CURRENT MISSION

Getting cozy with a new city: Poznań

ABOUT ME

I live in Poznań, along with my girlfriend Paulina, and our cat Amelka.

My name - Wojciech - is usually quite a challenge for non-Polish speakers. Abbreviated form of my name is Wojtek and it is usually spelled Voytek. I am proud to share names with Wojtek, the soldier bear ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(soldier_bear)

When I am in a new place, I prefer not to have a guide for most of the time, as having a guide makes me incautious and unfocused. I also like to get lost in a new place. I don't care about my whereabouts then, I just walk around and observe. But on the other hand, I much appreciate tips from locals, as their knowledge and their point of view differs so much from what one can find in guidebooks!

Some of my links:
My Flickr photo stream. It's not up to date, but it shows my love for the city of Toruń: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wojtekwalczak

My blog (in Polish), with "travels" tag: http://wojtekwalczak.wordpress.com/tag/tropy (some newer photos to be found here)

PHILOSOPHY

I smile.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfing, hosting, hanging out ;)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am new here, but I've shared flats and appartments with various people in Ireland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Russia, and of course Poland.

Interests

People, places, books, writing, computer programming, basketball, local beers, and cats.

• cats
• writing
• books
• beer
• pub crawls
• blogging
• surfing
• basketball
• military science
• sociology
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I love reading books. There are some books that I am going back to from time to time. Take a look at these links. It's what others have said (in English) about my beloved books:

- this one is about a diary of Andrzej Bobkowski. He called himself a hooligan of freedom. And rightly so: http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2010/12/andrzej-bobkowski-and-his-journal.html

- this one is about Sandor Marai, a Hungarian writer. In Polish there's an edition of his diary covering the period from 1943 until 1989. Here you can read about a piece of his diary, covering the last years of his life: http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/magyar/marais3.htm

- and here comes a piece by Ryszard Kapuscinski, a legendary Polish foreign correspondent. He writes about his first trip abroad (a must-read for couchsurfers ;): http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/05/070205fa_fact_kapuscinski

While my taste for books is well established, and I am quite picky about what I read, I can watch and listen to everything. When I read or write I like to listen to Chopin's Scherzi. During computer programming some trance music is appropriate. At the moment I am listening to many Spanish and Russian bands such as Vetusta Morla, Love of Lesbian, Abita, Dorian or Marselle.

A few movies that I really liked: Single man, Good Will Hunting, Broken Flowers, Amélie, Into the Wild, Love actually, The Dark Knight.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Being lost in an unknown place.

Széchenyi Gyógyfürdő, Budapest, Hungary
Sandunov Baths, Moscow, Russia
Matt Molloy's Bar, Westport, Ireland
Red Lion Pub, Newquay, Cornwall, UK

Teach, Learn, Share

In 2012 the students from the Instutite of Sociology at my university awarded me with "Most inspiring teaching fellow" prize. Not sure what you can learn from me, but I will share my knowledge with passion - that's for sure! And I am also eager to learn from you.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Slovakia, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ireland, Poland