I don't mean to start on a downer but if you are taking the time to write a request i'd like to be honest with you and the truth is i'm not hosting a lot these days, just on occasions. But if you know that and still want to send a request, and chance your luck then shoot for the stars. :)
Please tell me a story in your couch request. It can be any story. A sad one, a happy one, a joyous one, a scary one, a loyal one, an emotional one, a silly one or a boring one. No need to be shy, it is not a story telling contest, just a sincerity check.
It doesn't have to be creative - it just needs to be genuine and honest. Have a bit of fun if you like. Be functional if you like. Be inventive or fictional. It doesn't really matter.
Primarily i'm trying to gauge if you are a copy and paster of couch requests and just looking for a free bed or if you have taken the care to write something more personal and you wish to try and have a meaningful exchange.
Apart from that, i live alone in an appartment, 20mins walk from city centre, or 6 mins on bike, and can host up to two people!
Paul White 28, Male Dublin, Dublin Ireland (Republic of) Friends since August 1996 "Through school and we're cousins." Friendship Type: Close Friend 7
John Maher 110, Male Montreal, Quebec Canada Friends since March 1983 "He is my brother!" Friendship Type: Best Friend
PIRMO 25, Male Poznan, Greater Poland Poland Friends since December 2008 "hosted him" Friendship Type: Close Friend I vouched for Tommy Maher 5
Amelie Herault 25, Female Zagreb, Zagreb City Croatia Friends since January 2010 "couch surfed at his place" Friendship Type: Best Friend 30+4
Ursula Scott 29, Female Dublin, Dublin Ireland (Republic of) Friends since September 2003 "University shared houses" Friendship Type: Close Friend
Eliza and Logan Keeley 25, Several people Seattle, Washington United States Friends since April 2011 "We surfed, and had hours and hours and hours of great conversation!" Friendship Type: Close Friend 4
Tom Weiss 27, Male Be'er Sheva, Southern district Israel Friends since November 2008 "CS and probably more that I can't remember" Friendship Type: Close Friend I vouched for Tommy Maher 30+30+30+
Valérie Bellemare 28, Female Sherbrooke, Quebec Canada Friends since November 2010 "I can tell the color of his socks and the name of his mother...did I get the question ? " Friendship Type: Close Friend 5
Pierre-Luc Dessureault 29, Male Quebec, Quebec Canada Friends since November 2010 "I lived at Tommy's house for week when I arrived in Dublin." Friendship Type: Close Friend 5
TAMMULINKA 24, Female St Andrews, Fife Scotland Friends since July 2010 "hitchy-ditch-witchy-trash" Friendship Type: Good Friend I vouched for Tommy Maher 10
Howdi. If your sending a cs request please have a looksie at the couch info section.
All about meee? Jasus. Emmm attempting to be unassuming but getting it wrong sometimes. Over-indulging in fried egg sandwiches, drinking too many cups of tea. Philosophising over said tea. Sometimes tiring to listen to other times tired of listening to others ;). What else, i'm a vegetarian yet not a pretentious one (if you know what i mean), i seldom drink alcohol, predominantly using the left side (or perhaps the right, i get confused, the side that's less rational) of my brain for functioning but trying to find the balance these days.
I Love ordinary people. I remind myself that the more i know the more aware i am of how little i know. I contradict myself regularly though i try to catch myself in the act. I love to do voice impersonations but rather laugh with than at people.
The rest we can chew out over your sandwich of choice. Oh and i have a tea ball now (correction, i lost tea ball in transit, so now we'll have to spit out bits of tea leaf. might be fun) so the tea of your choice too. A magic tea ball. Click-a-da fingers and the universe is at your toetips.
How I Participate in CS
I baaaaaah. (Like a sheep)
CouchSurfing Experience
Really? All good. Zero bad experiences. Still waiting for that nightmare surfer :-D hasn't happened yet thankfully! (Correction - we did have one nightmare surfer. He/she that shall NOT be named. Updated August 2011. All guesses are welcome as I have hosted over one hundred people in the time between i wrote 'still waiting for that nightmare surfer' and now. So.. it could be anyone, I guess. ;)
Couchsurfing is close to my heart at this stage. Mainly as the goodwill of the people i meet for some strange reason never ceases to leave me amazed and sometimes even stunned! Stunned by the goodness of people?? What has society been teaching me all along. :-)
Interests
Attempting to cook new things is fun. Psychology is the most interesting subject i've personally ever encountered. I was exposed to a lot of sports growing up and i really love sports. Par example, tabletennis, pool, olympic handball, basketball, soccer, Golf, Frisby.. and a load of others. I used to be massively into Golf and wanted to be a professional player but now i'm taking a break from playing but it will always be a sport i love. Languages are cool. What else.. eggs tea stuff like that, im an excellent sandwich maker..just born with it. :-). I like conversing, free writing, touch typing, philosophy, society, threelegged races, figuring out why i sometimes love bananas and other times don't, kicking leaves, dreaming, hitchhiking, lots of bits and bobs of stuff really. Repelling mindless norms.
Philosophy
Taking responsibility for your own experience in life makes a lot of sense to me. Perception is something that is trully yours. Many will try to influence it, circumstance will shape it but ultimately it's the most precious gift you'll ever own.
I value process over results. I don't agree with measurement of oneself, weither it be with a weighing scales or by comparison with your neighbour about how many resources you own. End gaining is an endless chase that I feel no need to be involved in.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society". Jiddu Krishnamurti the spiritual philosopher said this and I agree wholeheartedly.
I value authenticity. To be authentic, to be real, to deal with what is trully alive in us during this moment in time - this is life. Escape, distraction, numbing are not acts of living.
Music, Movies, Books
This is something that's inclined for changing.. like everything else so, for now, right now (!) i'm listening to Aphex twin and really enjoying that fact.
An interesting movie i watched recently that captured my attention was 12 Angry men (1957).
Types of People I enjoy
Has anyone else noticed how so many people describe an 'ideal' version of themselves when filling in this section??
Look, listen, hey, ho - whoever you are, whatever you are, bring yourself along to the exchange and that will be enough. If we both do that, commonalities will not be necessary, an authentic exchange will occur and joy won't be too far away. I look forward to it.
Teach, Learn, Share
I can teach you Golf! And Sports psychology quite possibly. If the student is ready that is. I will surely share my time to help you and make you feel welcome in whatever city is my home when we meet.
One Amazing Thing I've Seen or Done
I spent 9 weeks hitchiking last summer, mainly in Scandanavia. The experience of hitchhiking and the human exchanges i've had with people on the road has been one of the most uplifting, hopeful and joyous experiences of my life. The world is full of good people.
I've couchsurfed :). Thanks to all the special people that i've opened my door to and that have opened their doors to me. The life, the vitality, the wonder, the curiosity, the diversity - all wonderful gifts. Fair play to you all lads! Love you!
Opinion on the CouchSurfing.org Project
The concept behind the CS project is a bit special. It certainly makes the world a smaller place by bringing people together. The spirit of the people involved is amazing. I've met many really great people and made some great friends along the way to boot.
This summary is not a replacement for reading references; it's a quick summary to help you get started. At a glance, you can see how many references a member has, and how many of them are positive, neutral, and negative.
In the second line, you'll see how many references came from people who hosted this member, surfed with them, and traveled with them. These numbers won't always add up to the total: some references are not categorized, and some may be categorized as more than one thing.
When viewing this summary, don't jump to conclusions! Things that are negative for one person may be positive for another, and vice versa. It's important to read references carefully and evaluate what that information means to you.
Strangely enough, Tommy and his friend ended up staying in my couch in England on the very same date I requested to surf his in Dublin. Tommy is a real,sincere human being, a great listener with presence and not afraid to do what feels right to him and of being vulnerable. And how come he is so unbearably funny? I cant remember when I last laughed so hard. I'm really lucky that I got the chance to meet him.
I kept avoiding leaving him a reference for a month simply because it's so hard to find words that can actually describe this amazing person!Everytime I think of Tommy, I smile and I'm grateful for the wonderful friendship that we have.I care a lot about this lad,he's an inspiration to me on a daily basis!Caring,sensitive,funny as hell,authentic,sincere,compassionate,big-hearted,curious,creative,profound,I feel that words don't do my will to express myself justice. Baaaaah!Eating toast and eggs on a daily basis, not sleeping for 36 hours, learning hurling, playing midnight soccer,(re)discovering how amazing people and human mind can be,wanderng at night,staying at home in daytime,working on NVC,playing games,getting psyhotic and betting on Masters golf tournament these days,a few things that I have to thank Tommy for.I'll always cherish these moments.But this is not a funeral discourse, so yeah...Tommy is great!(but he sometimes burns the toast, so he's not that perfect:)).
From Maria Eftimie Dublin, Ireland (Republic of) Mar 16
Positive
Tommy is our Dublin neighbour. I enjoy meeting him in our kitchen :) He seems to take life serious enough but always with a laugh, which is just great because his smile is infectious, really. Sincere person and a great cook!!! Hope to get to have more dinners together :)
My visit in Dublin wouldn't be complete without having a pint in the temple bar area with an Irish dude. So guess what, he was that guy and thanks to him I can say that I in fact have visited Dublin :)
Thanks a lot!!!
From Anneke Rooth Beuningen, Netherlands Nov 16, 2011
Positive
Arriving early in the morning is something else but Tommy made me feel very welcome while he was just awake.
My first days in Ireland were wonderful, thanks Tommy. And I hope you will have a great internship and a good relationship with your cat.
It was my first CS experience and it was a great one. The Mahers welcomed us warmly into their house and made us feel comfortable immediately. I would've liked to get to know them better but i was a little bit sick and therefore spent a lot of time in bed. they are both open-minded and nice. we spent the time mostly sitting in the kitchen, chatting away and laughing and playing with Schweini, their cockatiel. it was great and a lot of fun. thanks for the wonderful experience.
From Dara Moroney Ennis, Ireland (Republic of) Nov 4, 2011
Positive
Ah ken Tommy since he wae a wee lad. Hisel and his pal Giggsy.
Actually, I met Tommy soon after I returned to Ireland in 2011. I needed a couch for the night in Dublin. It was only for a few hours but we ended up chatting for ages and have since become great friends. I think we've covered pretty much ALL of the topics and it's great to talk to someone who has come from the same place as you and is aiming in the same direction. Which is probably why we have such a good laugh and can discuss the nature of people in the same breath as talking about Ryan Giggs in an Alex Ferguson voice. He also introduced me to Non-Violent Communication, which was a great experience. And he's a great cook and always makes me lovely food... Eh, wait, no, that me? He did hook me up with the Govinda's end-of-the-day take-away for a euro, though. And he gave me a bag of raisins once. In summation - a good pal!
I spent a great night with tommy: we share the same job so it's been interesting talking with him. He's a funny person and he let me discover the hurling! - i've seen the match in the big tree pub :)
Oh Wow!!! Tommy was just the greatest host to begin with! we spent some wonderful time in Dublin and Tommy was just another great attraction of that city! but seriously, Tommy and his roomies are definatelly worth a trip! and gave us a lot of wonderful memories to cherish :) hope to see you again sometime...
49 
Dublin
7 
5 
30+ 
