I'm originally from Germany. Since my Mum's Welsh, I wanted to study in an English speaking country, so I did my undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin, one year of which I was in Vienna hating the university and loving the opera there. After my Bachelor's degree I went on to do a Master's in London. Definitely since then I love London more than any other place in the world. It's hard to put my finger on it, but somehow nothing can compare to London.
Right now I'm in the US doing a PhD - and to be honest I really can't stand Atlanta. Having lived in great European capitals for the last five years, I find this to be a dreadful place. Without having a car it's ridiculously difficult to get around; although things seem to be going on, nothing seems accessible and the three productions per year of the Atlanta Opera Company aren't that impressive either. So that's not much fun.

Briefly on relationships, my view is this: 'Love is when the other person's happiness becomes essential to our own.' (Lichtenberg, I think). If we only think of ourselves, nothing can work, but if I strive to make my partner happy and she tries hard to make me happy, then wonderful things can ensue... Obviously all of that depends on mutual respect, trust, honesty and a reasonable way of confronting problems to resolve them. Do I need to elaborate on that or is it not self-evident?!

So, I'm pursuing a PhD in political science. I like the subject, but I don't feel passionate about it. Yet it seems that academia would be the job to go for: flexible, intellectually stimulating, which means you're constantly learning new things, surrounded by smart people, freedom to pursue the projects you care about: brilliant!
Ideally, though, I'd like to be a writer. :-) It's not the type of job that you can count on making money with, so I had better focus on my PhD. Plus, I haven't really written a great deal yet. However, I love the idea of emulating the lifestyle of my literary heroes and spend my life thinking, reading and writing. Somehow I think that that would be more fulfilling than anything else.

...quoting some writer's aphorisms in almost any situation...

Maybe my accent? I've been told it sounds like I'm from Ireland (English people), England (some Irish people), Liverpool (a Swede), like I was a Geordie (a Liverpudlian), from South Africa (quite a few), from Liechtenstein (a Scot), from Germany (quite a few) and probably some other guesses...

Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' is undoubtedly the best book in the world. I read it in 2006, said it was the most amazing thing I've read and hold that unshakable view until 2012 - knowing no book could ever be better. Then I read Mann's 'Magic Mountain' and was hugely confused because I thought it might actually be even better - but then I re-read 'Anna Karenina', its back to the unchallenged number 1 of world literature and the world makes sense again.

Besides those two books I absolutely adore Mann's 'Felix Krull' and 'Buddenbrooks', Dostoevsky's 'Brothers Karamazov' and 'Crime and Punishment', Dickens' 'David Copperfield' and Pasternak's 'Doctor Zhivago'.
As you can tell, I like long books where the characters are presented in a deep and powerful way. I couldn't be bothered reading trite where everyone is shallow and simplistic (as in Coelho, for example). So if books don't go deep into character analysis, I probably won't like it. I'm not that brilliant at getting the meta-meaning of things, the symbolism and mythological references, but I can appreciate beautiful language and profound characters.

I love opera - Wagner's 'Lohengrin' as well as his Ring cycle are legend. 'Tristan' is great too, especially the parts 'Einsam wachend' and 'Mild und leise'. Somehow I'm not so fussed about the 'Meistersinger'. Moreover, I'm a big fan of Puccini's ('La Boheme', 'Tosca', 'Madama Butterfly', 'Turandot') and a couple of Verdi operas ('Otello' and 'Rigoletto' especially).
I know that troglodytes think that opera is snobbish, but for me it's the best type of music in the world. The nuances of emotions that opera can convey are just incredible: you have the fulminant in Wagner, the passionately sad in Puccini, the light-hearted in some Verdi ('Volta la terrea', for example) and the mere heaven-like beauty like in Delibes' 'Flower Duett' or the Pearlfisher Duett.

Besides opera, I'm open to almost anything: Irish folk, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, Rock, and other stuff. Yet opera is by far the best thing if you ask me.

Any vegetarian food will do, Indian's probably best... I really love cooking myself and when I was in London I always got amazing spices from Borough Market. So I just randomly experimented with that, trying different curries and the like. So spicy food would be my general preference, but as long as there's some taste to it, I'm not that fussy.

Tolstoy
Opera
Tea
Biscuits
My glasses

...why Tolstoy is by far the best artist in the world and why no one ever has touched me half as much as he did. At some stage I would like to write a monograph on him and somehow explore the reasons for my adoration for him. Whilst reading 'Anna Karenina' the second time last summer I think I stumbled across a thought that might explain it, which was a valuable realisation, as it explains so much about myself...

Also, my okcupid experience makes me wonder. All the girls seem to stress how amazingly fun-loving they are, how much they value laughter and how they want to embrace life to the fullest. Isn't that a bit vague? Like, besides Schopenhauer, who doesn't like laughing? And who actually manages to really make the most of life and not just follow his or her routines, being stuck in their ways and staying in their comfort zone? So, sure, I'd love to try something new every day, but I probably don't and I wonder how many of the girls who write that kind of stuff actually do. See, to be completely honest, most people in the world are excruciatingly boring and lame - so how come all the ladies on okcupid indicate how exciting they are? Because probably they're not... And I wonder what that means, without trying to sound incredibly condescending!

...I'm probably being boring and not going out; possibly I'll be reading a book back home, listening to opera whilst drinking tea and eating copious amounts of biscuits.

...is that I almost always cry when I listen to Santuzza's 'Voi o sapete o Mamma' aria from 'Cavalleria rusticana'...

...you like opera and are equally saddened by the lack of opera opportunities in Atlanta...

...or love reading (not only Tolstoy, but mainly 19th century literature)...

...or enjoy going to a nice cafe to chat the afternoon away.

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I'll also add the note:

You should not message me if...

...you find opera snobbish...

...think reading's boring...

...or aren't curious about expanding your horizon...