CURRENT MISSION

Make a music documentary from Central Asia to the Far East! (in progress)

follow it on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TimeTravelsThroughSound

ABOUT ME

As a constant dreamer, I find the need to connect myself with the world one way or the other. My tools apart from languages are a guitar, a bicycle, a camera and passion for communicating with the beautiful people that are out there. That is why I use CouchSurfing, too. It lets the people in the community connect and talk about their experiences over a glass of wine.

I grew up in the City of Istanbul in a family of teachers, translators and archeologists. Thanks to that and spending the first three years of my life in California, I had always been bilingual. Now that I have lived in México City and Tokyo for a while I also speak Spanish and Japanese at a decent level - but I want to continue learning new languages.
From age three to twenty, I lived in Istanbul, played guitar in many rock bands, attended a music high school and played the upright bass in a classical orchestra.

Summer of '09 was the first time I traveled outside Turkey. I traveled from Istanbul, through Greece-Italy-Hungary-France, to Spain. Later went on a biking trip for 3 days to a mountain on the south of the Marmara Sea. On September I went to Sofia and had my first CS experience.

On my last two years living in Istanbul, I set out on a mission that I had had since I was 13 years old; studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
After traveling around for a while, I thought it was time to leave my home, family and friends and move to the US to pursue that goal. I went to New York for a while, then went to Boston, auditioned and got accepted to the school with a scholarship. Deciding to take a break from it all, I moved to Mexico City. During my stay there I planned a two month biking trip so that from May to July '11 I would be biking from Málaga, Spain to Istanbul, Turkey where I would be hosted by CSers every single day.

During college I worked at Apple, Inc. as a sales expert and a mentor. I volunteered at Yume who Katare ramen shop in Boston, and coordinated lessons at an NPO called Genuine Voices which targeted youth in juvenile detention centers.

I currently live in Portland where I'm working on documentary post-production.

PHILOSOPHY

Everything is impermanent.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I participate by hosting, surfing, attending CS events and letting people know about CS anywhere I go.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted
-Alexandra, Aurore and Yiannis, from France and Greece;
-Havely, Forest and Nick from Asheville North Carolina;
-Indrek and Eleri from Tartu, Estonia;
-five french bikers (Richard, Karin, Pierre, Pierre; Xavier)
-Danitza and Putxa from Barcelona, Spain;
-Brianne from Vancouver, Canada;
-Johannes from Biessenhofen, Germany;
-Jana from Melbourne, Australia;
-Martin from Brno, Czech;
-Frane and Toni from Split, Croatia.

I have had surfing experience;
in Sofia, Bulgaria with Nadia and her friends
in Bath, UK with Jez and Fernanda,
in Yalova, Turkey with Selcen,
in Brussels, Belgium with Nar&Eddy, Dimitri, Malle, Tom
in Ghent, Belgium with Stijn&Tom,
in Tournai,Belgium with Jonathan,
in Liège, Belgium with Laura,
in Lens, France with Pierre&Pierre,
in Aachen, Germany with Andreas
in Düsseldorf, Germany with Thomas
in Brooklyn, NY with Emma & her awesome friends, Nikki&Daniel and Daniel,
in Queens, NY with Jay,
in San Francisco, CA with Scott,
in Santa Barbara, CA with Adrienne,
in Malibu, CA with Heikki,
in Long Beach, CA with Martin,
in Newport Beach, CA with Marcus,
in San Diego, CA with Sydney and her family,
in Puebla, México with Roberto,
in Boston, MA with Cagri, Max&Marcus,
in Montréal, QC with Pierre,
in Málaga, Spain with Mirian,
in Gibraltar, UK with Nicky&Jade,
in Granada, Spain with Flor,
in Almería, Spain with Gonzalo&Cristina,
in Vera, Spain with Greg,
in Aguilas, Spain with Callum,
in Cartagena, Spain with Anna,
in Murcia, Spain with Nina,
in Alicante, Spain with Romu,
in Gandia, Spain with Tania,
in Valencia, Spain with Nacho,
in Castellón, Spain with Ricard,
in Deltebre, Spain with Anna y Ruben,
in Tarragona, Spain with Georgina,
in Barcelona, Spain with Danitza,
in Girona, Spain with Natalia,
in Narbonne, France with Liam&Thomas,
in Montpellier, France with Sabine,
in Arles, France with Babbette and her family,
in Marseille, France with Cédric,
in Umag, Croatia with Sanjin&Aida,
in Rijeka, Croatia with Igor and Vladimir,
in Mali Lošinj, Croatia with Domagoj,
in Zadar, Croatia with Boris,
in Šibenik, Croatia with Sylvia,
in Split, Croatia with Frane,
in Zagreb, Croatia with Karolina.

I've had Coffee or Drink sort of experience;
in San Francisco, CA with Patrick,
in Laguna Beach, CA with Greg,
in Granada, Spain with Nazareth,
in Elche, Spain with Alejandro.

All of my CS experiences have been great. :)

Interests

Listening to music,
taking photos,
biking,
running,
skiing,
skating,
Playing instruments;
the guitar, bass guitar, double-bass
Learning new languages.

• photography
• documentaries
• dancing
• wine
• coffee
• running
• drinking
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• surfing
• skiing
• hockey
• languages
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Cirkus Columbia, Machuca, Léon, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, the Shawshank Redemption, This is Spinal Tap, Historias Minimas, los Amantes del Circulo Polar, Annie Hall, el Mar Adentro, Trois Couleurs

Music:
Porcupine Tree, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Milton Nascimento, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jeff Beck, Rush, Ivo Papasov

Here's some of my music:
http://soundcloud.com/deniz-aydemir/

Books:
the Doors of Perception, Zeytoun, el Labirento de la Soledad, the Buddha in the Attic

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Biking from Southern Spain to Turkey.

Donating my foot-long hair to Locks of Love.

Traveling for a year from Kazakhstan to Japan.

My uncle's wedding in Budapest; A three-day-wedding with amazing people all around the world in a beautiful city.

Studying Spanish and dancing the salsa at the university of UNAM in Mexico City, meeting many people from Sweeden to Korea.

Watching the band RUSH live in Montreal in a hockey stadium full of Canadian fans.

Teach, Learn, Share

If there's anything I can do to help you learn Turkish, English, Spanish, Tuvan or Japanese, photography, the guitar or bass, I would be happy to teach!

If you speak Portuguese, French, Arabic or Italian; have discovered music that is not really out there; have travel tips or experiences to share; know any tricks of some kind, teach me!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to cook. I'm good at cooking pretty much all types of meat and fish dishes -biggest specialties being lamb shank and salmon, HOWEVER, having grown up in the coast of the Mediterranean Sea I love to cook vegetable dishes with olive oil such as eggplant, artichoke, brussel sprouts, etc. as well. Besides I always love to help out in the kitchen!

As a musician a question I get asked a lot by my hosts is if I could play them a song or two. So I play a few originals and a few covers. Sometimes my host would do the playing and I would get to listen to their songs. It usually ends up becoming a longer experience than we anticipate, where my hosts and I get to bond with one another.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Mexico, Turkey, United States

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