CURRENT MISSION

Well, actually I set my mind on saving the world. You should always think big if you bother thinking at all...

ABOUT ME

Very chatty in a good mood. Quite calm in a melancholic mood. More the serious type, I guess, but not the one to know/plan in advance where to live/what to do in the next year.

PHILOSOPHY

Don't waste your time, but still take your time. :-)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I try to be a nice host and a nice guest. :)

visited 9 states (4%)Create your own visited map of The World

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

What is mentioned here plus the stuff mentioned on my twin profile at the Hospitality Club. :-)

Interests

I think I spend most of my time thinking. Since I found the meaning of life (it took me many years, but I did it eventually...), I have concentrated my attention on other people. It is interesting to think about why they do the things they do, why they have become the people they are, and how other people, history and life in general influence them. I want to help them to find happiness. Most of my hobbies have something to do with learning new things or creating something. I learn how to dance, I have taught myself how to knit and spin yarn, I absolutely love cooking & baking, and I also like writing (I will be as good as any, and better than most...). Looking back at my life I tend to add a new hobby every 2 or 3 years, although they seem to be queuing these days... Spending time with friends and family is also very important. They are my favourite victims for homemade socks, food and endless chatter at top speed. My thoughts are always a lot faster than my ability to speak, and my fellow citizens tend to lose the plot due to frequent thought jumps, but I can't help it (nor do I want to, because when I am like this it means that I am in a really good mood). I also like traveling, meeting new people, getting new views of things, and broadening my horizon in foreign languages, but somehow I always end up in Finland, because this is always the first place I visit once I have time and money. When I return, either time or money are too scarce for further travel. Fortunately, I like bike trips: just a bike, a tent, a sleeping bag, and a proper plan about the route like "approximately two weeks west, then one week south" - you can get ultimate freedom, and it will cost you next to nothing. Yeah! I am dreaming of a really big tour, because extended bike trips give me a sufficient amount of time to enjoy nature, get some lines on paper and just be myself. I don't mind being on my own. My default setting seems to be "calm + thoughtful", anyway. Well, what else... Going to the theatre/opera/ballet a few times a year. Sitting on the beach watching the sea or lying on a meadow and letting the sun shine on my belly while I'm knitting or reading or just following some daydreams. Playing the piano, of course. Writing letters. Receiving letters. Laughing. (I can get a laugh from practically everything as long as it doesn't involve harming other living beings.) Watching my dwarf hamster do silly things. Watching my plants grow over time and being a little proud of the fact that they flourish, because - or although :D - I look after them. Trying to be a good human being. ... Pretty normal stuff altogether. :-)

• writing
• literature
• dancing
• ballet dancing
• dining
• cooking
• baking
• clubbing
• reading
• traveling
• knitting
• music
• piano
• opera
• cycling
• history
• languages
• science
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

#### Music
Hmmm, difficult... I don't put one musician/band on a pedestal to worship above anything else, since this would be extremely unfair to all the other great musicians alive, dead or undead out there, wouldn't it? Besides, without variety I would probably get bored, and I would definitely miss something. I prefer music that was created for its own sake to stuff that was made to fill the pockets of some blokes who understand a lot about making money, but nothing about music. For some reason my CD-collection mostly consists of music labeled as rock/alternative/medieval/classical/don't-know-myself-what-it-is-but-it-sounds-good, but thanks to Youtube it has become really easy to listen to lots of other things, bits and pieces from here and there that match my actual mood... It is quite difficult to make my ears bleed, but they will do so when they detect hip-hop, techno and R'n'B...
#### Books
(1) Shakespeare: for his deep knowledge of the human mind (2) "The Song of the Half Notes": an unpublished novel. I like it, because I am the author, and all mothers love their own children beyond anything. I am no exception. (3) screenplays of Monty Python's Flying Circus & Blackadder: f*** brilliant (4) lots of fiction: I like theatre, so some of them are actually screenplays. I have always admired authors who are able to change the emotions of their readers just with words. I will probably like a book, if it has naturalistic characters and manages to create a certain atmosphere without having the writing-style of an idiot. A good plot is also quite helpful, but style is very important to me, for this is the thing that makes you read a book twice or more often. If a book lives on a gripping story alone, you'll get bored once you've reached the last page. If you just look up the plot on Wikipedia, you'll save a lot of time... Usually, I do not read crime fiction. The real world is full of that stuff already, and I do not have to open a book to see more of that stuff - with one exception: Sherlock Holmes. He is probably my favourite character in fictional literature, and for this I even enter a genre I usually detest. (5) cookbooks: life is too short for bad food (6) books about crafts: it's nice to acquire skills and broaden your horizon (7) university stuff: always good for a laugh and extremely useful to kill spiders with
#### Movies
(1) all Shakespeare movies directed by Branagh, some directed by Zeffirelli and the 2004-version of "The Merchant of Venice": All the world's a stage... (2) many fairytale movies from Eastern Europe/GDR made in the seventies: the art of making great movies with no budget (3) Monty Python & Blackadder: :-) (4) several single movies for different reasons, such as Trainspotting, Dune, Amelie, Indochine, LOTR, The Piano, Gattaca, some movies directed by Tim Burton...: innovative soundtrack, camerawork, acting, costumes, plot, and/or whatever Well, these were movies I watched during my years at university. Nowadays, my life keeps me too busy for things like this. Saving the world is a full-time-job. :-)
#### TV
Well, living my own life tends to be nicer than watching other people living theirs, so I decided not to watch television any more. This was in 2002, and in order to do things properly, I also waved goodbye to radio & newspapers back then. I can recommend it. At the moment I am - still quite unsuccessfully - working on getting rid of the internet, as well, but it turns out that some parts of it are as useful as others are annoying.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I crossed Germany by bike. Planned to go on to Cornwall, but I got a job in Münster during my trip, and therefore decided to put the rest of the trip on ice until I have finished my PhD. Until then my time shall be dedicated to literature, music, and science.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to cook, bake, knit, spin, dance, and how to get lost in a town you are supposed to know, because you live in it.

Countries I’ve Visited

Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, Germany