Sticky: You are new here? Introduce yourself and get to know the others :)

claudiaab

发布于 2007/03/03 17:15

Available translations:[Original en] [fr]

Hey everybody!

Welcome all of you!! Great to see the project growing and developping :D

At this stage most of you will already know some other members, but certainly there are many more members that you do not know.

Since our profiles still need to be improved a bit to offer you more space to present yourselves to the other members, I thought in the mean time we could use the forum to get to know each other better.

So I will start and hope many others will follow :)

My name is Claudia, apart from spending my time volunteering for BeWelcome I love going to the cinema, whenever I have enough time I enjoy reading (mostly English literature) and like probably everybody I like listening to music .

My music is a wild mixture of Tom Waits, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Katie Melua, Garbage, Holly Cole, The Eels, REM, sometimes classical music, which I used to play a lot myself on the Oboe.

Travelling is of course something else I enjoy a lot: Seeing new things all the time, getting to know the people and doing stuff that I normally don't do at home. As a teacher I have more holidays than others, but of course much less opportunities for extended trips like some of you might have taken. For more than two years now, most of my trips have one destination: Belgium. There I enjoy being with Frank (thorgal67) . The best, however, is travelling together with Frank :) - like last summer to India...

Ok, now you know a lot about me....

thorgal67

发布于 2007/03/04 01:12

Good initiative Claudia,

My name is Frank, but better known as Thorgal67 in the Hospitality Exchange community. I am interested in photography, reading, writing, spreading the famous hand massage (yep, if you have been a victim at one of the camps, I'm the one to blame) and of course helping BeWelcome. I'm also something of a film buff and I like hosting and travelling.

Professionally I'm a Teacher, Trainer, Translator and Tourguide.

My musical taste is very eclectic : U2, Eels, REM, dEUS, Beatles.

Travelling is also a passion. Current projects are Bremen and Hungary/Romania

gerbennap

发布于 2007/03/04 15:06

Good plan:)

My name is Gerben, I'm a student in civil engineering in Delft, the Netherlands. Ever since I found out about hospitality exchange about one year ago, my life has taken a run with me.

I like to play the piano whenever I see one vacant, I like to go windsurfing or sailing when there's water near, I like to meet people whenever someone is around, and I like traveling whenever I'm awake. There's many more things I like, and I invite you all to investigate:)

In April I'm going to Ireland for a couple of days, and this summer(leaving beginning July) I plan to hitchhike to St.Petersburg. I'm staging a hitchhiking-contest for this, and I invite everyone to join:)

cu around!

Gerben

pietshah

发布于 2007/03/04 20:45

I'm Pierre-Charles, whose complicate name was one day written pietshah by a guy who thought I was an indian prince when he heard one of my guest trying to pronounce my name.
The history of pietshah started by then, around 2002, when I got addicted to that way of life I was looking for and becoming possible thanks to some electronic contacts bringing travelers to my home.

I'm living in Venezuela right now, and it looks I'll be away from my French land for a while still, since I feel very well here.
I'm studying architecture, but this is more a path driving my way that a work that I will do. Actually I'm studying it with lots of passion, especially since it brings me to work more on aspects about sociology, politics and cultural aspects than on plans or such stuff.

I'm spending tons of time in front of computers, especially because of BeWelcome, but I don't have notepad and must be one of the last architecture student of Venezuela drawing plans by hand. (but the teachers love it).
If you are my guest and want me to be more attentive with you, I suggest you to volunteer in BeWelcome, so there'll be less work to do, and I'll find more easily free time to walk through Caracas. But don't worry, there will still be lot of free time to drink rum while talking about the revolution!

kiwiflave

发布于 2007/03/04 23:14

Great idea, here I go:

My name is Florian, until June 07 I am studying in Eastbourne, UK, then the desire for sun and love will carry me to Barcelona, Spain.

I am studying tourism management and my academic life is designed by understanding the business world, identifying political intentions but also a huge portion of it is to learn about social and environmental changes as they heavily influence tourism. My approach to BeWelcome or any of the other previous networks is very analytical and pragmatic. I am not so much a philosopher and some people would complain that I am always on time and clearly structured in my mind...

After finishing school I went to New Zealand for 8 months and it was there where I caught fire with travelling and the adventure of meeting new people from entirely different cultural backgrounds.Somehow - I was working in a hostel by then - my manager called me kiwi, the nickname for New Zealanders, and flave was added after some crazy nights out in a dance lounge. My username kiwiflave was born.

What else? This project, BeWelcome, is the baby of a lot of people, it is certainly one of me. I spend a lot of time with it and constantly try to improve it with feedback and actual participation in several teams.

My advice? Never take anything for granted and find the courage to live your dreams. It is so easy....

floki

发布于 2007/03/06 15:58

hey hey hey ...

fantastic to see these evolutions ...

before introducing myself, let me first say BIG THANK YOU to this marvelous team, working on this site ... wish you all the very very best !

so ... born and raised ... went to school ... got a whole socialisation and education through parents, family, friends, strangers and other different impressions that made me finish up as a social, sensible, honnest, good and life-loving person.

trained as a teacher, i never worked as one ... except for a few months. instead i chose the lasy way to earn my money and i am doing the reception in a cultural institute in brussels : no responsebilities, no headaches after work, no problems to solve, not the best payed job, but the best job to work a little on my own projects ...

what you can call a project : just the things i like to do as there is diving, drumming, playing with fire, playing the didge, meeting friends, discussing new ideas ... and ... traveling of course !

hmmmm ... i am sure i can lots and lots more, but just to keep it a little interactive, i think i stop here ... whenever you have questions ... just shoot !

thankn you all for letting me being part of all this ;)

ingrid

floki

发布于 2007/03/06 19:05

ohhh ... and i noticed ... 63 views and only 5 replies ... so it wasn´t obligatory ??

claudiaab

发布于 2007/03/06 23:33

Haha, Ingrid, not obligatory YET :P I think we should introduce more rules and obligations here to create the right atmosphere :P

I didn't know you were into diving so much! So the new project will be BeDive, you and Pietshah can set up a diving school in Venezuela! What do you think? Too much headache?

wired-wokman

发布于 2007/03/07 18:19

hey folks,

my name is sebastian, but within other (travel)communities and - i guess here as well soon - i am only known as woki/wokzilla/wokzter.

anyway, i am designer and manager of a pr/creative-company, what means that i am a workaholic and bussy all the time.

what i like the most in my rare free time is driving in my van trough europe, leaving a plane in riga, eat pelmeni or just read some more books. besides there is a chance to meet me at community-parties or events.

i support that project coz it will be the evolution of all communities i know so far and a lot of ppl with whom i had some of the best times of my life are already members and - thats for sure - more will follow.
plus, its the only community useing the yaml-tpl + famfamfam-icons ;-)

lourenssenm

发布于 2007/03/07 23:48

Hello People,

My name is Maikel and As i started with Hospitalityclub I later got to know about Bewelcome.

At the HC wintercamp i Joined the Local volunteer meeting (as a local volunteer) and in some kind of way this system didn't feel very democratic to me.

As i'm mostly openminded and love to meet people anywhere and everybody is welcome to me.

So feel welcome at my place. Not for hosting mainly (as the place that i have it not the best one) but for some great sightseeing everyone is welcome as well.

Greetings and Take Care,

Maikel

gypsyhymn

发布于 2007/03/09 18:12

Hello everyone,

My name is Trevor. I've been active in HC (and to a smaller extent CS) since June of last year, and I can honestly say it's changed my life. BeWelcome is an idea that excites me, despite the reservations I have the introduction of a new player into the game, as it were. The excitement, I think, outweights the reservations (especially when looking long-term) and so I would like move towards helping with the project. I will be in from May on, so hopefully I can meet some of you.

And about myself? Well, right now I work in New York Cityas the manager of the internet/mail order department of a great used bookstore. At home, I spend my time playing acoustic guitar and writing songs.

I've hosted some 50 people so far, and threw a huge CS/HC New Year's Eve party at my apartment, which has made for some amazing experiences and memories. I'm looking forward to being hosted for the first times while finally traveling again this summer (takes awhile to save up travel funds while living in NYC!).

Trevor

jerual

发布于 2007/03/10 20:44

Hello and Guten Tag,

Laura Stahl is my name and i have been around for 20 years now. Just joined bewelcome recently because one of my good friends , thorgal, is so committed to it and i love the idea of exchaning cultures and hospitality exchange.

i am also member of HC with the same username and i am local volunteer there. i am not very active at the moment, because i am preparing my trip to spain with minusch85 and i am also seeking a job right now which is rather difficult.

i listen to all kind of music. i like the most but i am not a friend of techno and house music.

movies... thats hard.. some people say i dont have any taste and i watch horrible movies, well that might be right. i am a huge fan of princess movies.

what else... nothing much i guess... and i hope that bewelcome is going to be a great page for all of us

thx to all volunteers

take care and keep smiling :-)

Laura

peiro

发布于 2007/03/12 17:35

Hey everybody,

I'm Vince Peiro from Switzerland. 32 years old and a language teacher for 7th to 9th graders. Most of my hospitality exchange is through CouchSurfing but I'm also a member of HC, GFL, stay4free. I love these communities and I met a ton of very good people in the process.

Cheers,

Vince

jenushka

发布于 2007/03/12 21:31

Hallo!My name is Eugenia, i`m from Russia. As almost everybody here i`m HC member (unfortunately not very active).I study Spanish literature and do a postgraduate course. But my dream is to travel all round the world and meet new people.

kiltboy69

发布于 2007/03/13 02:24

Hey this place seems to be shaping up pretty well and look interesting hopefully, no eventuallyit should take off. My name is kiltboy69 or you can call me kilt I was born with hippy parents im afraid! :D

mesmerized

发布于 2007/05/20 02:01

Bonjour à tous, hello people, hallo, bom dia !

I am Marie-Laure (also a dreadful French name, sorry about that), better known as mesmerized over the Internet, and especially on HC and CS.

To cut things short, I am a little Frenchie, full of life, and determined to chase my dreams wherever they might take me.

Hugs to all of you. I hope to meet you soon somewhere on this planet.

Marie-Laure

platschi

发布于 2007/05/21 15:42

Hey,

nice thread! :)

So for now, I am Ralf, a german currently studying Educational Design in the Netherlands (Enschede). I'm 20 (well, next week 21....) and totally addicted to traveling by hitchhiking. Last year I hi-hiked for the first time with a friend to Italy (we had the plan to visit south-germany, but we arrived there after 2 days already) and since that time I'm also active at HospitalityClub. Because I lived in a little town I had not that much guests (to be exactly: 1 guest) but I hope that here in Enschede some more people will come and visit this nice city. Well, this summer I'm going to Bulgaria by hitchhiking, and I can't wait to start....

For the rest, I love (of course) music (Singer/Songwriter, Alternative Country, Blues, Jazz,...), drinking beer with friends and just enjoying life at the moment.

So, for now. I don't know what to say. Questions? Just ask me! :)

Greetings, Ralf

annette10827

发布于 2007/06/24 12:36

Hello, my dear friends,

here I am, finally! ;)

So many of you asked me to join, so I couldn't resist any more.

I'm a member of HC and CS, did some heavy travelling last year during my 18 months sabbatical, and am now back to Berlin and work with ver.di, my trade union.

Am I the senior member right now? I wonder... No, maybe Isa is slightly older. I missed meeting him last year when I was in Istanbul.

So many others of you I met during my travels and at camps and parties. And in chat, of course. I miss you all :(

So when in Berlin, don't forget to give me a call, and we will meet for a drink and/or delicious dishes and discover a few beautiful places in and around Berlin.

C ya soon!

Annette

monodico

发布于 2007/06/27 10:52

Nobody asked me to join because only a few know me, here. Would you bridge the gap by being my guest between July 03 and July 10? Bergamo Open Days 2007, everybody (be)welcome!

norbs

发布于 2007/07/03 12:19

Hi there,

I am Norberto, a portuguese living in Munich, Germany. Munich is a great place to enjoy free time which can be seen as a boring place comparing to Berlin, let's just say that the city is more "posh":) but very cool!

I am a CS user and joined BW to perform what I was also trying at in CS, helping translating it to portuguese:)

I am a multilingual IT specialized in Security working here for 1.5 years now. I enjoy hosting and have not been a guest too often but I'm working on that.

Besides drawing, music (mainly alt/indie/rock), I also enjoy juggling and lately Poi Spinning (if you're curious about it, check www.poipoi.info).

As a host, I like participative and chilled guests. People travelling with their own little bubble only expecting a free spot are not really what I am looking for to host.

Cheers,

norbs

arii

发布于 2007/10/13 04:06

Hello and Namaste,

I am Arijit from New Delhi, India.. better known as arijitraja in HC and Train of Consequences in CS. Am the ambassador for Delhi in CS. Joined the hospitality exchanges about two years back adn its been a roller coster ride. This year was too much. Started with the beach camp in Berlin where i was one of the two indians out of the 800 people who were there but it was sooooo much fun. Did a backpacking trip of Europe... and then one month in London this August for work and play.. Planning to go to Scandinavia this year end... but still is a plan.

Regarding me.. by profession am a IT Analyst for a European Giant Bank... Love sports, photography... music - Metal, Gothis, Lounge, Electonica... absolutely anything... these days listening to Boooka Shade and The Knife...

This much about me..

Peace... Ari

pirane

发布于 2007/10/22 11:09

Namaste,

Another Indian from Mumbai over here . My life mainly revolves around my two passions of music and mountains. Started of with classic rock and metal during my school and college days, but now I mainly listen to and appreciate Indian classical music. I spend most of my Sundays and holidays in the mountains either climbing or trekking, the mountains have a very powerful effect on me.

Absolutely love to ready books and am quite a voracious reader. I believe that books open up the doors and windows of your mind and give you a completely different and new prospective of things. Being a yoga practioner of many years I try to live my life in accordance to yogic principles.

I guess that' it...oh and when I find time from all my other activities I travel to remote parts of my beautiful country to feel it's rich and varied heritage.

Cheers,

Piran

hobosonic

发布于 2007/12/24 10:30

Hey everybody - don't mind if I do,

My name is James and I'm a couch surfer. Most of this is already in my profile, either here or on couchsurfing.com, but here goes.

I work for a paleontology consulting firm that has me offshore a lot, and at wierd intervals. A year and a half ago, my lease ran out, and rather than getting a new place, I just started wandering around the US visiting old friends between offshore jobs. I just got a new place in Tallahassee and felt that it was only right to open it up and offer my couch to other travellers. So please, if you're headed to or through Florida's capital, drop me a line!

Thanks!

aburec

发布于 2008/02/05 07:29

Hi everyone!My name is Shireen i live in sunny South Africa more precise Cape Town! or ok a surburb called Kuils river 20 min away from Cape town.I am a new member and hope to forge long term friendships and oneday meeting some of you in person.Any one travelling out this way feel free to contact me at anytime i would be delighted to be of assistance!I on the other hand will be travelling to Europe during September - October and will be visiting London,Germany France and Italy and if anybody could help out with accomodation and also showing us around it will be appreciated. nCheers nShireen

claudiaab

发布于 2008/02/05 09:14

nWelcome Shireen! n

n

n Definitely contact me for accommodation and / or info on Germany! Would love to meet up once you are here :) n

n

nCheers n

n

nClaudia n

margaret

发布于 2008/02/05 15:36

nhi to all n

n

nmy name is Margaret and I am here in the Washington DC area. I am active in CS and in my own life, offline...as we all are of course. I work as a park naturalist and do a lot of artwork for my park and lead bird groups, etc. I'm also a very active volunteer in my city...I am frequently appointed to angry or unproductive boards/commissions here *sigh*....because I'm skilled at getting people to compromise and work together. I'm married and mother of 2 nice kids. n

n

n I'm so happy to see this thread because I am curious about BW people...but don't want to click through the profiles, leave a trail all over the website, and look like a voyeuristic perv! n

n

nnice to meet you all n

n

n n

francaise83

发布于 2008/02/05 21:16

hei to everyone)!!! I am Nadja, member of HC under the same nick as here), willing to be open to more people)))!!! so, welcome))))))

clubcouch

发布于 2008/02/06 16:40

Hello; n nMy name Cameron. n nI live about 50 miles south of San Francisco in a little town called Milpitas just outside of San Jose. I am a native to this area and will probably live here my entire life. I love the weather, the people, the diversity and just about everything you can love about a place. n nI have traveled around the world. I am married with two boys who are both past twenty. I love meeting people, traveling, learning, helping, hiking, waterskiing and trying different and new types of foods, culture and music. n nI joined BeWelcome because I believe in something I want to promote, hospitality! With hospitality people come together in unfamilar enviromemnts under a cloud of intrigue and curiousity all of which I believe, for those who enjoy this type of thing, to remove the mental barriers of culture and reduce it to humanity. We come together as people, nothing more. This is in and of itself a great reason to promote this type of interaction to all. n nIf your ever in the area let me know and we can meet up. I can show you whatever it is you would like to see here. If you want to see city life, we can go there. If you would like to see wine country, we can go there. If you would like to see wilderness or countryside we can do that too. When you come to visit me bring with you your desire to do and I will provide the means to an unforgetable adventure that will last a lifetime. n nI look forward to meeting as many of you as life permits! n nUntil then, n nClubcouch

enriqueguillen

发布于 2008/02/06 17:13

nhello, n

n

nThis is Quique from Spain, willing to make new friends out there in the world... welcome to my wild place and hope to meet some of you in the future. n

n

nMy plans for this year includes: easter in Morocco again, april in Galicia (Spain) with a group of belgian friends, spring and summer will be for my hoplites (ancient greek warriors) historical group, we have a number of performances to do, in Spain and France, and I leave three weeks holidays to go hopefully far away, but still not decided where to go, any suggestions? n

n

nMy job as a civil servant consists on doing the maintenance in the small villages of my very unpopulated area. I am a biologist, but who needs a biologist in the middle of the forests? it is well known that only the cities need biologists... n

n

nQuique n

pjaheesakkers

发布于 2008/02/28 16:56

Hi guys,

Just signed up this afternoon and I think this site rocks! Ofcourse I'm expecting, just as the rest of you guys, to have some unforgatable, crazy, and so on encounters with other members and to see someting more of the world.

Unfortunatly their is no time at the moment because I allowed my desk to hjack me in order to finish my thesis. But guess what, since my thesis will be a phenomenology on hospitality networks I still wil be available to communicate and maybe even meet a few of you guys.

You can even help me by filling in the survey on http://www.thesistools.com/?qid=45290&ln=eng
or look in my profile summery for other helpfull volunteer activities which I will highly appreciate!

Anyway, Hope to finish my thesis succesfully so that I'm ready to discover my world and meet you guys!

Axé!!!

ermonnezza

发布于 2008/04/04 13:39

Hi all! I just joined. I'm from Italy, I currently live in Switzerland where I'm "finishing" a PhD, but I will move to Brussels in two months. I am a relatively active member of Couchsurfing (same nick), even though I don't like many aspects of its organization. I found about this other site on opencouchsurfing.org. I hope this one turns to be better, and grows to be as usable - but not more! The growth-at-all-cost policy is actually one of the things I don't like of CS: it just fills the site of people who join and never really use it. n nWell, we'll see.. in the mean time, be very welcome if you pass through Lugano soon, or Brussels after June.

tilllt

发布于 2008/04/07 19:14

hello, i am till. born and raised in hamburg germany, then moved to cologne to study film at the academy of media arts. in between 6 month exchange with the filmschool in cuba, currently living in mexico city since 7 months to research a documentary about the mexican 68 movement. In may 08 i will go back to germany, berlin this time.

my main objectives right now are finding out if i can deal with the climate in germany, and if not - whats the place to go. besides that i have to resolve economical issues, finding a financially sustainable way of living which me enables to maintain a certain nomadic life which probably is very difficult...

besides that i want to advance with my arts and radicalize my works in the meaning of finding the essence of what i am doing. i want to learn dancing, portuguese and perfect my spanish, visit chile, brazil and all the countries in europe that i havent seen.

also i feel i have to support people that dedicate their life on changing the world although i dont believe this is possible while being part of institutionalized organisations that operate within existing structures because i really believe that the whole system is already fucked up. I am trying not to get sarcastic or pessimistic around that issue and right now i am doing fine, asking people about their ideas of utopic ideas of society, ethics etc. I believe we need to define a new vision of what we want.

purplesage

发布于 2008/10/30 17:08

hello everybody,

my name's caesar and I live in New Delhi, India. Its such a nice surprise to see some familiar faces (beautiful ones for sure) here.

I work as an international civil servant. This job helps put bread and meat on my table, pay the phone bills, and when I feel like working, it gives me job satisfaction.

I've travelled a great deal but its not enough. Without sounding greedy, I will say my recent years have afforded me 4 or 5 trips overseas just for the travel experience. I will be in france for christmas this year and in brussels later in the week.

I play guitar, harp and some indian flute; am mad about music, love coffee and cigarettes, can listen to silence when I've nothing to do, I can cook a good indian meal, I like to hear a baby laugh, and a lot of other curious thing.

Haven't put a picture on my profile as yet but I promise to do just that at the soonest.

Travellers to India do give me a shout.

Its wonderful to join this new community

love and peace

caesar

claudiaab

发布于 2008/10/31 16:57

Hi Caesar!

How nice to see that you have found your way to BeWelcome! It's good to see such a well-travelled person with so much experience with Hospex here!

A warm welcome!

Claudia

jeanyves

发布于 2008/10/31 20:56

Hello Caesar, be officially welcome in BeWelcome !

vipingoyal

发布于 2008/11/01 08:44

I am vipin goyal from Jodhpur-India.I hope BW proves to be an improvement over CS and HC.I will happily contribute in every possible way.

kiwiflave

发布于 2008/11/01 08:58

Welcome Vipin goyal!

I am sure that with your contribution we ll be able to create with BeWelcome something which both HC and CS have failed to do: a friendly, volunteer driven and sustainable community for hospitality and cultural exchange.

You find an overview of tasks to do at the volunteer pages and a description of teams and work areas in the wiki.

Enjoy!

vitki

发布于 2009/01/29 23:53

G'day to you all from Australia,

I live on the Sunshine Coast near Brisbane in Queensland Australia. I love to host travellers, but will shortly be off on my own travels.

I leave Brisbane for Los Angeles on 28th February and will be travelling for about 9 months.

I am hoping to get to the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Hondurus, Canada, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Austria, France Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland and England. I know it sounds a lot, but I am not sure on which way I will be travelling or what mode of transport yet.

I would love to meet up with fellow travellers and also like to meet the locals and even accept kind offers from a Host for a day or so.

Nice to meet you all and look forward to chats.

kiwiflave

发布于 2009/02/04 17:50

Welcome vitki!

Your planned trip sounds awesome. One remark, though, out of my own experience: Plan enough time to really "live" in a place for a while so not to get tired of travelling too fast. That happened to me in NZ / AUS (you just can't take in more at a certain stage).

If you make it to Barcelona (until June) or the UK (London most likely) afterwards, we d be happy to meet up :-

letsgoamigo

发布于 2009/02/07 21:31

Letsgoamigo....have not logged in for a year...been really occupied with some local projects...live in El Salvador all year around..Ex Pat...sorry living in a home with friends of family and am unable to host..I myself am a paying "Guest", I rent. I live in the city of San Salvador in a nice area (by day), can meet up with you but I am unable to accompany visitors on bus trips outside the city for safety reasons. Sorry.

If you can provide transportation, car and a driver, then I can give you a nice day tour of El Salvador, includes mine and the drivers lunch, I despise "cheap" travelers and also those who are dirty and unkempt, really do not wish to associate with toxic people from any nationality. Your philosophy or ideology matters nothing, it is your character.

Anyway, le esperamos.

unique_indian

发布于 2009/02/08 16:20

I'm quite old here thoughbut this community seems to be quite inactive as compared to other such communities like CS, Hospitality and others.

Let's make it happening guys. Please post more here regarding hosting, surfing, travelling, help, information etc.

Ajay.

RianaGo

发布于 2009/02/10 19:19

Hi, my name is Riana, i'm also a CS member (almost 1 year). I like the layout of the site and also the applications (good ideas). You can tell there is a lot of passion into the website.

I work in webdesign and when i'm not travelling, i spend my days in a lovelly town in the western part of Romania, called Timisoara.You are wellcome to visit.

crumbking

发布于 2009/03/09 18:53

As we have lots of new members I would ask to make this thread sticky or add a reply link on "main" page with thread title and last 5 posts...

what do you think?

RETIRED_6663

发布于 2009/03/09 19:48

I am Tony, a baby boomer, academician by trade, athletic and artistic by avocation. I am excellent professionally but nearly pathetically challenged otherwise. I confess, I know little of other people outside the USA. Hence, my ulterior motive in joining hospitality clubs. Although I am kind by nature, it is not out of altruism that I venture in hosting perfect strangers. I really just have this sincere desire to know more of others, first hand. Incidentally, I cannot imagine myself anybody's guest, dunno why.

What else? Ok, I am also lots of fun to be with, non-judgmental, mildly opinionated but reasonably flexible. I know I am very educated, intelligent, decent, tolerant and considerate. I am not arrogant...I am actually very nice. I am also modest.

yanina

发布于 2009/03/15 19:39

Hello everyone!

I registered at Bewelcome quite long tim before, but never used It. Now I felt like to know new interesting people and to change opinions. My name is Yanina (or Yana), I am a sinologist, working with China. I like travelling to other countries, but most of the time go alone. It would be great to have company while travelling. Work takes most of my free time, but when I can take a rest, I read (books, newspapers, magazines), listening to the radio (news stuff and talks about economy and politics and historical programmes), training yoga Iengara. I like different music: rock, new-age,jazz sometimes, classic. I'm found of nature and willing to meet people who like expeditions. Also interested in history and culture of different nations. Love massage and interested in getting new skills and technics. Well...not so good introduction)) But I've tried))

JoeyO1946

发布于 2009/05/24 22:22

JoeyO1946 Here...

"Please allow me to introduce myself..."( is as far as I take that line from one of my favorite tunes from one of my favorite bands)

I am a First Year Boomer and will be retired on October 1, 2009. Still don't believe it. I will have completed 28 years at the NPR member public radio station at Chico State University. We just celebrated our 40th anniversary on the air with a Big Party at Sierra Nevada Tap Room. The home of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale--and a dozen or so other Fine Brews.

My wife and I have been married almost 41 years. We have two childeren--a daughter and a son.

I gave my "two year notice" to the station manager in 2007 and have been "practicing retirement" ever since. Luckily, I had lots of Holiday Time built up, so these last two years I've been able to take 3 week off at a time. In 2008, we sailed from Miami to Barcelona--by way of the Azores, Lisbon, Gibralta, Malaga and Palma Majorca. This past February we took our second ever cruise--on the same ship, the NCL Jade--from Barcelona around the Mediterranean.

Next year will be a big one for Travel for us. With our little bundles (clothes and cash) I hope we'll get back to Europe once or twice at least.

Our current Dream is to take a River Cruise to see the Tulips in Holland and to spend a couple of weeks in Poland next Spring. It would be great to be in touch with other Welcome Be-Ings to visit along the way.

As to hosting here in California...We're not too near any of the "Big Name Cities" like LA or San Francisco. But, we are in a pleasant agricultural valley nestled up against the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. When it's in the 100s in the Sacramento River Valley, we can drive an hour up the mountains and enjoy 70 degrees F (got to remember how to convert to C). Almost never snows in Chico, but, again back up to the mountains and we're playing in it in less than an hour's drive.

And, San Francisco is only 3 hours away, as is Lake Tahoe and Reno, NV.

We can play host if you'd like a modest, experience. I figure we could put one or two people up in a cozy kind of way.

There. I'm an Old Dog and trying this New Trick of Socializing here on BeWelcome. I don't Twitter, nor do I have a Facebook page. Got all of my Eggs in this Basket.

So, as they say on stage as they test the microphone--"Is this Thing On?"

Would love to hear back from anyone interested in replying.

JoeyO1946

kiwiflave

发布于 2009/05/25 07:33

Hi Joey,

This thing is definitely on! :-) Welcome and greetings from Barcelona! I' d be happy to meet you on your tour through Europe. Just don't forget to visit good old Germany - vibrant cities, stunning landscapes, best beer ever, that sort of stuff :-))

beatrice00

发布于 2009/08/15 18:53

Hello everyone!

So many interesting profiles in this list!
Please let me introduce myself.
My name is Beatrice and I live in Belgium where I'm currently studying tourism management.
I joined bewelcome a couple of months ago but to be honest, I never realy made contact with other members untill now.

In order to pass my final year I still have to make a thesis. the topic I've chosen is the comparison between different hospitality services and their safety-related topics.

If you have some time to spare please fill in this inquiry.. it would mean a lot to me!
http://www.enquetemaken.be/toonenquete.php?id=20141&zelf=1

thx!
beatrice

kiwiflave

发布于 2009/08/15 22:13

Hi Beatrice,

Interesting topic you chose there! I did something similar a few years ago, feel free to have a look at my bachelor diss (brighton univ.) here. You might just as well find some interesting sources and/or ideas in it!

beatrice00

发布于 2009/08/16 20:30

Thx a lot Florian!

you really sent me in the right direction.. I think I'll dig into these sources!

llipschutz

发布于 2009/08/23 08:46

So I'm Matt, though many of my friends simply know me as Stove (People call me both, sometimes interchangably). May 5th, 2008, I was officially laid off from my "career" job (I am an Electronic Engineer, was working with microchips). Ever since then I have been traveling, mostly by hitch-hiking (A few flights/trains/busses) and walking (I completed 1/5 of the Pacific Crest Trail this summer). I've been a member of BW for almost a year, but never really used it; I've used Couchsurfing for the past two, and love the folks I have been meeting. I've never actually hosted anyone in my own home, but have hosted a number of people in other folks' houses (sometimes when the owners were not there, but gave permission). I like to help people in whatever way I can, and have been known to give away pieces of my gear to people whom ask nicely (such as my sleeping bag, tent, clothes...etc). I love to share my knowledge, food, and stories, but you'll have to find me/keep me in one place somehow.

I could write more, but I'm off to hitch to Riga in a few minutes. See y'all around!

srii

发布于 2009/09/29 09:04

well, I'm not quite new here - signed up some months ago already, but haven't got a visitor yet - is Berlin somehow off the BW tracks? :)

so, I'm Iris ... after some years of work/study nomadism around Central Europe back to my home town Berlin... currently writing the last chapter of my Ph.d. thesis about a cultural history topic, but not in the habit of boring my guests with details - unless of course you're REALLY interested in Bratislava urban history ;) ... playing clarinet in a small band...and now, after a summer of lazily swimming in little Brandenburg lakes and visiting friends in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia moving into autumn mode - i.e. hot cup of tea and reading through the books I picked up during my travels :)

always fancied a rather frugal style of travelling and got really excited about the HospEx idea when joining HC 5 years ago ... however, lately I got a feeling I might wanna switch platforms or at least diversify - so hello BW, here I come :)

I'll be happy to share my spacious 8sqm room, show around the small bars & cafés of my township and share stories!

bikepunk

发布于 2009/10/02 15:55

Hey

I joined beWelcome after having learnt how CS is managed...

since my political choices are guiding my life, I'll try to help here as much as possible

so, I'm a queer bikepunk, traveling by bicyle all over europe since july 2008.

I already rode most of the north of europe and I'm currently in greece, about to ride former yougoslavia and italy before to get back in france. If you've got a place on my way, let me know I'll try to visit you.

beware my radical point of views :-P

as soon as I get a place, you'll be more than welcome to spend some time with us (I never live alone)

rodrigo

发布于 2009/10/07 09:55

my name is rodrigo, 22 years old, born and raised in brazil, currently studying laws. i'm a HC member for 3 years and CS member for 2 months, i like to host foreign people but no one really comes to my city, so i try to join as many site of this kind as i can with the hope of finding more guests :)

bewelcome seems pretty empty. everytime i log on here i see that im the only online member at the moment. the max online members at the same time i ever saw was 3 people. i hope things get better around here, because this website looks well done

if there is any way i can help BW dont hesitate to contact me

kiwiflave

发布于 2009/10/07 10:03

Welcome, people!

Rodrigo: Yes, there is sth you can help with easily. Spread the word! Tell your friends on other networks about BeWelcome (not through their messaging systems though as you might get labelled spammer). You are also very welcome to join the translations or support team - have a look at the groups section for teams and stuff!

This Sunday we'll have a chat for new members: 8pm London time - join in if it's not too early/late at your part of the world!

isafakir

发布于 2009/10/25 19:40

outside the box.

i have been hosting international travelers 40+ years. Before that in the 40s and 50s, the house i grew up in [http://www.flickr.com/photos/froghollowroad/248745802/in/set-72157594293817267/ ] was always full of visitors from every conceivable part of the planet, and we ran a hotel when I was a kid [http://www.flickr.com/photos/froghollowroad/248745802/in/set-72157594293817267/] where I was schooled in hospitality.

I have been expat since 1986, a Fulbright fellow [1987-88], teacher[86-06], and Internet education specialist [1996-2004].

My travels include most of North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. My photography has had some major exhibits and hangs in some museums, embassies, and other collections. [nothing major] Prior to moving to the Middle East I was engaged [director/trainer/counselor] in NGOs for homeless disabled and also gay street kids, was a FIFA referee, and did PR for NGOs, cultural and sport organizations. Especially youth soccer/football. I was also a sports journalist/photographer. raised a handful of kids. mostly throw aways. Since about 1996 I've been active in online trauma and survivor groups. We had a pension in Pamukkale for a year which was a royal bust. I've driven through and stayed in all of Turkey. most of Greece, Cypress, syria, kuwait, jordon, palestine, saudi arabia and oman and for my sins Dubai. I prefer trains. But use planes usually except when time allows me to drive, when i just wander, out into the dessert or up a mountain.

I was an early joiner upper at BeWelcome. There were a few dozen then. Well schooled in CS and Hospitality notions of being hospitable. My preferences are for community equity and democratic organization. I am a disabled USA veteran and never did quite get used to command structures. I figure me and friends know best how to be friendly without memorizing bulleted talking points prepared by strangers. I am not an anarchist but I do believe in self organizing communities. Jargon without at least some sense of humor kills.

I can offer some good cooking, wi-fi, information, a personal library, a couch, and whatever else the moment provides, a very good collection of movies including Sponge Bob Square Pants, Priscilla Queen of the Dessert, Blazing Saddles, classical music,Thelonious Monk, Johnny Cash. all kinds of music. A lot of knowledge about Istanbul, about the Middle East, about US First Nations, Queer theory...

mostly i like having guests, visitors and staying with others when i travel. when i was kid we stayed with family wherever we went in North and South America and europe. I have given up on sharing anything I know with W2 hospitality management. they know it all already.

thegermanchick

发布于 2009/10/27 07:50

Hey everybody!

I'm also new here, so I thought it's a good idea to drop some lines about me.

My name is Diana, 22 and I'm studying fashion management in the black forest. I love travelling and have planned a trip to Ireland at the end of January for so about 3 weeks.

I have never done such a trip before and just hope it works :-)

Diana

rnlmerck

发布于 2009/11/01 23:53

Hi,

I'm Linda fro South Carolina USA. I am retired now; worked 25 years as a nurse. Traveling is a joy for me. I love seeing new places & learning about other cultures.

mactomtom

发布于 2009/11/24 19:48

Hi all,

I'm Thomas, 25 years old and currently living in Delft (The Netherlands). I'm born in Germany. However, I was living and a bit studying in Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and England. My favourite city was London, it was a great experience. You have so many possibilities.... Switzerland was nice for sports like skiing, hiking and climbing.

Anyway, I like Delft although it's a rather small town with lots of students. I'm an earthscience student here... After two months staying nonstop in Delft I wanna go travelling again. Delft is not to far away from Belgium, Luxemburg and Northern France. Thus, I wanna visit Ghent, Antwerpen, Brussels and Brugge in near future. I think Belium might be the best place to taste different kind of beers.

Apart from the big cities with a lot of cultural activities I also like the countryside for hiking. People told me that the Ardennes and the Elsass might be a good place to enjoy the nature. In addition I like good food and wine. In particular, I get hooked on Italian food (pasta, pizza, parma, prosciutto....) and also Italian Ice cream.

The next planned trip is to go to southern France. Right now, I have never been in the Pyrenees... This year, I spent almost two weeks in northern Italy, it was beautiful...

In my spare time, I do a lot of sports and I started with triathlon...

I like the concept of bewelcome.org to meet and greet people in other locations. This is the best way to get in touch with other cultures, much better than any travel guide... Hosts often tell you something about the hidden and nontouristic places of city.

I did some couchsurfing and you can have interesting meetings, dinners, conversations and discussions with your guests and hosts. Sometimes, I like cooking (although my skills and dishes are very limited and) I like a neverending socializing dinner.

Keep in touch and don't hesitate to contact me!

Cheers, Thomas

crumbking

发布于 2009/11/26 11:21

Hey Thomas,

thanks for this great introduction. Yeah southern France is also on my ToTravel list.

I have already a good tip for your New Year Party :)

It is just a couple of km far away from you!

Check out this thread:

http://www.bewelcome.org/forums/s927-The_Zoetermeer__The_Hague__CS_New_Years_Party_2009

I know the organizer zeezout as he participated a couple of time in the Klöden Late Summer Camp. He is a pretty cool guy and I'm sure he will organize a wondeful NYE Party.

Anyway, great to see you on board :)

cheers

crumbking

linkcake

发布于 2009/12/16 08:03

hi all

i am linda, and still young always young;). i am a new learner of travelling, hopely you can teach me about being traveller..;p, my mission is travelling around europe with barter something like a story of a red clip paper( dream always on mind ). Anyway, don't hestitate inform to me if you plan travel to indonesia or jakarta.

anyway, i have reference to you about a hostel, that close to indonesia international airport, only 20 minutes from airport by taxi or you can ask them to pick you up. exactly, the owner only looking for room mate, because he lived alone at the apartment so you only pay for 10 USD/night, it is only for share the expenses...the facilities are ;

near city, airport, mall, bus terminal and there is minimarket on the apartment, laundry service, swimming pool and jogging track.

if you interest, here the email ; chimels177@yahoo.com

have a good holiday

see yah............

thank you

barbiegoth

发布于 2010/01/04 03:08

Hi I'm Jacque aka barbiegoth...

I've been on CS for a while but only just getting involved d/t fact that I was going to school fulltime & working 40 plus hours as well leaving me not much time for social interactions. Now that I'm simply working & I have a chance to do a bit of traveling I'm finding that I love the idea of CS & bewelcome....imagine opening the world up by opening your heart & home....

Right now I don't have a couch per se d/t fact that I've been nannying for a family for the past 2 years but this summer hoping to find a house of my own & then it'll be open house for sure!

I'm not a computer whiz or anything like that but I'm willing to help however I can.

ClaraB

发布于 2010/01/21 09:41

Hi Everyone

So i am a former CS participant from 3 years now ,so i have a lot of experience with CS, but i recently resigned from it for vaious reasons.

Here I created a new membership but i have never received a request to have a couch, so still no experience with BeWelcome.

I was born in Israel 27 years ago and I had lived there 4 years before going toFrance and then i have lived all my life in France only to return to Israel this year for good.

I love my life in Israel, and though for the moment I am installed in Jerusalem, my plan is to move to either Haifa orTel Aviv in a near future and if an opportunity arrised.

So I am looking forward to meet interesting and nice people from this website.

Until then, feel free to ask me any question.

Sincerely,

Clara B.

jeanyves

发布于 2010/01/23 08:42

Welcome Clara,

nice post

I wish you to find a lot ofgood fellow in BW

LuisLassalethNayele

发布于 2010/01/23 19:34

Hi community,

I'm a new member. I'm spanish (I don't believe in nationalities, but by the moment saying I'm from Spain has some meaning for everybody), but I live in Andorra. I live here since october 2006. I am single with two little daughters (born in 2004 and 2005) from different mothers, we make a special happy family. I started in couchsurfing in part because of them. I had no possibilities to travel, so we opened our house to the world. I am an activ host at this organisation. But the last guest I had talked me about BeWelcome. I agree with this philosophy. In fact I started a master in free software (Open Source) and I hope to be a volunteer next years. I will study slowly because I don't have many time. But I should afford it in three years. Maybe before of that I will be useful to BeWelcome.

Another reason to be in this kind of organisations is to improve my competences in languages, so excuse my English.

I like many kinds of music and literature. I like read also science, sociolgy, antropology essays. I like travelling, as all of you, I will start with my daughters this summer.

I like learning, everybody has interesting things to share, to teach, to show, to talk about.

My daughters are now the centre of my life, so any approach to me is one to them, and because of them: languages, cultures, geography, etc.

I hope BeWelcome will surpass these bad times. The most I like of BeWelcome is the democracy and cooperative principles. Maybe misunderstood principles for many of the people in the world.

I suggest to give more publicity of BeWelcome writting about our belonging to BW in other forums or profiles of social behaviour in Internet as twitter, facebook, couchsurfing, etc. I will do.

Thanks to be wherever you were.

Luis

klindley

发布于 2010/01/23 20:20

Hi,

I'm Katie. I found this site while searching for cool places to visit in the Netherlands, and I'm so excited about this concept! I love people and authentic travel. I'm an undergraduate studying Journalism and Romance Languages (Spanish and French). I would love to be fluent, and maybe this can help. I can't really travel a whole lot right now because I'm a broke college student, but I'm saving up for it. My couch is always avaliable if you venture down to Georgia (the state of peaches so says my license plate). I just signed a lease for an apartment in Athens, Ga, so now there's a better place to stay than the floor of my dorm room. I can't wait to meet more people just as excited about exploring the world!

hofy84

发布于 2010/01/23 22:46

Hello,

My name is Marek, I do CS since May 2009 and after some disturbing reading about it, I decided to join an open-couchsurfing project. I have found BeWelcome to be the most attractive site of the few evolving open projects. I still use CS (it's pimped I gotta admit) under the same login name, but it's important to support plurality - so here I am, hoping that BW will flourish.

Love opensource (GNU/Linux), Pirate Bay (Knowledge, culture and art belongs to everyone), Free Hugs, Megaphone street activism (Will yet have to do my own "assault", but check "Everything is OK" to get the idea), Housing homeless, Vegetarianism, Living the change I want to see in the world. Eager to do more traveling, WOOFing and other to work my way around the globe :D

love&peace

claudiaab

发布于 2010/01/24 13:52

Welcome, Luis, Katie and Marek!

enaemz

发布于 2010/01/24 18:41

Yoo...

My name is Ed and I'm from Malaysia. Yes... Malaysia. I've been a member of Hospitality Club and Couchsurfing for the past 3 years and only recently got to know about this beWelcome. I really think this kind of project it awesome. Meet new people, make lots of friends.

I'm a media planner working for a local advertising agency in Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia) . If there is anybody who are planning to travel to Malaysia soon, please drop a line.

Cheers,

Ed Naem

claudiaab

发布于 2010/01/24 19:01

Hi Ed, welcome here!

Malaysia is definitely on our list, but we don't have any plans to go there for the near future. Well, if you are in Europe, check out the capital of Europe and meet our small family!

Please advertise BeWelcome with your friends and visitors!

Cheers,

Claudia

RobinsonCruso

发布于 2010/01/24 19:17

hello, as you can see I´m not exactly new to the community but as I was some kind of absent for a long time I "re"introduce myself :D

I forgot with which e-mail I did lock in here, so it was a bit hard to reenter... now I´m back and plan to stay :D

I´m still a student but I hope not for long- writing my Master thesis at the moment-and after that who knows where I might go, so there is just little time left to visit me in Freiberg,Saxony,Germany! So pack your things give a note that you are coming and move yourself to this wonderful small city :D you wont regret it.

And if you are not coming to me, I might visit you if time makes it possible.

Have a nice day!

Alex

bflanger

发布于 2010/01/25 10:38

Hello everyone,

I am not really new to BeWelcome, but I didn't take part in any discussions on the forums so far and didn't host or visit anyone via BeWelcome. I am taking the step to introduce myself, because I heard of the need to get the BeWelcome community more active to sustain this wonderful project. I donated a little bit and now I hope to get more in contact with other people here on BeWelcome and first and foremost in real life.

I am really looking forward to host people at my place in Münster, Germany.

As I stated in my profile four major aspects of my life currently are: enjoying life, healing myself, co-creating a sustainable community, co-creating Transition Town Münster

The Transition Town concept is a really empowering one. It's about facing the big challenges of climate change and peak oil creatively and as a local community. It's about connecting many people of a specific region to develope solutions on their own, but beeing part of a world-wide movement. For details just read the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns

For people I host it's important to know, that I am very sensitive to scents, especially to synthetic ones. So strong deodorants or parfums or not allowed, while staying at my place.
But there is a nice little organic shop next to my place, where you can buy eco-friendly and Boris-compatible deodorants and parfums. ;-)

When you visit me, I am open to spend time with you. I can show you some nice night life locations ( I am majorly into world music, reggae, eurodance and club hiphop) or some nice natural places around the city. If you like we can cook together. Preferable organic food. I am located a bit outside of the city center. But from the main railway station it's just 25 min with the bus to my place. The bus station is next to my house door so to say. ;)

Greetings,

Boris

jeanyves

发布于 2010/01/31 17:23

Hello Boris, thanks for your contribution, btw: I like the way you wrote "Boris-compatible deodorants and parfums."!

alvaroantonio

发布于 2010/01/31 19:54

Hello there,

I joined BW a few months ago and actually never used it to find a place (but that's cause since then I haven't been outside), nor have I shared my place.

When I heard BW needed help though I decided to help. Now I am volunteering in the translation team with Brazilian Portuguese.

In the material world, I study Portuguese and English languages/teaching. I work as an English teacher. Once I had a rock band, but I think I had enough of that. I am looking for other ideas in music. I also like drawing, cooking, bricolage. What else? hm, I live in Curitiba, Southern Brazil.

:)

Álvaro.

论坛

Sticky: You are new here? Introduce yourself and get to know the others :)