I can't summarize myself here, no matter how many paragraphs you give me to do it. Words that describe me, at least at times: intelligent, caring, adventurous, reflective, unpredictable, listener, stubborn, sweet, globetrotter, emotional, ambitious, lacking in self-discipline for some of those ambitions, witty, romantic, openminded, thoughtful... and you can insert several other adjectives here yourself, I'm sure they'll apply at some time or another.

I've just finished my second Masters degree, in Latin America Studies. I spent 4 months (May - August '04) in Peru for research.

Now I suppose the idea would be to find a job, earn money to pay off my university debts, and possibly find a place to settle down a bit. I'm not sure I'm truly looking forward to that yet, but I'm sure I'll get used to the idea. The first plan is to spend the rest of this year (2005) working temporarily as a tour guide for Dutch tourists to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, St. Petersburg and South Africa...

In the meantime, what I'm doing with my life is enjoying every second of it, constantly making new and even more exciting plans for a future that might never be.

Update october 2007: Hmmm, this is quite outdated... I'm back safely in the Netherlands, and have started a... okay, I admit, a desk job. I'm a policy researcher now. Doesn't that sound fancy? Well, okay, less fancy than someone traveling around the world, but it's actually nice to have to use my brain again. Having some money to spend without being dependent on the tips of Dutch tourists (everything they say about the Dutch in this respect is true!) is also something I could get used to.

Making my girlfriend happy. Or so she claims, probably just trying to console me after another miserably failed attempt to be romantic and 'manly' at the same time.

My sparkling blue eyes

Books: 100 Years of Solitude, 1984, The Secret History, Michael Palin's travelbooks, A Song of Ice and Fire, the Farseer Trilogy and Discworld.

Movies: La Meglio Gioventu, In the Name of the Father, Amélie, As Good As It Gets, Big Fish, The Corpse Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Motorcycle Diaries.

Music: Dire Straits, U2, Coldplay, Tracy Chapman, Rachmaninov, Matchbox20, Heather Nova, Snow Patrol

Foods: Lasagna, Tandoori Chicken, Arroz Chaufa, Boerenkool, Babi Pangang and any kind of dessert with chocolate in it. :)

1) Traveling, discovering myself by trying to discover the world

2) goals that are just out of reach so I will keep on trying

3) idealism, no matter how naive. Or, in other words: believing that improvement is always possible, even against all odds.

4) my imagination

5) the knowledge that there are people who'll love me no matter what

6) that one person that makes me try just that little bit harder to be all I know I can be

Hey! Hands off my brain! It's mine and mine it will stay!

About to unravel the mysteries surrounding the origin of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo. Or just having fun with my friends, whichever seems more appealing at the time.

The paper I so proudly presented at my first academic conference later turned out to be based on a few incorrect calculations. Luckily I discovered it before the paper was actually published...

- You have taken my Geography Trivia test and want to tell me how bad it is,

- You were at that conference and you now demand a refund of your money,

- You want to explain to me once and for all why I should never wear a striped toxic green shirt with purple frogs on it,

- You just like my profile for some odd reason, and want to chat some time. :)