I`m a 35 year old guy from Leiden, the Netherlands. I consider myself open minded, easy-going and down to earth. Hopefully I'm also fun to hang out with. For the last 8 years I’ve been living in Krakow Poland and over there I was quite active hosting CS’ers. Despite my love for Krakow I moved back to the Netherlands, trying to find a more interesting job. Currently I’m doing an internship at a publisher of non-fiction books in Amsterdam. I’m also working in Leiden about two days per week. Since May 2019 I found myself a nice place in Assendelft, a peaceful village I had never even heard of before. Here I was offered to move into a nice house, all for myself. I rent this place from an anti-squad organization that enables me to live here cheaply until a highway will be built on this spot. However, this might take years to take place, if it will ever be built at all, so hopefully I can stay here for quite some time.

My house is pretty big and includes a huge garden and a nice view over farm lands. The good part about living here, apart from having such a big place for myself, is the fact that it’s only 25 mins from Amsterdam (by train). From my place you can cycle (I have 2-3 bikes) to the train station (krommenie-assendelft) in 10 mins. Walking would take you 25 mins. There’s a train leaving to Amsterdam about every 15 mins and it stops at quite a few other ‘typical dutch’ villages, like Zaandam.

When I’m hosting CS’ers I try to make time to hang out together. If you’d like to explore Amsterdam I might be able to join you or meet up with you there after I finish work. I must admit that I don’t know Amsterdam too well, so I can’t give you too many good tips (yet). I’m working on it though :) Since April (2019) I’ve been busy settling back in the country I’m from, finding a new place to live, furniture, a bike, new phone nr, internet, insurance etc. Now I’m a bit more settled I look forward to start hosting again. Feel free to send me a request and hopefully it works out.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'm on CS for about 8 years by now. I've mainly been hosting actually and I love to show people around. I hosted quite a few people and used CS while traveling myself only a few times. All my CS experiences were nice, they always worked out pretty well and I met some real cool people who I stay in touch with and love to meet up with again. I was even 'counterhosted' by friends in the US, Turkey and Iran.

On my latest trip in the Balkans I've been using the hang-outs tool in the CS app for the first time. It was really convenient to meet locals and other travelers while traveling alone. So, if anybody is in Krakow (update: Amsterdam) and just wants to hang out, go for a walk, coffee, beer or whatever, just hook me up.

Interests

I really love to watch movies projected on a big wall in my apartment. I'm into photography, drawing, filming and editing videos: www.kindofblu.com. I love to read a good novel every now and then and sometimes I force myself into learning Polish. Two years ago I decided to go back to Uni to do a second Master for two years, called "Central and Eastern European Studies" (in Krakow).
I love to discuss history, politics, different cultures, music, movies.. and I love drinking good beers (doubles, triples, IPA's etc).

• books
• photography
• beer
• coffee
• movies
• traveling
• drawing
• music
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

I like watching films a lot.. all kinds really, but especially old classics: Film Noir, Hitchcock´s, Fritz lang, Billy Wilder or some French, Italian and Polish classics.

Music: I am very passionate about music and I like a lot of different genres..I think all kinds of music can produce some good stuff that I like. I listen to a lot of jazz, but I also love some good old soul and funk music. As some previous guests mentioned in their references, I have a pretty nice collection of old records. From the old 78RPM swing records to Iranian and Turkish 70's funk. I can talk about it for hours.

Some novels that I really liked: Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), White Teeth (Zadie Smith), Everything is illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer), The Return (Victoria Hislop), For whom the Bell Tolls (Ernest Hemingway), The Joke (Milan Kundera), Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami), Chronicle in Stone (Ismail Kadare).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Driving a big American Pick up truck through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado was quite amazing.
- Traveling in Iran. Everything about it was great, especially the people's kindness and hospitality. I would love
to visit again.
- Going back to uni in Krakow, Poland, feeling like a 20 year old student again.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to host and show people around, grabbing a beer, going for dinner etc. I love to hang out with my guests as much as I can and try to make them feel at home. I'm pretty easy-going, open minded and flexible.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland

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