Underground, Buena Vista Social Club (my first big musical crush), Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Bach, Monteverdi, Ravel, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and the list continues…

- Movies: The curious case of benjamin button, Interstellar, Lincoln, Star Wars, The hours, The "Desire" trilogy of Luca Guadagnino, everything by Bong Joon Ho, Sorrentino ...

- Books: everything by Marquez definitely, Hugo Claus (Flemish) Harry Mulisch (Dutch), Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, Kader Abdolah (also Dutch), Hölderlin, David Van Reybrouck (Flemish), Philip Roth, Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hearing Keith Jarrett live a couple of times. Hearing the Beethoven symphonies live by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil in Berlin. Seeing bears and bison in Yellowstone in the US. Doing a backpacking trip of 6 days in Finland above the arctic circle. Participating in a really intense but rewarding jazz workshop of a week in Amsterdam.

Teach, Learn, Share

I try to stay open for new experiences, meeting all kinds of people of different ages and with different backgrounds.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I like to share my knowledge of languages and music with people if they are interested. I'm convinced that you only really start understanding a country and its culture by learning the language. I can also cook a typically Flemish meal (next to other stuff of course.)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Cuba, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, Macao, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, France, Germany