freeloading
May. 4th, 2005 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guslAbout a month ago, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crasch linked to GlobalFreeLoaders.com .
So, during my stay in Edinburgh, I spent two nights with Sam, my host from GlobalFreeLoaders.com and one night with Alex, from HospitalityClub.org .
Sam is a biologist from Cambridge, and lives in an apartment of 5. His housemates were friendly but mostly uninterested (I later realized that everyone in Scotland is friendly). One of the housemates made me feel at home, gave me a Net connection and offered me the DVD player. He incidentally studies CS and had a class with Fairouz (small world!). I slept quite well there.
Staying at his place was totally like being in a reality TV show: I would see people go about their daily business, study, cook, etc... and it was also the messiest apartment I ever remember seeing. Also, my interaction with Sam was a bit awkward, but I'm very grateful for the freeloading!
Alex is a French Java programmer getting his Master's in IT. He's from Tours and is into Capoeira, quite athletic and health-conscious. He really made me laugh and we had a sort of male bonding (not many people like that these days). I taught him Portuguese for about 1 hour. The place was far from the center (30 min by bus), which is certainly tolerable, but unfortunately the floor wasn't very cozy.
What amazes me about this is the issue of trust. How do these people know that I'm not going to steal their stuff? How do I know that they're not steal mine? Are the incentives not enough?
Another question is: how can I approach people about this without inducing awkwardness or displeasure in those who can't or don't want to host? This may be particularly difficult in Britain, but I hate allowing stupid cultural norms to get in the way of my simple, honest and better protocol.
In general, it would be great to be hosted by a PhD student of the university that I'm visiting. What will people think of me, if I start advertising my request? I would totally chip in on the rent, btw.
crasch linked to GlobalFreeLoaders.com .So, during my stay in Edinburgh, I spent two nights with Sam, my host from GlobalFreeLoaders.com and one night with Alex, from HospitalityClub.org .
Sam is a biologist from Cambridge, and lives in an apartment of 5. His housemates were friendly but mostly uninterested (I later realized that everyone in Scotland is friendly). One of the housemates made me feel at home, gave me a Net connection and offered me the DVD player. He incidentally studies CS and had a class with Fairouz (small world!). I slept quite well there.
Staying at his place was totally like being in a reality TV show: I would see people go about their daily business, study, cook, etc... and it was also the messiest apartment I ever remember seeing. Also, my interaction with Sam was a bit awkward, but I'm very grateful for the freeloading!
Alex is a French Java programmer getting his Master's in IT. He's from Tours and is into Capoeira, quite athletic and health-conscious. He really made me laugh and we had a sort of male bonding (not many people like that these days). I taught him Portuguese for about 1 hour. The place was far from the center (30 min by bus), which is certainly tolerable, but unfortunately the floor wasn't very cozy.
What amazes me about this is the issue of trust. How do these people know that I'm not going to steal their stuff? How do I know that they're not steal mine? Are the incentives not enough?
Another question is: how can I approach people about this without inducing awkwardness or displeasure in those who can't or don't want to host? This may be particularly difficult in Britain, but I hate allowing stupid cultural norms to get in the way of my simple, honest and better protocol.
In general, it would be great to be hosted by a PhD student of the university that I'm visiting. What will people think of me, if I start advertising my request? I would totally chip in on the rent, btw.