A year ago I stepped off a plane in Greensboro from working in Alaska for two months to find that my nicely preplanned trip into Costa Rica with some friends was falling through. I kind of got kicked out of the club over ex-or is his an ex-boyfriend issues. I had a $700 plane ticket due to fly the next day with no accommodation when I got there and no itinerary. I freaked out a bit and went to shed a few tears as I was cancelling the ticket, and then I remembered this website that a friend had told me about a few months prior, couchsurfing.com. You register, post a profile and a smiling picture of yourself, and boom, you're in the "Couchsurfing Community." I had a really good experience with two families there and made it out alive much to my mom's surprise and relief.
Here in Europe I used it for the first time with Mandy in the previous blog entry, in Riga, Lativia. The guy turned out to be really gracious, helpful, genuinly interested in getting to know us and just a regurlar human being like ourselves. He was also a traveler and was young and so our conversation was never stale. We were able to ask him questions about his city and country instead of sifting through media rhetoric and we were able to just get to know his interest like music and studies. A hostel would never have provided this. My other experiences with couchsurfing over here have been again with Mandy in Stockholm and then a couple nights in Brussels and Amsterdam with some friends. All of these experiences turned out really, above and beyond expectations. Well the one in Stockholm was different but the guy even gave us the key to his house. There is something to say about people who trust strangers, and I think it's crazy but I'm thanking the greater powers or else we would not have been able to get that tub of ice cream (which was our lunch).
The website is what it is, a place to post up available temporary living space versus meeting people and maintaining friendships through messages and photo tagging. It's more up to the traveler how involved they want to get in meeting the host and how much time they will devote to keeping in touch afterwards. It is really risky but I think it is a good thing that people still trust each other even with hyper media encouraging them not to. Going to a place to meet some of the people there just make for a more memorable experience. And you could get a free Ipod if you're sneaky enough!
I have to admit that it is a weird thing to do and that the surfer takes just as much risk as the host when entering into the agreement. The benefit is to realize that people on the other side of the world wide web are just people too. They want to share their experiences with you and share what they have, little or great. Etiquette kind of calls for the surfer to bring a gift to the host. I really like this; when I took a greek mythology course through UNCG the professor mentioned that it was just as important to be a good guest as a good host. I feel that most people I've invited into my home have failed to do this. After these past surfing times I have been inspired to reopen my home when I get back to Greensboro. We'll see because I think getting back into the old study regime will be a bit shocking upon arrival.
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