I am currently a Peace and Conflict master's student at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. I was born and grew up in the Netherlands, but I spent 5 months in Vietnam doing volunteer work and 4 months in the US as part of an exchange programme. Those experiences have shaped my outlook on the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

What I enjoy most about travelling is to meet new people: the local population and travellers from around the world. I am still visiting people that I met many years ago in different parts of the world. Couchsurfing is so much more personal than staying in a hotel and it has the potential to create long-lasting friendships -- despite time and distance.

Interests

In my free time I enjoy working out, drinking coffee with friends, visiting new places. Study-wise, I am very interested in issues related to defense, UN interventions and (counter)insurgency.

• coffee
• working out
• drinking
• traveling
• volunteer work
• volunteering

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I am really proud of having travelled to Vietnam when I was 18 in order to get rid of homesickness. I believed that leaving everything behind for a couple of months was the best way to get over it. And although it was really hard and painful in the beginning, travelling through the country has also been one of the most wonderful experiences in my life. Because I succeeded in getting rid of it, I can now travel around the world!

Countries I’ve Visited

Kosovo, Oman, Poland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United Kingdom