The basics are people let other people sleep on their couches, as a free place to stay but also an amazing way to get to know others, who are, many times, other internationals.
While planning for Ireland (where I currently am, yee-haw!) I contacted a bunch of people, and got some things set up, and was really stoked to not be spending tons of money!
So I was supposed to meet up with my first host on Thursday morning, and he happened to be an HOUR late. Good start, buddy. He is (was? he's not dead, but I will never speak to him again!) Brazilian, so maybe it's in his nature. Anyway, he also failed to tell me he doesn't live IN the city, so we had to take the slowest metro EVER to get there. Oh, and one more thing.
His roomies don't know that he hosts couchsurfers!
Really? More information that would have been important to me YESTERDAY! (Wedding Singer? Anyone? Bueller?) Anyway, so he told me to lie to his roomies (3 girls) and say I was a friend of a friend, which already made me feel uncomfortable. The first night he went to work and I wandered about the city, then we met up at a pub to watch karaoke/football. It was going ok until later when we met up with one roomie and her boyfriend...or sort of.
We went to some young kids club where every girl wore dresses that barely covered anything of importance on their bodies, and i think the average age was 15. Maybe 13. I felt like an old maid. Nevertheless, a ton of drama ensued around the fact that the guy is married with 2 kids and refuses to leave his wife but is in love with the girl, and her crying to me and telling me she is in love with him but it makes her suicidal and oh yea, her eggo might be prego. DRAMA CENTRAL!
The next day we went off to Galway, and it was the longest, most silent 3 hours of my life. This guy just made me feel AWKWARD. I had woken up that morning to a text from him (he had gone to work early) saying "Hello sleeping beauty! You look very pretty when you sleep." CREEPER. My all time biggest fear is people watching me sleep. Eeesh. No thank you. I wasn't afraid of him, but just had NO desire to be near him. Why I went to Galway, I don't know. Momentary lapse of judgement on my part.
Anyway, we got there and met up with the other CS guy we were staying with, who was super cool! I was so so thankful for him, and was able to talk with him instead of the Brazilian. Later that night we went out and met up with some of his post-grad colleagues, where I immediately felt like the stupidest person in the universe. They were all working on their PhDs in ENGINEERING! Brainiacs.
After that we headed to an Erasmus party, where I felt much more at home with people my age and at the same point in their lives. After awhile, Brazilian decided to tell me "how happy I make him" and that he "really likes me." YUCK! For me being such a b**ch to him, I don't see how it was possible, but whatevs, guess I have that effect on people. So, true to Sarah, I kinda of yelled at him and told him to leave me alone, and it kinda worked.
So the NEXT day, we took an all day tour of the area around Galway, the Burren/Cliffs of Moher, etc. We left at 9 am. Spent all day on the bus where he continued to sit next to me although there were tons of free seats. No talking. Me walking away from him. Obviously not interested. Ew.
Then we had dinner with the guy we were staying with (who was really cool, no creepy, very mature, and had a cute German roomie ;) ) and then met up with some other CSer's (so I didn't have to be alone with him) and then I said F this, I'm going to sleep. So I did.
Sunday he headed back to Dublin early to make it to a birthday party that I was supposed to go to, but I knew I couldn't handle it so I stuck around Galway for the day, walking around the city in the pouring rain, and went back to Dublin in the evening. Being soaked to the bone was worth it for 6 hours of freedom.
When I got back Sunday night, I just headed straight to his house, grabbed my pack, and got the hell out of there! Back to my hostel I went :)
All in all, it was a REALLY unfortunate experience.
I know if you read this Mom you will be freaking out, but be assured that I am SAFE! I was never threatened by this guy, just creeped out. The other times I've done couchsurfing have been such great, great experiences that I was pissed it turned out like that. Nevertheless, I will definitely give it another go but make sure to A. choose females, B. not go alone, and/or C. get the hell out when I don't feel comfortable. No matter what the cost!
1 comment:
awkward...did you leave him positive feedback? i hope not! =/
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