CURRENT MISSION

Doing a bit more studying, still trying to work out what kind of work I want to do when I finish

ABOUT ME

I'm the kind of person who loves to meet up with people at the pub/bar/café for a long chat rather than a drunken night out. Getting to know a person properly makes for a much more preferable evening in my view. (yes I am embarrassed by the drunken English tourists abroad, and I apologise).

I'm a student from the UK moving to Leuven, Belgium for a year to study for an Economics masters. I'm doing this partly because I really want to get some experience of studying abroad and partly because KU Leuven appears to be a great university with a strong economics department. A few of my friends from Reading Uni are international students and they seem to have developed something extra through studying abroad. Worldliness is horribly cliché but that's probably what I mean.

My main interests are economics and politics. Economics is largely through studying it. The opportunities to apply and practice it are a bit few and far between.

I've done a lot of studying politics but in addition quite a bit of working in politics as an intern and volunteer for the UK Liberal Democrats (the ALDE group in Europe). I love discussing people's political views with them and if I disagree with them, all the better!

PHILOSOPHY

In the context of couchsurfing: Meeting new people is great, they offer you different perspectives on the world and my current view is that 99.9% of people I've met have been kind and want to do the right thing. I believe people should be as honest and respectful to each other as possible.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Only just started. I have a few friends who have said that couchsurfing is really great so I wanted to give it a go. Seems like a great way to meet random people and visit a place.

When I've moved into Leuven for the next year from mid September I'll hopefully have a couch to offer people!

Interests

Economics, politics (Liberal), current affairs, films, TV series (e.g. Breaking Bad, Archer FX), PC gaming, technology (breaking and fixing stuff), music, tea, coffee (more recently), food (enjoy trying nearly anything), probably other things too...

• dining
• coffee
• working out
• pub crawls
• politics
• technology
• movies
• reading
• tv
• music
• economics
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
I like a lot of films but some that come to mind that I have watched recently: American History X, Guardians of the Galaxy, How to Train Your Dragon 2. (Yes I do see that is a strange selection of films)

Books:
I like fiction, but often find myself reading non-fiction. I recently read The Price of Inequality by Stiglitz. I used to read a lot more fiction and loved books by authors like Terry Pratchett and Ian M Banks.

Music:
I have a rather varied taste in music. In exceptionally broad strokes: I enjoy jazz, classical, prog rock, and more classical rock. I don't really like electronic and dubstep stuff all that much.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know quite a bit about Politics and Economics - and love to have a long chat about that kind of stuff.

I'm pretty good with using and fixing computers.

I'm quite practical with tools and able to fix stuff - a few years ago my parents were building an (eco)house so I helped a lot with assembling a kitchen.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Malaysia, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom