Lena Knaudt's Photo

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  • Last login almost 6 years ago

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Overview

  • 5 references 5 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, German; learning Dutch, French
  • 33, Female
  • Member since 2011
  • Temporary teacher
  • Literary & Cultural Studies (RMa) and Digital Media (BA)
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

I'm just graduating from my master's studies and figuring out what to do next.

As I'm writing this, it's slowly getting warmer again in Groningen, which reminds me of how much I enjoy the sun, and warmth. I usually spend a lot of time at a desk, so especially when it's nice outside, I like biking or hiking to free my head. Also archery, but I rarely get to do that.

When it's cold or I'm tired, I often curl up inside with snacks, tea and stories, e.g. in the form of films, books, tv-shows, graphic novels, webcomics. I also like writing and drawing, but I've heavily neglected that during the last few years.

I like learning about other peoples' stories and their perspectives on life, so I'm interested in what they have to tell me, be it in a conversation or on blogs, podcasts, videos. That's also one thing that makes travelling so intriguing to me, that you are constantly confronted with ideas and cultures that differ from your own and show you how many ways there are to do things.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I started with Couchsurfing because it seemed like a good way to travel on a budget and meet new people.
After my first few experiences, I find it amazing how differently you can experience a place when staying with a local who shares their home and stories with you. Whenever I stayed with a host, I discovered a lot of things about their cities/countries that I would never have found out about otherwise, be it a cosy café, a local tradition or political insights.

While my personal circumstances make it difficult to host, I hope to change that sooner or later.

Interests

The main focus of my interests atm are connections between culture, art and politics. That's what I'm spending most of my time with, usually from an aesthetic and/or feminist perspective. But that's already very broad, of course, and there are always more things that I find fascinating without having the energy or time to get involved. E.g. I'm curious to learn more about all kinds of research, computers and technology, economy, architecture, food, history, nature,... I'm not always great at asking questions about stuff I don't know much about, but I think every topic can be interesting from one perspective or another.

  • arts
  • writing
  • literature
  • dining
  • movies
  • reading
  • traveling
  • drawing
  • music
  • cycling
  • hiking
  • communications
  • cultural studies
  • philosophy
  • intersectional feminism

Music, Movies, and Books

The media I consume is a pretty wild mix from trashy to niche to mainstream to avant-garde, so this is a somewhat random list of things I have enjoyed in recent years (does not mean I like and endorse everything about any of those things):
Black Panther, A Ghost Story (film), Hannibal (the tv-show), Are you my mother? (by Alison Bechdel), Paul Celan (all of his poems), Witch Please (podcast), Persepolis (graphic novels and film), A Song of Ice and Fire (books more than show), Krabat (Ottfried Preussler), Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell), webcomic (webcomic), Paprika (minus fanservice), System of a Down, Samsas Traum, Björk, Sia, A softer world, Rock and Riot, Coraline (film and book), Brave, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,...

I'm probably forgetting some of the media most important to me, bc that's what always happens when I make such lists :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Paragliding in hungary!

Teach, Learn, Share

I've studied Digital Media, Literary and Cultural Studies, and during that time I've gathered scattered insights into different theories, philosophies and practices related to literature, media, art, society, power structures and identity. I'm usually very passionate to discuss those.

As a job I've been a redactor for a local newspaper for some years and a teacher at university for a few weeks; I was a research assistant dealing with content analysis and slow journalism, and years ago an editor and video producer for sofatutor, a really nice Berlin company that does learning videos.
So I can share insights/knowledge about/discuss those things :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Hungary, Netherlands

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