https://www.bewelcome.org/members/halbertmax

Hi! I'm Giorgos. Second name; Max. Most people call me "Max". I'm 23 years old, I studied Biology at the University of Ioannina and I will be moving to Frankfurt soon for an internship in Neuroscience. I make video art for a living. At the moment, I live in Athens.

In my free time I study philosophy, digging up lesser known music, watching films, experimenting with audio and video software and taking photographs. I also like learning new languages. Currently I'm leaning Russian and German. I speak a bit if French, too.

I love walking. I enjoy wandering around in a town, drifting, scraping the urban decay. If you Google "psychogeographical drifting", this is me.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Because I genuinely believe that human relations not mediated by money are purer, more beautiful, productive and carefree. Traveling should be suitable and doable for everyone and not just for wealthy people. It's important and healing for everyone to leave their homebases for a while and see/do something different.

Interests

I love learning about how and why the world works thus, lately, I've been studying philosophy. I also love being in and learning about nature, so I'm majoring in Biology!

I also like language of any kind: cinematic, musical and linguistics. I make video clips for a living (you can check them here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQJZK53ho2fX88GuAsDzDiBIGVEQ8YjJX), music for my own enjoynment (https://soundcloud.com/dialectmixonstims) and I love watching films (https://letterboxd.com/koureli69).

I don't travel often, but when I do I try to get the most out of it — long walks, drifting through the urban hell or the mountain roads, not spending money on every little tourist distraction. I firmly believe that Couchsurfing will help me with this; getting to know other people just for the fun of it while saving money is often a must in order to enjoy my trip!

• photography
• music
• biology
• philosophy
• films
• cinema
• videography
• video editing
• music production
• media design
• montage
• musical technology

Music, Movies, and Books

Books I like
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being", by M. Kundera, and all of Kundera's books in general. Dostoevsky's "Notes from the Underground", but also all Dostoevsky's books in general (the short ones, sorry). Truman Capote's "Other Voices Other Places", "On the Misery of Student Circles" by the Situationist International.
The most important book for me so far is Ernst Fischer's "On the Necessity of Art". A bit of propaganda, but not enough to be disappointing. Read it!

Music I like
Top: АукцЫон, Radiohead, System of a Down, Μάνος Χατζιδάκις, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen
Rap/Hip-hop: OutKast, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Kanye West, Buck 65, Run the Jewels, Atmosphere, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA, Anticon
Classical: Franz Liszt, Dimitri Shostakovich, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Wim Mertens, John Cage
Experimental: Igorrr, Aphex Twin, Venetian Snares, Amon Tobin, Frank Zappa, Autechre, Sunn O))), Coil, Xiu Xiu, Nine Inch Nails
Rock/Metal/Indie: Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Aphrodite's Child, Neutral Milk Hotel, Death, godspeed you! black emperor, Swans, My Bloody Valentine, Black Country New Road
Jazz: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Sun Ra and many of the experimental avant-garde jazz stuff of the Soviet Union
Greek: Κόρε. Ύδρο., Παιδιά της Παλαιότητας, Βδέλυγμα, Λένα Πλάτωνος
Russian: Веня Д'ркин, Перемотка, Игор Летов, СБПЧ, Каста, Bad Balance, Алла Пугачёва, Александр Дольский

FIlms I like
Stalker (Tarkovsky), Wings of Desire (W. Wenders), Lost Highway (D. Lynch), Persona (Bergman), 8½ (Fellini), Punch Drunk Love (PTA), My Dinner With Andre, Perfect Blue, Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov), Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren), Network (S. Lumet), Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica), L' Avventura (M. Antonioni) Kill Bill (Tarantino) and the films of Theo Angelopoulos, Nikos Panayotopoulos and Nikos Nikolaidis

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well, if I *had* to think of something...

I managed to reach the highest point of a very dangerous mountain route at Tzoumerka, Ioannina, Greece ("Stroggoula", 2100 m) with no equipment nor experience.

I sat down and watched a 1½ hour avant-garde film that made no sense, nor was it particularly enjoyable.

Teach, Learn, Share

Useless facts about the etymologies of words, the lesser-known history of the Soviet Union, the sad history of Greece, philosophical ideas and their philosophers, architecture, design, films, history of art and cinema.
Also, biology, ecology of conservation, facts about animals and plants, molecular biology, neuroscience, how the heart works, how the urinary system works.

As far as learning goes, I'd be happy to; brush up my Russian with a native (or non-native) speaker; get to know the place you're coming from through your eyes.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Regarding the practical stuff, I can offer cat-parenting and computer-fixing tips. I can cook you some mediterranean dishes. I can be of help around the house.

Now for the not-so-practical stuff; I can offer long discussions about small, stupid things and big ideas. I can also be a discreet surfer, respecting my host's private space and time and/or his/her need to keep socialising to a lesser level. However, I am not seeing hosts as hotels - if I'm sending you a message it means I would like to hang out with you because you seemed interesting.

Countries I’ve Visited

Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Greece