CURRENT MISSION

To help this trouble-ridden world move forward by spreading unedited information, honest attitudes, human touch, fair treatment, care, and goodwill for everyone. Plus trying to remain sane in general.

ABOUT ME

I am doing a doctorate in history. Also teaching (lowest level exploited class of university profs... for now I guess). Also writing (been writing since age 12 (as therapeutic release, as I now understand), still continue at it, there's a novel, some mediocre poetry, projects with Holocaust survivors, etc). I spend a lot of time in Zagreb, Croatia, and the Balkans in general (for archival research purposes), but my permanent home is the liveliest Montreal neighborhood, Plateau Mt-Royal (those who've been will know). I commute by bike, like all kinds of stuff that I like haha, doodle, install weird deco stuff around my place, play different kinds of sports, etc.

PHILOSOPHY

"Why do you live your life?"

Ahh a terrible question... I do have an answer to it, but it's very very long. Maybe I can tell about it if we ever meet.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

For the moment, I can't host... it's complicated! But this should change soon.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Some, but not too much (see my refs), but looking forward to building more.

Interests

Writing, reading, music, storytelling, city and mountain biking, and always always wilderness and hiking and backpacking, then painting, decoration, languages, general human condition (and proactive efforts to improve it), politics (not in every situation, but generally yes), social sciences (history and philosophy primarily), manners of relaxation, coffee, tea, microbreweries, lots of dancing, also basketball, tennis, unusual but true stories, new people and conversations, what very old people think about the contemporary world (one can often find enlightening input in their views without necessarily agreeing with them), clean food movement, responsible technology management (not all innovation is progress), and always art of all kinds.

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Gogol Bordello, Arcade Fire, Quantic, Roma Carnivale, Zaz, Mano Negra/Manu Chao, Deltron 3030, Cafe Tacuba, Reggie Snow (Rejovich), Lily Simone, Zabranjeno Pusenje, Buena Vista Social Club, and hundreds more...

Books: all by Capote and Borges, 100 Years of Solitude, Carpentier, Steinbeck, Asturias, Hemingway, Ex Ponto, Scott Fitzgerald, Shadow Country, Salinger, Suetonius, Dostoyevsky, Invisible Man, Orwell, McCarthy, Thomas Hardy, Chekhov, among many...

Movies: Todo Sobre Mi Madre (and many others by Almodovar), Arizona Dream, Black Cat White Cat, Lord of the Rings, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator (I obviously like historical fiction), City of God, Dr. Strangelove, Mi Nismo Andjeli, Žikina dinastija (lol), Life is a Miracle, Frida, Barton Fink, many documentaries...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Survived several occasions of being half buried by debris and shrapnel of a series of exploding shells ;)

Teach, Learn, Share

I can tell you about growing up in war-affected areas, studying in war-affected schools. I can tell you about experiences and attitudes of a refugee coming to the U.S. and then moving to Quebec. I can tell you about the shitstorm of shit doctorate students go through. I can tell you about efforts and sources of motivation in trying to secure an agent and/or a publisher for a regular and a non-fiction novel. I can tell you about the challenges of teaching, challenges of family, challenges of self-discovery. It's hard to list everything, but I have stories upon stories, feel like I've lived two lives already...
Also: like to hear other people's (your!) stories. In my experience, no fiction can equal our numerous and always super-complex human realities.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, United States