Betrayal at Bespin

Tombstoned

Lighthouse Project

These photographs are about people I met and atmospheres I experienced when I ’surfed’ in Bristol, which is just half an hour away from my home in the UK. Exploring cities near to one’s home for few days is refreshing and important for fully understanding the country the one is living in.

During five weekends I was hosted by reliable and curious people, who were more than happy to show me around, share their food and one host even lent me a key to her house. All of them and other couchsurfers I met had a certain open-minded attitude towards me as a stranger, which I think to be the most important value of Couchsurfing. Willingness to participate to hosts’ activities was enough to gain their trust, and it provided a chance to get familiar with Bristol through locals’ daily lives and stories.

The whole series can be found from here.

My host was at work when I arrived but luckily another couchsurfer was there to let me in.

On the road for a night out. Natalie and Lizzie are hosting people in their home because they simply just want to meet all kinds of people from all around the world.

Besides their open-mindedness, some hosts had a certain do-it-yourself mentality like Mike and Jessica, who are growing some of their salads and vegetables at the backyard.

Couchsurfing.org has more than 4 million users, and someone is always arriving or leaving.

Anne (left), another German couchsurfer, planning the evening with her host Bryony and Bryony's friend Myléne.

Couchsurfing is all about of making small observations and learning new things from other people. When eating curry, Lizzie and her flatmates are using hangers to dangle naan breads for getting more space to the table.

My host Bryony met her friend Myléne in Paris during her couchsurfing journey, and they became flatmates later on.

Deafheaven

Russian Circles

Last weekend me and my two friends traveled to the Swedish speaking lands north of Vaasa. We stayed in Nykarleby, where about 90 percent of the people speak Swedish as their first language. From time to time it felt like we were in a totally different country than the one we lived in. There were occasions when we had to speak English to other Finns, because our skills in the second national languge, Swedish, are quite poor. And in the other hand, the people we were communicating with didn’t know any Finnish.

But for me the biggest culture shock might have really been the tractors. We do have teenagers driving around the city with mopeds in south too, but there we saw cruising groups with mopeds, moped cars and tractors! And even the snowing that made us stay warmly inside didn’t stop them.

We were also quite surprised about the very religious atmosphere in Jakobstad, where we spent half a day. We ran into multiple churches and noticed that even the logo of the city carries the cross, anchor and heart, the christian symbols of faith, hope and love.

These photos are about exploring. I really want to encourage everyone to see their own countries more. People are always spending a lot of money traveling abroad, and not understanding that going closer doesn’t mean lesser fun and fewer experiences.