Hello, friendly people out there!

I find it kinda hard to introduce myself as I don't want to use cliched phrases all too much. So let's try something else: a song says more than thousand words, so I'll just begin with one of my all-time favourite songs that kind of became my life's manual, especially on my trip to Australia and New Zealand right now and that keeps helping me making the right choices and getting closer to the person I want to be.

Misery Signals - Mirrors:

"Let it out

Shed this skin

Break away

Denial is catching up

Illusion is caving in

Exactly what did you expect?

The harm is in hiding

Knowing only your simplicity

Knowing nothing

Upon the great divide

You see it your own way

No wisdom across the shallow glass

A captive god

You look over a deadened face

Features sink like a skull

So familiar - yet so far away

I see now

There is a choice to make!

There is a choice to make!

We could be anyone!

I see now

We turn over, we redefine this reflection!

This is a need that we learn like a new limb!

There is a choice to make!

There is a choice to make!

We will lie in our graves

A hall of mirrors opens into a room full of me!

I could be anyone,

We could be anyone!

There is a choice to make!

There is a choice to make!

We will lie in our graves"

-> I get a very positive, powerful and encouraging message from it, so don't let yourself get confused :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I just really like the concept. At times you don't need a website to meet nice people you want to share your flat with or who are so nice to share theirs with you - but with couchsurfing its just easier to find those people.
For me couchsurfing shows how kindness, generosity and friendliness can spread from one person to another to another and so on - just as distrust and egoism can as well. But when the idea of cs is working it's nothing less than friendly people really making a great difference for others and also encouraging their kindness and generosity. A favour for a favour, friendliness embracing friendliness - I reaaally love that idea and I do take it quite seriously (small hint for potential requests ;-) )

Interests

People, animals, nature, sports (many different ones, especially football - the real one which you mainly play using your foot - tennis, rugby, winter sports,...), travelling, reading (quite a bit), music!!, history, politics, talking insanely naive and still important stuff while having some beers, hiking, meeting new friends & missing old ones, science,...

• animals
• cooking
• beer
• vegetarian
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• music
• hiking
• spelunking
• sports
• soccer
• tennis
• rugby
• biology
• economics
• history
• languages
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

I really love music and I spend a lot of time and money on it: listening to it, thinking about it, going to concerts! I do care about a song's lyrics a lot and my favourite artists are artists that I can really relate to in that regard.
The style of it is diverse, but much of it could be described as either Punk Rock, Ska, Hardcore, Folk, Alternative Rock or stuff like that - among much else.

All-time favourite bands: Thrice (by faaar number one),
A Wilhelm Scream,
Misery Signals,
The Planet Smashers,

If you don't know any of these, don't worry - I'm more or less used to that but I always love to give people a listen if they want to ;-)
And I also like to get a listen of others favourites to get to know new music.

Books is reaaally hard, I'll just name some that come into my mind and that i really like:
-Franz Kafka: The Process
-Homer: Iliad
-Michael Koehlmeier: Abendland
-several of Irwin Yalom, especially When Nietzsche wept
-J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings
-Robert Musil: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften
-........tbc

(I'll definitely have to invest some time here one day)

My all-time favourite movie might be "Indien", a real classic, insanely funny and extremely touching Austrian movie.
I also like some certain TV series like Breaking Bad (!), The Simpsons, Scrubs or House.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Going to New Zealand - best decision ever!

Studying what I REALLY wanted to (History and Development studies)

Working with physically handicapped people for a year (life-changing!)

Hiking in the heart of Mordor (aka Tongariro National park, New Zealand)

Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef - a whole new world opens up!

Never stopped trying (at times I think that's somehow amazing as well)

Teach, Learn, Share

Decent knowledge and great interest in history; big interest in human sciences in general as well as in nature, economics, foreign languages, biology,...
I love to discuss ideas, concepts, ideologies, opinions, however naive and hypocritical they may be
I'm a vegetarian and I am really interested in discussing humanity's impact on the planet - and how to reduce it.
Furthermore, I totally oppose racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and any kind of fundamentalism. I regard war, nationalism and militarism as one of the biggest failures and tragedies of humanity and yes, I really think that all humans should have equal rights. (Still I usually get along with basically everyone, I'm not one of those crazy and narrow-minded fundamentalists)
Very good German skills, good English skills, fading basic Spanish skills - happy to share all of that!

What I Can Share with Hosts

The very little (drop) that I've already learned, the infinite (ocean) I still don't know. I am really uncomplicated and at times at least not completely uninteresting company I reckon. I also got decent cooking skills and like to cook.
And definitely my deep gratitude and a place to stay in Austria!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Austria, New Zealand