Community » BeWelcome Forum

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

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!

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 

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?

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

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 

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.

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

 

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 

 

 

 

 

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

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                                                                                                            

 

 

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

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

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

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!!!

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.

 

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

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.

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.  

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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

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

 

Thx a lot Florian!

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

 

 

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!

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 

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.

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.

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

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.

Welcome Clara,

 nice post

 I wish you to find a lot ofgood fellow in BW

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!

Welcome, Luis, Katie and Marek!

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 

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

 

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. 

Well, time to open up to all of you.

 I'm Sander, currently living in the Netherlands, but planning to be all over in the near future. I'm married and we're into the outdoors. Hiking, mountains that kind of stuff. We like to meet others and talk about travelling and learning about other cultures and customs.

 So, where to next? :)

Salvete, sanderr, Trifine and alvaroantionio - welcome! :-) I hope (in fact I am almost sure) that you will find this network useful for making contact with other people. If you haven't done it already, a good start to get to know BeWelcome is to have a look at the tour. Alternatively, feel free to post any questions or suggestions in this forum.

And: spread the word! :-)

Thank you for welcoming me, Kiwiflave and Claudia!

@Claudia

Thank you for your invitation! I haven't used Latin since I left school, other than creating names for my hens ;-)). So I certainly will need a lot of training. It would be interesting using Latin for communication in daily life, but I would expect having a very hard time. Trying to ask for food in Latin wouldn't give me much to eat other than panis.

Have a nice day all of you!

Salvete

 

Hey ho my name is Daniel

when i am not studying i use my free time and go travelling and climbing. 

I  tried couchsurfing when i was in israel and i liked it. Its nice to meet people from other countries and to find new friends. Some people i met there told me about bewelcome and thats why i`m here.

In august i want to go  to france or spain for a month and i hope that i can meet people there from the community 

 

Hello everyone!

I'm pleasured to be a part of this community. I like to travel, get to know about different cultures, and walk on roofs) I hope I find a lot of friends from another contries here))

Hi heaven-aveline, do you really walk that far up??

 @Alan, very cool! I already contacted you and then checked out your pics, somehow you really look Sottish ;) - ha, one day we might show up there!!! 

Daniel and Justin, you are very welcome, too! It's so good to see more and more nice new people coming here :) 

Claudia 

Hello
I am Alan
59
Live in East Renfrewshire
At the moment I am semi-retired and am a Volunteer Telephone Advisor for Citizens Advice in Glasgow
Love the work and enjoy helping clients who ring up for Advice
In my spare time I enjoy Rail Travel throughout Scotland particularly the West Highland Line to Fort William and Mallaig
I have also been known to photograph and travel on Steam Railways
I enjoy the cafe culture in Glasgow flat whites or Irn Bru
I read occasionally
Currently Melvyn Bragg Hilary Mantel and Robert Louis Stevenson
I have recently been to  Portugal despite best attempts by volcanic ash and BA to ground me
I read The Times and Sunday Times regularly
My humour is very much adopted Glaswegian
I was born English (just by 10 miles) but regard myself Scottish by ancestry and country of domicile

 

 

Hello Janine,

welcome to BW! we're still a small community but hopefully growing in a sane and interesting way. for me it's quite some time till retirement and the list of books to read is growing here as well. but i think we could define it as cultural wealth to have all this books before us.

midsch

hey friends,

Its gyan from India, i am a young lawyer and thought to know people and i like meeting people, couch and also pen pals..its tough to be out of my hectic schedules but as its my passion, i love it!!

 I like movies, i like swimming, i like chating, oh, i think loads of things..hehe..you can go through my profile, about India, you must be knowing already. i like at bangalore, its a southern part of india. if anyone wanna come to bangalore , or any part of india, do tell me, would love to guide and help...

 how to add more photos here?

looking forward guys..

cya

do write me.

Hiii all,

my name Tiar from Jakarta, Indonesia, mayb not really polular in ur mean but when I say "Bali" maybe u know about that place, bali is part of Indonesia.

next time when u came to jakarta please come to my house :)

 

 

Hello eveyone

My name is Itamar Margalit, a student (23) for communication who lives in northern Israel. Recently, I loged in to this website and I would like to meet new people and new cultural lives.

I love politics, geography, sport, culture, arts etc. and my plan for the coming summer-fall (in my vacation from studies) is to travel for 2-4 weeks: The options are Canada or something that include Ireland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Spitzbergen. Do you have any solutions...

Anyway, If you have any questions about Israel, I could help you as much as I can.

All the best, Itamar. 

I'm Hassan from Casablanca, Morocco

24 years old, travelling around Morocco since 2006 & visited 70% of Morocco cities a towns... Air Conditioning system diploma....

 I love travelling, hitchhiking, camping, running, walking around, 

 Couchsurfing.org member (since 2008) & Hospitality Club (since 2008 as well)

 I'm using them for hosting, finding travel companions! 

Hi and  welcome Hassan! Salut et bienvenue Elisa!

I hope you'll make some nice experiences in the community! cya!

J'espère que vous ferez bonnes l'expériences dans la community! À bientôt!

Hello :)

We're a couple living in Montreal and who like to travel around the world when we can. We've already spent 3 weeks in Europe traveling on our tandem bike (see our website on the profile) and are leaving tomorrow for Peru ! Léa has been to Haiti and Senegal on humanitarian trips too as she's a nurse. I work in IT engineering and start a master in healthcare too. We like to enjoy simple stuff and hope to meet some great persons in this community as well as share our experiences and help open minded respectful persons !

 Feel free to contact us if you come by Montreal !

Cheers :-)

On parle aussi très bien français, surtout français d'ailleurs ;-) 

Hey guys,

My name is Brandon. I live in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the U.S. I am a Business and Tourism managment double major at the University of Arkansas. I also attend pilot school in my free time. I love visiting cities that I have never gone to, or finding new parks to explore. I went on a two and a half month long roadtrip across the US last summer, I went to 17 states and was 16,600 miles total. It was in this experience that I found my passion for travel. Some of my favorite places ive been are New Orleans, the pacific coast highway, the alpine section of the rocky mountains. I love zoos and have been to over 40 of them! I love to jog and hike. I love art, history, and science museums. I speak a little spanish and a little italian. I love to laugh, make people laugh, and go to comedy clubs! Im a cool guy, so if anyone wants to come see how life is like in Fayetteville, just hit me up!

great to have you here, @stephane_fr! :)

Hi Aurore,

a warm welcome to "BeWelcome" ! ;-) Great that you joined us. I wish you good luck on your trip. In order to get some positive replies in Spain here are some tips:

• Add a profile picture to your profile
• check a couple of days before you reach a place the BeWelcome members in this city/village and contact them all
• you find all members of Andalucia here: http://www.bewelcome.org/places/ES/Andalusia

 

I hope you are finding some nice hosts during your travels!

Hello Karel,

BeWelcome! :)

26 marathons!! Wow! I guess with my physical fitness I would not even survive one! It is always great to see people so active and sporty. On your trips in the mountains and your bike racing I wish you some great advantures and fun. If you plan to go to Andorra why not contacting a couple of BeWelcomers around the place? There are some hidden BeWelcome members in the mountains :)

Directly near Andorra I found the member LuisLassalethNayele

Once again great to have you here.

 

 

wassup!

I got this profile a long time ago but now that CS has sold out I'm looking to make myself confortable around here.

Hello,Thanks. But what happened to CS? What happens there now? I was a former member and I am thinking of returning.

Hello from Krakow!

I also joined because of the CS capitalization story.

Now I'll try to convince all my friends to join! I hope we can build a community that's independent of corporations.

Hi everybody, I just became a member of Couchsurfing because of the great way an ex cow-worker talked about it. Because of the changes there is a lot of talk about leaving that community and even though I probably won't (yet anyway) because it's not very clear what will exactly change I found several messages form people who said that they'll be more active her. So now I'm here too :)

 

I'm 36 and live in Amersfoort. As far as I can tell I'm the first BeWelcome member from here!

@ter9: A warm welcome. Just bring your couch over and settle down :)

We have some programmers who are great fans of drupal. I'm too much a tech-newbie to understand the benefits, but I'm sure they can help you out. Just contact user http://www.bewelcome.org/members/guaka

@everybody who joined BeWelcome because of Couchsurfing getting a Corporate B certificate: Welcome.

Personally I don't have any problems with CS stating that they will be for-profit. Some members probably anticipated it, and others don't care about the changes.

What I do know is that BeWelcome (a website started by the non-profit organisation BeVolunteer) can NEVER become for profit. It is written specifically in our statutes that it will always be non-profit, and if BeVolunteer ever ceases to exist, the funds would be transferred to another non-profit organisation.

Furthermore, we are open-source and I have no reason to believe that this will ever change. 

Finally, we work only with volunteers, we have no paid verification system and we have very low overhead costs.

So again, welcome to whoever feels comfortable with the above system. If anybody wants to volunteer: we have lots of work for you !

Blue skies wherever you go and peace!

Frank

I just posted a "New Topic" (more or less with the text below), but I don't know where it went!? This is new to me. Anyway, have a look at my profile here. I'm into languages, biking (touring on bicycles), travel, anthropology, reading, and many other things. I have my own website with a couple of MEGA PROJECTS (www.iduran.com), and I hope to make increased use of Be Welcome in the future.  Well, the topic or thread that I wanted to create today (maybe I did create it after all, I just don't know where it is! :-)) was about Migrating from Couchsurfing to Be Welcome... and whether this is an Opportunity for a New Start!

*******Text that I posted on Couchsurfing today*************

I also just joined Be Welcome.

I think we should take advantage of the momentum, and approach the BW administrators as a collective. All CS "defectors" will pledge, e.g., a $10 or $20 donation to BW if they guarantee that the money raised will be used for improvements in the site (functionality doesn't have to be glossy) AND collective property of the site.

All new and old members will become "owners" of the site in some fractional way. In that sense it would be a "corporation" but that membership could automatically increase with new members, and would also be consulted for decision making, democratically.

The technical means exist. It's just a matter of organizing it and financing it.

Hello What,welcome on board then. Bewelcome High Commission for Refugees would take care of you! No worries!

Hi!

I am Leszek from Warsaw, Poland. Although I work for a corporation, I do not like feeling being cheated and this was the feeling I had when community-driven endeavours transfer into business, so, after recent changes at CS and as a big enthusiast of transparency and open-source I decided similarly to the others (hi, rusolis!) to move here. Soon I will upgrade my profile etc. After some rearrangements in my flat my couch will become available starting from next week!

@JeroenE: the reason why everybody from one city is located (visually) on the same spot is because we had several discussions about privacy.

The core question was: is it OK for other members to see where you live? Some members felt it was OK if you allowed your address to be visible, others felt it was too much of an intrusion of privacy.

In the end, the grassroots community decided to only show one dot. But feel free to open a new topic and discuss it with others.

Welcome, everybody!

Those, who came over from CS, don't forget to write comments on former hosts / guests / friends, this way you can recreate your network.

Enjoy!

Claudia

yeah I agree that is quite annoying ;(

Hi Everyone;- I'm getting rather confused, as there seems to be so many introduction threads!

I've come over from CS too. It's not the corporate thing that I object to, but the honesty thing of accepting money to varify a person and not fulfill that promise. Also the discovery that CS has 3,900,000$ of debt which can't be accounted for.

I'm looking for an HONEST site that isn't going to rip anyone off with false promises.

Hello everyone. Isidro here, from Getxo, in the Basque Country. I'm just  taking refuge here after having been sold in couchsurfing. 

Even Osama ;-) BeWelcome!

@hastobe_katt: wow, feels like were reading my mind...as my wife and I have been thinking about going to Liverpool to visit all those places that are so dear to us. We'll seriously consider your offer and schedule a magical mystery tour in the future. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

thanks!

Hi Niall,

 

Saviour here from CS :)

How are you?

Nice to see you on Bewelcome also.

Enjoy, and if you need my help anytime, please feel free to ask.

Cheers!

AJ.

Hi there,

I just freshly moved over to here from CS, and hope that we all together can make this place soon better than Couchsurfing ever was ;) 

I'm actually Swiss but living in Kraków at the moment since I plan to do my masters in IT here next year and therefore have to learn some Polish first.

Cheers,

Dominique

Welcome on board then Dominique! Yes! I agree with you perfecly: so that we all can make bewelcome better than CS was! Thanks.

Hiya Karen ;-))

Karen, Andy, Katt - nice to see familiar faces!

Cheryl

Hi Everyone,

I've been involved in couchsurfing for a while but am disappointed in where it's heading. Hopefully we can create something more meaningful with bewelcome. 

Feel free to join my Sydney group!

John.

Hi everyone,

I am from the UK but been living in Belgium for a while now.

I got involved in Be Welcome because I like the openess and transparancy of the site and the people.

I have done a bit of everything and a lot of nothing, feel free to look at my profile which will no doubt change as I like messing with it.

Hope to see you around.

Max

I'm new here, but not new in hospitality. I began with hitch-hiking homebase and then continued with HC and then after many years with CS. I was thinking to use BeWelcome during many years and I don't know why I didn't do it, ha ha ha it is the same story as with CS. But I'm totally against capitalism among hospitality!

So, if any friends of mine see my profile here, please be welcome to contact me :)

 

Hi,

 

as many other newbies in the last days I also have been an active CS member in the last years (can find me there with the same user-name). After reading a lot about the changes to CS, I'm not sure how to judge this. So I found bewelcome by looking for an alternative to CS.

I'll for sure go on using CS as well, and see how things develope there. But I'm also curious to explore BeWelcome.

Would love to get to know new people here and get BeWelcome as active as CS was for me in the last years.

So if you are from munich (or like, or visit or ... munich) I would be happy, if you join the munich group.

http://www.bewelcome.org/groups/288

 

Cheers

Lars

Finally uploaded a profile picture (took me ages to find one without half a dozen other people muddled in there). So now seemed a good moment to say hello. :)

So I'm Sarah, known to CSers as "Mrs Martian", where I've hosted there for 3 years-plus as part of the "Martian Visitors". (Nick is sorting out his profile here too.) CS is a very different beast now from what it was when we first joined. We haven't found the explosion in membership helpful to its overall temperament either as hosts or travellers (maybe you can acquire too many members too quickly?) and various site revisions -- e.g. to the search engine -- are still irritating us. But we love the living network of real people we've made through hosting and travelling, and now seemed a very good moment to widen our hosting horizons. =)

 

 

 

     

Me too coming over from CS...(still having some troubles, e.g. loading up a picture)Looking forward to welcome you in Vienna starting from October!Nina

Hello BeWelcome people,

I'm an angry CouchSurfing Incorporated refugee. Angry because CS should be playing the philosophy it preaches: giving without expectation of return. And angry because I used to wear CouchSurfing as a badge of honour, as an example of a self-sustaining online community that does something positive for the world that I was involved in. 

Instead, Casey literally sold that community and the donations / effort / investments of all its members over the years so that he and his investor buddies can make money from it. When somebody in the background owns it instead, and will be making profit from your good deeds, you can't respect it any longer, and I suspect the volunteers will slowly disappear. 

I'll be writing a very long blog post / micro-web-site about this situation soon, because I want to put my thoughts into a more structured format for my own understanding, and to communicate the problems to others. 

Of course, my objection to what Casey is doing implies that I think it's possible to run a web service supporting the key features of the couchsurfing community (let's turn it into a generic verb so they no longer have legal rights to the word) based on donations and volunteer effort. Well you know what, I do think it's possible. And in a way I've thought that CouchSurfing had been getting it wrong anyway. 

I have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, experience with a few programming languages, run a web business, have attempted to create a web community in the past (understanding failure is important too, I hope), and have an interest both in the technical back-end systems and the softer user front-end factors. I'm keen to help to create something that runs efficiently, sustainably, continues to develop, and keeps people involved and properly informed throughout. I hope that's BeWelcome. 

You can read more about me generally on my newly-edited BeWelcome profile - just click on my picture! Looking forward to hearing from and meeting others who have made the leap, and believe in this initiative. 

Ferg

Hi,

I'm Franek from France ("François" is my real name, "Franek" is the Polish equivalent that I received during my Polish years, and kept still).

I'm not really new here, as my profile was created some years ago, but I was active on CS in the group of Toulouse, and just watching with interest what was happening here meanwhile. Today I've decided to frankly move to this website, well, I guess you know why...

I've moved to Bordeaux one year ago. I've just graduated in French literature. This year I'm preparing a competitive examination to work as a French and English teacher in vocational schools, so I don't have too much time to be as dedicated to the project as I'd like to be, but I'll do my best!

My main fields of interest are general linguistics (phonology, syntax), foreign languages (especially Hungarian) and some other stuff (it's written on my profile).

Be welcome to Bordeaux!

Franek

Bonjour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Donc, voila je suis un nouveau! et je me presente comme il se doit.

Alors je suis un jeune homme qui est sur Paris. J aime faire de new rencontre ds la vie, pour ca j aime sortir, profiter de la grande ville pour bouger partout!!!

J ai decouverty ce site pour pouvoir faire profiter d un logement à plein de monde (pour qu ils profites de paris moin chere que via les hotels...), et en mm tps me faire profiter d une nouvelle rencontre avec des gens de ttes horizon!

 

Bon etant jeune j ai pas un appartement de 80m², il fait plutot 26 +16m² de balcon (pour pouvoir y mettre plein de plantes!! wou hou!!, mais bon j ai un bon canapé lit ^^ pour les visiteurs. Donc voila j attend de vos nouvelles et a bientot

Mickael

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Goorden not Goordon! :)

Here's the working link: http://vimeo.com/28897071

 

 

 

 

 

Hey ! Very easy ! I already did it !

You catch a picture of every reference, (good or bad) you got on CouchSurfing and you post on your profile in a photo folder =)

Just press "Impress System " on your Keyboard, and with Photoshop or simply Gimp, you just have to give it the good frame =)

Buha! I guess my name is there. I am a wanderer, host and traveler, musician and all that stuff.

Basically I joined BW for the same reasons that most of you did: to have a great time, meet people and host and surf!

Although I will be on the move for a long time, all of you are welcome to my place in Transylvania, my flatmates can host, no problem!

So hello all, and let's make this website a hell of a handy one!

 

Okay, I think my turn has come =)

Hello everybody, I'm used to be known on internet as ARHZ, who meant "bear" in a now-disappeard celtic language. In fact I miswrite it because it should be "arzh", but I like how I write it =)

I'm a young man, wanting to discover the world, day after day. I discovered the Hospitality and Exchange thanks to Couchsurfing, and today I join the BeWelcome community.

I'm as curious, as phlegmatic, as talkative, as big-mouthed... We can talk about a lot of things, and have long debates. I prefer to meet just one (or two) person at a time, to really discover each other and make great connections, instead of going to a party or meeting and make about ten acquaintances.

But I also like to shut up for hours.

The reason for I join now BeWelcome is related to what's happenning on CouchSurfing, but not just because of the statue changing. For me CouchSurfing is going off its central activity of HOSPEX and turning into new Facebook, a better Facebook I have to admit it.

The "Hospitality and Exchange" activities, briefly HOSPEX, consists in sleeping at inhabitant's house to discover local cultures and ways of life, to have a better connections with locals and thus being a real traveller, not a tourist "passing by there". After I visited somebody, I hope to be his/her friend, and not someone who passed in his/her life and then disappears. Quality of friendships over the quantity, this is the value of HOSPEX form me, and I try sticking to all this.

I can't host yet, but I'm wondering the day where I will have my house, appartment, or camping-car, to host and share =) I also hope this HOSPEX platform will attract interesting people and then become a even better network. Don't hesitate to contact me if you pass by Lyon in France, it will be a pleasure to show you around.

I wish you a nice week !

Hi everyone,

As a long time CS member, I've been introduced to bewelcome by a fellow traveler. I've never surfed so far but I hosted quite a few times, whether in Canada, England or France.

My most important trip was a 6000km bike trip in Canada and Alaska, which I've done with my brother.

When I'm not hiking or cycling, I work as a researcher in artificial intelligence, mostly doing maths all day (there are no robots at my place, to the disappointment of my guests).

I'm looking forward to seeing if the switch from CS is worth it.

Cheers.

hi everybody!!

 

I'm da Cyborg.

Formerly a CSurfer from Mexico City living in Donostia-San Sebastian, Basque Country (northern Spain) since December, 2008.

I've been on CS since 2006 and used this HOSPEX initiative in Thailand, Croatia, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Basque Country, Belize and, of course, Mexico.

I'm originally a video-editor but also an english-spanish teacher, amateur percussionist and currently learning euskera (basque language).

Hope to see u guys around here!

BeWelcome!!!

 

Cyborg

 

Bonjour et bienvenue Marie-Eve. Les deux problèmes que tu rencontres ont été signalés et j'espère qu'ils seront résolus rapidement (bien que je n'en sache rien). Comme sur BeWelcome la philosophie est 1 membre = 1 profil et pour faire apparaitre l'arabe, ton mari pourrait créer son propre profil où à priori l'arabe doit être sélectionnable. Ensuite vous vous ajoutez mutuellement comme membres de la famille. Bon voyage à Istanbul!

Someone please fix the hidden age and add language problems.

 

Merci à Polyglot et Leoalone pour vos réponses.

Mon mari ne fera pas de profil car c'est moi la "secrétaire".

Lui, se contente de bien recevoir nos hotes.   lol

am dann from philippines just signed up. im also into CS and looking for other options on hospitality site.

will be in toronto on oct 1, and will be going to montreal on oct 20-31, and hope to visit quebec city and ottowa. 

nice to see BW members and also hope to find hosts there to welcome me.

 

Dann

Hi everybody, I am Jef from the US.  I am 28 and currently considering going into physical therapy.  I really enjoy playing tennis and I am trying to get active in the soccer league available here.  I started working out with barbells recently and I am enjoying it much more than I ever thought I would.  I am a huge Saints(NFL) fan.  I just learned about this site and others like it because I will be doing some helpx'ing soon.  I'm going to be traveling through Europe spending most of my time with helpx hosts, but I'd also like to stay in the big cities for a day or two with someone who would enjoy showing me their city.  I plan to see in order: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, and Madrid over the course of the next few months if I'm lucky.  If you live in one of those cities and would like to show me around or host me I'd love to hear from you. 

Nice to meet everyone!
Jef

Hi everybody :)

I`m haniaida (nick name ) from Putten,in  Holland. 

Because I`m very social person I  will love to have guests in our home and take care of

them. So if you want to visit us -you are very welcome :)

See you :)

 

@ ARHZ, samir0, genji, Uschi, cyborg, marieve, polyglot, leoalone, dann, annarital, jeffoxiam, lescontinis, haniaida, felixsupertramp:

A warm BeWelcome :)

Thanks for joining us! I hope you all will meet great people and see wonderful places while using our site.

greetings

crumbking

Hey Fred !

Great to see you here on BeWelcome !

You're right to be worried about the effort you did with CS, but I think it can serve in BeWelcome. When you throw a glance at several HOSPEX network, you see it's the most often the same people who subscribed =)
But BeWelcome doesn't have the same meeting system CS has. So you couldn't organize your magnificient trekking through BeWelcome yet. The community looks like wanting to stay a "Hospitality network" more than a "On va sortir".
Maybe with new members coming, we will soon have all these tools.

Anyway, be welcome !

Hello all you travelers..

I'm from Washington State in the US and am open to host travelers when in the area..

Later,

Clar