Hello. I am JI-HYUN PARK who is 22-year-old girl. I had lived in Korea for 21 years with only a few experiences abroad(US for 10 days, Singapore for 7 days, and Thailand for 10 days), but now I am living in Netherlands because i am an exchage student in Maastricht university for one semester and I am traveling a lot. I travelled between holidays during the semester, but after the semester, which is very soon, i will spend my time fully travelling around the europe for almost two months. I am not a smoker and like to drink just for a good atmosphere but do not enjoy drinking a lot and going to club. I consider a lot about others and i am a good listener(I can surely say this).

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

As i mentioned above, I will travel around the europe for almost 2 months. Until now, I mainly used hostels. However, it was not very easy for me to experience a 'real' life of local people in hostels and to make 'real' friends because everyone has their own plan and leave soon. I lived in the guesthouse offered by university at the beginning of my exchage, but now I moved to real holland flat to experience real holland local life. I feel completely different when i was in the guesthouse and when i am in the local flat. Since i do not want to be a just tourist, i want to stay in the local place with local people and make great experience as well as friends.

兴趣

I am surely interested in travelling and knowing different culture and people. From my experience for 4 months in Netherlands, Europeans are quite different from Asians and i experienced some of cultural differences which i felt interesting. I am also really interested in learing languages. My interest on languages got even bigger in Europe because i found that my trip becomes more fruitful when i know their language. Furthermore, i am majoring in economics and double-majoring in psychology even though i do not know deeply about them. I also like volunteering and teaching and I regulary did volunteer teaching in my home country.

• culture
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• drinking
• clubbing
• shopping
• traveling
• music
• economics
• emergency services
• languages
• psychology
• volunteering

音乐、电影和书籍

I surely like K-pop as a Korean but also like all kinds of music, especially jazz or classics. Before coming to Europe, I watched mostly Korean movies and Hollywood movies. However now, i tried to watch movies of the country i travel before or during the trips. Among the movies i watched for my trips, I liked 'Notting Hill', 'Life is beautiful', 'Italian Job' and 'The boy in the striped pajamas' the most so far. Moreover, my favorite book was 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' which i read when i was young. But for now, i am also interested in books about life or love, such as 'Alchemist' and 'The Last Lecture'.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

In the trip in Portugal and Spain in the last March, I missed the night bus from Lisboa to Sevilla so I went back to the hostel where I already checked out and slept for one more day for free in the common living room. After one more day in Lisboa, I took another night bus to Sevilla. I slept quite well in the bus but because i slept so well and did not awake completely when i got off, I forgot to take my small bag which was on the self over my head. When I realized i missed my bag, the bus left already. Since my wallet, passport, some documents, diary, etc. were all in there and my flight was 5 p.m. on that day, i was just in panic. I found that the bus with my bag will come back to Sevilla that midnight, but I had to miss my flight to find my bag. In this situation, I luckily met a Korean guy and asked to lend me some money and found another Korean guy to ask picking up my bag at midnight and send it to my home in Holland. I went to the police and completed the lost document with my nonfluent Spanish. Also I went to post office to prepare all things for the guy who promised to send my bag to home. Then I asked for printing my boarding pass in the computer shop and finally went to airport. Unfortunately, the airline rejected me because i did not have my passport though i had the lost document and my visa. I went back to city center, found a hostel to stay for one night, rebooked the flight again, and finally got my bag back. My new flight arrived really late so I had to sleep in the airport and I could at last arrive at home the next day after two delays of the trains. This experience made me panic and exhausted but also made me really strong and let me know that i am a brave and positive girl. I always tried to think in a bright way for these three 'interesting' days.

教，学，和分享

As a Korean, I can introduce Korean culture which is a really boom in abroad, especially in Asia. Korean music, unique cultures which are heard from foreign friends during exchange period, and food are all interesting. Since i will travel with my younger sister who is a freshman during trips after my exchange and she is good at dancing, she can teach some dances. Also I learned some Korean food and cooked for my foreign friends during the exchange so i can cook some Korean food. I really like to learn different culture and language as well.

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

As i wrote above, my sister and i can share Korean culture, language, drama, food, music, etc. When you are interested in Asia, knowing korean drama and music will be helpful. I can share my experiences in Europe also since my trips were somewhat dynamic.

我游览过的国家

Belgium, France, Iceland, Ireland, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom

我居住过的国家

Netherlands, South Korea