a friend once described both of us like this: "we got glasses, we are pale and we are dorks"
so, anyway, i am a feminist environmentalist who loves travelling by train.
i also study many things, never just one. right now i'm trying to finish my development studies degree with a thesis on degrowth, while also studying urban planning and eastern european studies.

i'm very passionate about politics and i'm also part of a wonderful indie magazine.
during winter, i work in a homeless shelter.

i like joking around, meeting new people, wandering the streets of any city, well-known or completely unknown, reading books, watching movies in open-air cinemas, discussing politics, learning new languages, going camping and falling asleep at the seaside, cooking and eating any kind of dumplings, drinking wine and pálinka in shady bars and dancing till the sun comes up. oh, and i also love travelling. obviously :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

travelling is just so much more fun when you get to know people and learn about the places you're staying in.
i've always had the best time and the best experiences when i really immersed myself in new places and didn't just look at the sights, but looked at the way people live in a place.
that's why i'm using couchsurfing: to really experience things and places and not just tick off places on a list.

Interests

politics, urbanism, meeting new people, films and tv series, reading, writing, anticapitalist alternatives like degrowth, transition towns etc., languages, programming, (queer) feminism, photography, riding my bike, sleeping.

• writing
• graphic design
• photography
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• camping
• astronomy
• ecology
• economics
• languages
• urban exploration
• activism
• feminism
• vegetarian cooking
• degrowth
• urbanism
• social design

Music, Movies, and Books

i like everything that scratches beneath the surface. i like books, movies and music that are not trying to be different but are actually different (the same goes for people).
:)

some of my favourite authors include: andreas steinhöfel, douglas coupland, chimamanda ngozi adichie, hermann hesse, thomas bernhard, robert schindel, george orwell, alison bechdel, miranda july, andrea gibson, marina lewycka, jostein gaarder, sylvia plath, olga grjasnowa, swetlana alexijewitsch, trinh t. minh ha, teju cole, noviolet bulawayo, laurie penny, anna kim, juli zeh.

right now i'm reading "largo petalo del mar" (in german though) by isabel allende, and the last book that really touched me and made me sad (in the best possible way though) was "das achte leben. (für brilka)", a 1270 page-novel by georgian-german author nino haratischwili.

movies: i definitely love iranian movies because they tend to touch a lot on political and social issues.
i also like austrian movies because i like the black humour - i'm probably very austrian that way.
genre-wise i love everything black humour/satirical/coming-of-age/dysfunctional-family/dystopian or even utopian sci-fi

music: bands/artists like placebo, ana tijoux, amanda palmer, ani difranco, princess nokia, brand new, laura marling, cocorosie, antony and the johnsons, cigarettes after sex, chumbawamba, patti smith, arcade fire, belle and sebastian, bloc party, bob dylan, bright eyes, clara luzia, trouble over tokyo, dessa, ellie goulding, enter shikari, fainschmitz, fall out boy, fun., gisbert zu knyphausen, get well soon, hole, kettcar, leonard cohen, marina and the diamonds, patrick wolf, the postal service, regina spektor, the smiths, tegan and sara, splean, mitski, conor oberst, final fantasy, lana del rey, avec, annenmaykantereit, der nino aus wien, fever ray, kishi bashi, mavi phoenix, lorde, mascha, pj harvey, savages, verka serducka, yasmo, st. vincent, ana tijoux, sunset rubdown, wiener beschwerdechor, kimya dawson, zola jesus, aurora, sharon van etten, ..
so mostly indie/alternative/rock, little bit of socially conscious hip hop, little bit of punk

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

watching the sun rise in lovely nizhniy novgorod, the first russian city i went to <3
doing a cruise on the wolga river in russia
going to cuba for almost a month and drinking the best mojito ever
meeting surprisingly like-minded people in all corners of the world (that i've been to)
staying up all night every night with a fellow hostel guest in sarajevo

Teach, Learn, Share

i can definitely teach people how to swear in viennese/austrian german!

What I Can Share with Hosts

my favourite places in vienna, my usually vast selection of tea, the odd streak of wisdom, book/movie/tv series recommendations and many more things.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Finland, Russian Federation, United Kingdom