What I learned about people (and human behavior in general) from Couchsurfing. To give you a background Couchsurfing.org is a social website where you also actually go out and meet people outside of internet. Don't confuse it with dating apps and websites. It is nowhere near those.
People everywhere in the world are essentially the same. All of us don't do different things, we do things differently. There are all types of people in every culture. Good and bad. Social construction and stereotyping at best is awfully inaccurate and meaningless.
People can do a lot for you for free when paid in appreciation. We all love being accepted and appreciated. Why else do you think you keep checking back facebook to see how many more 'likes' that new post of yours got in another 2 minutes. There are ton of people everywhere in the world ready to host strangers without monetary compensation. Or help them in general without asking anything in return. I am one of them.
If you are traveling a little bit of appreciation of local culture goes a long way. If you even show that you are trying to learn the local language the natives will love it. I was buying groceries in a store in Krakow. It was a random odd weekday morning and cashier was just starting her boring day. When leaving instead of thank you I said "dziękuję". And the the way her face lit up, the flash of instant joy I cannot describe it. Another time at security check in Vienna I wished Guten Morgen to the security guy and got through line quickly. He started talking to me in German and I had to confess that I was faking it. At least I knew I faked it good :D
I was trying to find entrance to railway station to take night train from Prague to Krakow and I asked for directions to it from someone on street. This guy happened to be latin American by birth and I said muchas gracias in return. This made him turn back, He walked with me not only to the railway station but to my platform and to the train and to my seat on the train!
All of us want love, acceptance and positive reinforcements. We go great lengths for these three things. My travels and 'couchsurfing' have only reaffirmed the aforementioned. All of us know this but we just don't consciously realize it.
People everywhere in the world are essentially the same. All of us don't do different things, we do things differently. There are all types of people in every culture. Good and bad. Social construction and stereotyping at best is awfully inaccurate and meaningless.
People can do a lot for you for free when paid in appreciation. We all love being accepted and appreciated. Why else do you think you keep checking back facebook to see how many more 'likes' that new post of yours got in another 2 minutes. There are ton of people everywhere in the world ready to host strangers without monetary compensation. Or help them in general without asking anything in return. I am one of them.
If you are traveling a little bit of appreciation of local culture goes a long way. If you even show that you are trying to learn the local language the natives will love it. I was buying groceries in a store in Krakow. It was a random odd weekday morning and cashier was just starting her boring day. When leaving instead of thank you I said "dziękuję". And the the way her face lit up, the flash of instant joy I cannot describe it. Another time at security check in Vienna I wished Guten Morgen to the security guy and got through line quickly. He started talking to me in German and I had to confess that I was faking it. At least I knew I faked it good :D
I was trying to find entrance to railway station to take night train from Prague to Krakow and I asked for directions to it from someone on street. This guy happened to be latin American by birth and I said muchas gracias in return. This made him turn back, He walked with me not only to the railway station but to my platform and to the train and to my seat on the train!
All of us want love, acceptance and positive reinforcements. We go great lengths for these three things. My travels and 'couchsurfing' have only reaffirmed the aforementioned. All of us know this but we just don't consciously realize it.
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