| Frank van Steenwijk is a CS Ambassador living in Rotterdam! |
| Frank van Steenwijk has been vouched for |
| Couch available | Maybe |
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| CouchSurf requests replied to | 100% |
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| member since | August 2nd, 2006 |
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| profile views | 13,546 |
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| age | 33 |
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| gender | Male |
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| membername | FVS1978 |
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| occupation | Freelance Photographer |
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| education | Graduated in computer technology |
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| grew up in | Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
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| ethnicity | World citizen |
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| Direct Profile URL |
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Languages- Dutch (Netherlands)Expert
- EnglishExpert
- Dutch (Belgium)Expert
- GermanExpert
- AfrikaansIntermediate
- FrenchBeginner
- Portuguese (Brazil)Beginner
Couch Information
Couch Available: Maybe
Preferred Gender: Any
Max Surfers Per Night: 2
Shared Sleeping Surface: Depends
Shared Room: DependsIt has always been depending on the number of people staying at my place how much privacy you would have. My golden rule is that once you feel unhappy or uncomfortable with something, just let me know and we will always find a solution that will suit everybody. After living in Dublin for a while I moved back to the Netherlands, living in Rotterdam again. I don't know yet what will be the next step, but at the moment I'm living with my parents again.
Living with my parents means that hosting is not always possible, but from time to time there are some small openings. So if you would really like to surf with me you can still give it a try and I will see what is possible. Just be aware that the chance of a no is bigger than a yes.
Smoking is prohibited in the house, so people who feel like smoking are being asked to do this either outside, or in the garden.
I love to spend time with my guests and I will do whatever I can to spend as much time with you besides going to work. Showing people around is something I'd like to do, but also simply enjoying the night life and going to Couchsurfing meetings is for sure going to happen when you stay at my place.
I'm a night person and I'd like to stay up late. However, I do have a full time job, which limits the amount of time I can stay awake from time to time.
I prefer guests to stay at least two days, so we can get to know you a bit during your stay. Guests that want to stay only for one night can better look for another host, although I do make some exceptions from time to time. Besides that I don't really have limitations in the duration of your stay. As long as we all are happy, comfortable and safe with your company there should be no issue. However in the very unusual situation that it turns out that we aren't able to get along pretty well, I will have the right to end your stay with me.
You will be able to use all facilities in the house without any problem, just handle everything with care and keep the house clean. In case you use something, it's appreciated if you clean it yourself, or put it back at the place where you got it from.
The house is located at the South side of Rotterdam in a smaller place called Ridderkerk. As this place is bordering the outskirts of Rotterdam it can be considered pretty much the same. Buses and tram connections towards here are very good, so it shouldn't be much of a difference to stay with me or with someone in Rotterdam. Just when you are really looking for a place in the city center it might save you some time.
I don't know if there is a maximum number of people that I can host. It has been set to 10 when I was living in Dublin, but then we actually hosted 35 people on a single night. I have had wonderful experiences with lone travelers, with couples, with friends and with several groups that stayed in my house at the same time. For me it doesn't matter if you are alone or come with five for instance. However, now that I live with my parents I can not be as flexible as before.
When willing to stay at my place, please use the couch request button. Don't send in cut and paste requests, but personalize your message and clarify why you would like to stay in my place. Please make sure your profile it filled in. If my profile was empty you would not send a request, same for me if yours is empty, I will not host you. You don't need to have any friends or references, just a filled in profile and a nicely written request will normally do the job.
If you are travelling with someone who does not have a CS profile. Please provide me their full names, make sure you can include at least a picture of this person and tell us something about him/her/them. Facebook accounts are appreciated and will be very helpful.
Friends (506)
 Diego Silva
26, Male
Fortaleza, Ceara
Brazil
Friends since May 2010
"House Party in Dublin"
Friendship Type: Best Friend
  10 |
 Lukasz Podsiedlik
26, Male
Almaty, Almaty City
Kazakhstan
Friends since October 2009
"BFF ;-)"
Friendship Type: Best Friend
I vouched for Frank van Steenwijk
 1 1  30+ |
 Jaqueline Poiati
25, Female
Dublin, Dublin
Ireland (Republic of)
Friends since October 2010
"When I was going out alone he kindly invite me to join him and his friends."
Friendship Type: Best Friend
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 Irene Melega
26, Female
Dublin, Dublin
Ireland (Republic of)
Friends since November 2009
"we are sharing an amazing house togther in Dublin!"
Friendship Type: Best Friend
30+ 30+ |
 QUELMA
34, Female
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
Brazil
Friends since November 2010
"Frank is the guy! I met him in every CS meeting in Dublin."
Friendship Type: Best Friend
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 Mehdi Kadiri
26, Male
Paris, Ile-de-France
France
Friends since September 2010
"We met in Dublin and many times after in different locations."
Friendship Type: Best Friend
4 10 |
 Marc-Alexander Mathieu
43, Male
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Germany
Friends since April 2007
"From several meetings in Germany and the Netherlands"
Friendship Type: Best Friend
3 2 30+ |
 Barbara Slizak
28, Female
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland
Netherlands
Friends since August 2007
"via CS"
Friendship Type: Close Friend
I vouched for Frank van Steenwijk
4 2 2 |
 JAYBOLL
36, Male
Cork, Cork
Ireland (Republic of)
Friends since January 2010
"Met at work in Dublin"
Friendship Type: Close Friend
8 |
 Dorota Pietras
26, Female
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
India
Friends since January 2010
"He is the king of CS Palace! How could I don't know him? :P"
Friendship Type: Close Friend
30+ | | |
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Personal Description
Hi, my name is Frank. I was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and lived there until I was 18. After that I moved to Ridderkerk, a smaller village directly bordering the Rotterdam neighbourhood. Both my parents are Dutch and from Rotterdam as well. I have also a sister who is three years younger than me. As of late September 2009 I was living in Dublin, Ireland and now I am back in Ridderkerk since March 2011.
In my free time I'd like to hang out with my friends. I'd like to visit a pub or club or to see a movie in the cinema. Of course there are quite some CS meetings among them. I also can party all night long and I love to do and to watch sports. I like to watch pretty much every sport there is, either on television or in real life. The Olympics can give me total enjoyment as well as other huge events like the European and World Championships in football (soccer). The performances of sporters, the progress they are making throughout the years, the strength and motivation in their faces while participating, the excitement in their faces when they win, and the sadness in their faces when they lose totally fascinate me.
Apart from all the watching I also like to do sports myself a lot. I have been doing many different sports since I was a little kid like: korfball, tennis, cycling, athletics, swimming and of course football. Right now I still cycle a lot and my activity passion right now is badminton which I practice for 6 years now. Besides that I also have my own pool table and I like to play poker and darts for instance.
Sports are great as they unite people, sports bring people together and sports forces people to get to their ultimate goal in life. Sports are not just very important for me, but in my opinion they are important for everyone.
Since 2006 I'm really into photography and my goal is to become better in that and keep improving my skills. I mainly focus on festivals and events, but I basically photograph pretty much everything. I have my own website, but this is currently still under construction. I'm making some money out of it, so I guess I'm doing fine, but of course it could be improved.
I've traveled quite a lot already, but there's still so much more to see, what makes me think I will never finish travelling.
How I Participate in CS- I host a lot of people
- I have surfed quite some couches
- I organize meetings
- I attend other meetings
- I have made a lot of friendsCouchSurfing ExperienceI stopped counting after I hosted 212 people, a dog and a cat. Surfing 29 couches with a total of 74 nights. This is until March 2010, afterwards many more people followed. Unfortunately my created list got broken down by limitations on the CS website and I lost a whole bunch of information that way. For more details and information I suggest you to check my friends, references and vouches. Interests
As I'm totally crazy about travelling and meeting new people over and over again I joined this website with enthousiasm. However it took me about a year to take the step and became finally active as a member. Since then I have been hosting a lot of people and I have attended quite some meetings in several countries. When I travel myself it depends on my company if I will use CS or not, but I can tell you that I'm now totally addicted.
I have offered a place to sleep to anyone who was willing to travel to The Netherlands and Rotterdam in particular. I didn't mind having five to ten people over at my place at the same time as long as they didn't mind sleeping at the floor. Besides all this I also organized quite some meetings, mainly in the Rotterdam area.
In Dublin I was unable to host people for the first couple of months, but I managed to organize some meetings and attend another bunch of them. After, me and my friends have created a Couchsurfing friendly house we were hosting hundreds of people with up to 35 for St. Patrick's Day 2010 as a maximum for one night.
PhilosophyLife should be fun for everyone! I try to make the best out of my life by making fun myself but also trying to help others out as much as possible. I'm a very open and loyal person and I can get along with almost everbody. Couchsurfing offers me the perfect solution to enjoy my own life even more and make the life of others more enjoyable at the same time.Music, Movies, Books
I like all kind of movies and from 2007 to September 2009 I had a membership with my local cinema in Rotterdam, so I had unlimited access to see the movies for a reasonable fee. Before that I actually hardly ever visited the cinema, nor did I watch a lot of movies, but since then I went at least four times in a month.
I also like almost all kinds of music, although all types of music do have their likes and dislikes. I am not a fan of any band or artist in particular, but there are some that have quite a large number of songs that I like. I'm currently working on my own Youtube music database. It's far from finished as I actually just started it and I don't put that much time in it right now. Any additional ideas (oldies or new songs) are always appreciated.
Types of People I enjoyI enjoy happy, funny and open minded people who think they are a little bit crazy in the good part of the word. People who are willing to learn every day and who also like to make lots of fun. It's a good thing if they share the same interests as I do, like those already described above. Humour is an important thing in my opinion. Basically I can hang out with pretty much everybody.Teach, Learn, Share
I can tell you a lot about The Netherlands and Rotterdam in particular. I created my very own city tour when I lived there and it was probably better than any other city tour you can find in Rotterdam. I showed many CS'ers around doing this tour. Also I knew plenty of Ireland and Dublin in particular. If you ever want to travel to Ireland I will be able to give you loads of tips on what to do, where to go, and much much more. When I have couchsurfers coming over I try to make as much time available for them as possible as to me the main thing about CS is to get to know each other instead of being a free hostel. Those that don't like company during their stay should probably go and visit someone else.
I'm trying to know and learn about almost everything in life. You can talk to me about anything and we might be teaching each other quite something. I love to learn basics from a different language and I'd like to become better and better in photography, so if you are with me and you do have any tips you better tell me instead of keeping your mouth shut :)
At the moment I would love to learn Brazilian Portuguese. I met so many Brazilians during my time in Dublin and I think these people are generally so wonderful!! Some of them started teaching me some basic Portuguese, but I am only a beginner at this stage and I would like to develop my skills further. Some day I want to go to Brazil. To live there for a while, or to travel there for a longer period. I heard so many good things about the country, there's no way I am not going there at all :)
One Amazing Thing I've Seen or Done
I have been on quite some cruises and I still think that's a wonderful way of travelling. I've been visiting the UEFA Euro 2000 and the FIFA World Cup 2006 as big football tournaments, but I was also at the 2002 UEFA Champions League final in Glasgow. I had the time of my life during the Euro 2008 football Championships in Switzerland and Austria where I met tons of amazing people using Couchsurfing. Then I took the step to start up a new life in Ireland and I couldn't have made a better choice. The Black Eyed Peas were supporting me and were telling the right stuff. I was having the time of my life, in a city where it is indeed, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.... Party every day, party every day! I had a feeling every night was gonna be a good night and I was not mistaken! Wow!! What a city, what a great time! I can continue this with probably many other amazing things I've seen so far, but I probably can tell you more of this in private. I'm interested in travelling all over the world. I would like to see all interesting stuff, although I know it will never happen to see all of what is out there to see. I also really do enjoy events like parades or sports competitions which I do love to cover with my camera.
Opinion on the CouchSurfing.org ProjectCS ROCKS !!! It totally changed my life in such a small time. I joined this in August 2006 when I was a little bit sceptic about it all. As a result it took me a year to start becoming active, but when I became active I was overwhelmed by enthousiasm and excitement. I felt settled and welcome from the start, I attended meetings and I started hosting people from all over the world. As a surfer I visited the Euro 2008 football championships in Switzerland and Austria. Something that I couldn't have done without CS. I had a super time in those countries and made many new friends. In Dublin I did not know anyone when I moved there, but thanks to CS I had the most amazing time in my life! Casey Fenton for President!Locations TraveledTRAVELED: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, Ireland (Republic of), Italy, Jamaica, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saint Martin, Spain, Switzerland, The Bahamas, Tunisia, Turkey, US Virgin Islands, United States
LIVED: Ireland (Republic of), Netherlands
WANTS TO GO: Australia, Brazil, China, Finland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Thailand
IS GOING TO: Brazil, Russia
What do these numbers mean?
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. References (390)376Positive 14Neutral 0Negative
27From Hosts 132From Surfers 44Traveling
 From Anna Rave Berlin, Germany
Jan 26  Positive Frank and I met through some circumstances I cant recall in Dublin 2011. Despite him being really tall if I remember right (kinda scared me), we had some great nights out and in together. Genuine, nice, outgoing guy, always up for a laugh and a drink or two, or three.. lovely! Would love to meet him some time again if we happen to be in the same city :)
 From KRISTINA LOUISE Rotterdam, Netherlands
Jan 10  Positive Frank and I first met on a ride to Amsterdam after I arrived in Holland--but that was only the beginning. We've gotten to know each other more over the past few months through different CS gatherings, parties, Sinterklaas, going to the Christmas market...etc etc. Great guy, enjoys giving me a hard time for being American. :) He's always down for a party and has a good time. Can't wait to be back in R'dam to join the fun again.
 From Mark Macaré The Hague, Netherlands
Jan 9  Positive From the start it was clear that Frank has a passion for the couchsurfing spirit. He showed a lot of positive energy throughout the weekend (although the couple of hours sleep were tough on him the last day ;) ) The time in our car raced by as he talked about his experiences so far, glad he decided to ride with me and I'm sure I'll be seeing him more.
 From Jan De Maeijer Antwerp, Belgium
Jan 9 Positive Frank is exactly the kind of guy that i love to host. He is relax, always in a good mood (even when we lifted him out of bed after just 4 hours sleep to go to the next event). Frank likes to talk and is always in de mood for a good party. We had some hilarious fun moments together. I'm sure i will see you again in the nearby future for some more partying!!!
 From Liga Pilaga Brussels, Belgium
Jan 8 Positive Night No 2, around 6 am in bed I`m trying to sleep, but Frank keeps on talking ("Lets talk about Ventspils or Daugavpils, that reminds me a beer...") :D
Incredible guy, and it`s unbelievable how easy he can make up stories and hold on conversation even when everyone (including himself) is exhausted and want to sleep. Experienced some crazy ideas about activities to check out darkness of dark and uncomfortable situations, but well it was fun!
See you around, Frank!
 From Rifka Setia Arianti Balen, Belgium
Jan 8 Positive Frank :)
Another cool and nice person ive met in couchsurfing, ive met frank in kick off antwerp cs event, we have mutual friend and finally met in the event, he is really nice and have warm sense block personality person:)
of course beside his BIG SMILE he also have great personality :) i really hope to meet you again in another chance and have fun together!
PS: thankyou sooo much for help me to find host in antwerp!
Warm cheers and smile :)
Rifka
 From MONIQUEEN Eindhoven, Netherlands
Jan 8 Positive It seems like Frank has been stalking me the last couple of weeks. After I first met him at the Sinterklaas Weekend in Rotterdam we met again for a Christmas Party in Eindhoven. I decided to go to a meeting abroad, trying to escape from him. But there he was again! ;-) Anyway, I don't think anyone would mind Frank stalking them. He is a nice, talkative, fun guy. He has a lot of CS experience and rumour has it some guys feel jealous because of that! Further Frank likes to organize events, have many people around (the more the merrier) and as you can see he likes to write long references. I'm sure I will meet Frank more often and we'll have a good party together. At least Eindhoven will show Rotterdam how to have a crazy party during Carnival!
 From Carlo Vogels Eindhoven, Netherlands
Jan 4 Positive We spoke on Pasha's Christmas Diner in Eindhoven. We talked about his CS experience and life in Ireland. Frank is without doubt an amazing couchsurfer and we definitely shall meet in the future again.
 From VikingR Jakobsen Petersen Aabenraa, Denmark
Dec 26, 2011 Positive I think, I was the first guest to stay in their CS Palace. It was a great idea and I intended to do something similiar in Dublin when I arrived, but Frank and his roommates was faster than me. It was a great stay and I loved the petit couch ^_^ They where great hosts and I really enjoyed the stay.
 From Anastasia Levenets Saint Petersburg, Russia
Dec 15, 2011 Positive Actually I know,that there is no big need to leave one more reference out of 336.But still I will do that))
I met Frank on CS Sinterklaas meeting,we spent some time chatting,when we were busy with judging photos and it was quiet interesting to share the opinion about the way people look at things.So that time I just could say about good leader qualities of Frank and Erwin,cos they have the great job to organize such a big event,but two weeks after we went to Duisburg Christmas market,and there we had more time to chat about different topics,even difficult ones and also we enjoyed drinks and food there.So I can say I had really good time in this company.Would love to do it again some other day if I have chance to come back))
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56 
Rotterdam
Dublin
München - Munich 
LYON
