Zeno Fickenscher's Photo

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  • Last login almost 5 years ago

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Overview

  • 25 references 18 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, German
  • 31, Male
  • Member since 2011
  • Studying
  • University of Leipzg
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

So what shall I tell about me? After High school, I spent one year in lovely Philadelphia doing social service. I worked with elderly people and in an office of an NPO. It was a quite intense experience. I traveled up and down the east coast and made it even to New Orleans, San Francisco, and Vegas. After that, I did my undergrad in the beautiful City of Freiburg. During that time I had the opportunity to go and live in China for a couple of months. Right after I finished my degree I went to the US a second time through a Fulbright Scholarship and spent a wonderful nine Months in Massachusetts, where I not only expanded my academic horizon but also met the most wonderful person in the world that is now my husband. Now I'm working on my graduate here in Leipzig.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I started couch surfing when I was in high school. At first, it was a nice and especially cheap way for me to get to know the world and meet new people. But during my Year in Philly, I started to be more active and met a lot of people and surfed some more and I started to realize that there is more to Couch Surfing than just meeting people and traveling cheap. I met people that widened my horizon, I learned about life and different cultures and how important it is to always be open for everything and be welcoming to people. Couch Surfing gave me the possibility to become a better person and to helped me to find my way of living and I am really grateful for that and I will try to give something back to the community.

Interests

Nietzsche ones said "Without music, life is nothing but a mistake" and I couldn't agree more. I love music and everything around it. I play the viola, mostly in orchestras and little ensembles. I started playing when I was so young that I can't even remember when I didn't have the music. About three years ago I started learning the tango and even though I'm not really good at it, I like it a lot. I also love cooking and sharing my meals with friends. I like going to the movies, I like to walk through cities and I love to learn stuff.

  • arts
  • tango
  • cooking
  • movies
  • traveling
  • socializing
  • music
  • chemistry
  • science

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorites. Well, that always depends on my mood and I keep discovering new favorites. But let's see. A few of my favorite books are The Great Gatsby, Cloud Atlas, most of the works by Isherwood, Kafka, On the road and a lot more that I can't think of right now.
A few of the movies I like are A single man, Five Dances, Lilting, Only lovers left alive, YES, Little Miss Sunshine, Sunshine cleaning, A Late Quartet...
Music is hard. As a violist, I like classical music and I hear that most of the time. But I also like Tango music, Bluegrass and stuff like that.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

That's a tough one. It was wonderful sitting on the steps of the Art Museum in Philly and finally realizing that I am in the US and not dreaming. It was great spending Thanksgiving with the people that later became my American family. It is great to have friends that I barely see but always know I will have a connection to them. It was wonderful to talk to Holocaust survivors as a German and become friends even though they experienced such horrors.

But the most amazing thing that happened in my life wasn't done by me. My father died rather suddenly and I and my family were still quite overwhelmed when we needed to organize the memorial for him. And during this time so many people came to me, my mum and my sister, helping us with basically everything. On the actual day of the ceremony, about 300 people showed up, some of which we hadn't seen in years. Itw as just amazing to see how many people were willing to help us when we needed them and to this day I truly feel blessed to have so many wonderful friends who carried me through this time.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, there are sure some things I could show but there is nothing particular that pops into my mind. I guess I could show you how to cook some dishes or show you some musicians you probably never heard of or I could show you some basic tango steps.

I want to learn everything. Life is about learning and experiencing things.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My cooking skills! I made it my personal mission to cook at least once for every host. But other then that I con only offer my limited wisdom and sometimes rather weird opinions on basically everything!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Germany, United States

Old School Badges

  • 2 Vouches
  • Pioneer Badge

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