I am traveling myself from May 19 tin to June 2nd!!!

CURRENT MISSION

“Dance as if no one were watching, Sing as if no one were listening, And live every day as if it were your last” Life is too short to waste it!

ABOUT ME

I am...........2 min.... 5 min.......
ok, after 7 minutes of digging into my adjective vocabulary, hoping to find some extraordinary words to describe me, I decided to write down some things I do/did.
About eight years ago I graduaded from a high school in northern Germany (close to Bremen). There, I lived in a small village of 300 habitants, no street names, no properly working internet connection, just other farms like ours. I shelteredly grew up, but by the age of 19 I decided to live somewhere else, see another country, meet other people, speak another language and get to know another culture. So, I decided to fly over the big Atlantic Ocean, leave Europe behind and stay in the USA for a year, lived with a family and took care of their kids. And all this worked out so perfectly, I love the kids, I love the family, I love the US, I loved my job and I love my friends that I met in that year.
In 2009 I came back to Germany and started studying at Germany's oldest university in Heidelberg. Now, I have been studying English, History, European Art History and Philosophy for six years and I enjoy my studies very much. I'm studying to become a high school teacher and in my last internship, which I did at a German School in Kenya, I realized that I love teaching and now I'm looking forward to working as a teacher in a few years. I work as an interviewer and help other young girls fulfilling their dream of becoming an au pair in the US, New Zealand and Australia, which keeps me occupied besides university.
In my free time I like to meet my friends and new people from all over the world ;-) Besides going out and meeting my friends I obviously like to travel, otherwise I wouldn't be here... and I am adventurous, otherwise I wouldnt be here.... ;-) I'm a coffee and chocolate addict and I like going to museums, concerts, and reading. I'm interested in photography, literature, arts, philosophy, history and other cultures.
I also like volunteering and I love the idea of giving the most precious thing nowadays to other people: TIME. I cook at least twice a month together with refugees. First we go grocery shopping together, then we cook in a group of people a meal and speak German. It is a great cultural exchange and I get to try new recipes with them and show them together with other German volunteers German dishes and help them speak the languages better. Also, I'm doing conflict research at the Institute of International Conflict Research in Heidelberg and write an annual report about two conflicts in Sub-Sahara Africa: http://www.hiik.de/en/index.html (see the conflict barometer, it is highly interesting, especially the maps that we create with our data).

PHILOSOPHY

Enjoy every day!!!

"I know one thing, that I know nothing."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I would like to see as much of the world as possible, just like Susan Sontag said: "I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.". I like to meet people from other countries that is why I enjoy hosting travellers at our appartment. Often people are stressed out when they travel, so I try to stick to the needs of travelers, if the need some time alone, some freedom I'll give it to them by providing couchsurfers with maps. But I like to get to know the people and to spend time with them as well, this is why we end up sitting in the kitchen having long conversations till midnight. I like going out with my friends and if couchsurfers want to join they are welcome to do so ;-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I started couchsurfing in 2009 when I was traveling through the US as an Au Pair. As a a couchsurfer I've enjoyed hosts that are not too pushy. Sometimes travelers are very tired and are not up to doing a lot after a long day of traveling or sightseeing, but I have always enjoyed it when the host took us to or told us about special or unique places. Also, I think that a conversation with hosts can bring a lot of fun and can be very interesting. I like hosts that respect the couchufer's freedom.
As a host myself I'm trying to do so. Couchsurfers can make themselves at home at my place: Mi casa es su casa! If you feel like relaxing, you can stay here and relax after a long day of traveling, don't feel obliged to go out or hang out with me, but if you feel like going out, cooking together or chatting, I'll be more than happy to do so. :-)

Interests

friends
traveling
history
arts
knitting
books
animals
coffee
movie theaters
Theater plays
cooking
nature
partying
photography
philosophy
Minority issues and human rights

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite movies right now: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "Black Swan", "The broken Circle" and "Django"

My favorite book right now: "A Brighter Fear", "American Psycho" , "1984", "Wide Sargasso Sea", "Midnight's Children", "Flatland"

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Skydiving in Las Vegas

seen Kenya's beauty

My stay in Cambodia and my work as a volunteer showed me that people do not need to speak the same language to feel sympathy, see my blog: http://verenaincambodia.blogspot.de/p/english-posts.html

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm convinced that cultural exchange make people not only understand other cultures and their own culture, but it also makes them more tolerant.

I'm convinced that couchsurfing is more than just a place to stay but a genuine cultural experience. I expect guests that would like to stay at my place to say why they are interested in staying at my place and to make references to mutual interests. Unfortunately, it seems to become more and more popular to regard Couchsurfing as cheap place to stay, which seems really sad...

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, England, France, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Cambodia, Germany, Kenya, United States

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