A Virtual International CS Journey

A Virtual International CS Journey

Hello everyone, I am Taner from Cyprus. I am 31 years old and work as a Project manager in a Private computer software company for the past 7 years.

I have been active in Couchsurfing  3 years and have made very good friends from all over the world.  I have been following the Social Media for 14-15 years very well.

I learned about Couchsurfing from someone who I met that was on vacation in Cyprus. As soon as I learned about Couchsurfing, I signed up right away.  In my first year, I hosted people from England, Belgium, and Italy.  These three people were wonderful and they made me really love Couchsurfing!

I quickly realized that the couchsurfing community in Cyprus did not have any events in spite of many active members, so I organized the “Nicosia Meeting” in 2018.

Fifteen people signed up for my first event, but only one attended. I was disappointed but very happy that at least there was one!  Two people attended my second event, and four people attended my third event.

I believed I would succeed and I worked non-stop. Although only four people attended my third event, I became good friends with them and everyone was very happy too and a great social network was established. One day about 15 people joined us and they were not couchsurfers, but they joined after meeting us.

After awhile I realized that everyone was bored of coffee and bar meetings so I organized a camping event at Golden Beach, in Cyprus. Golden Beach campground is about 140 km from the city center of Nicosia and there are no buses going there, so it would be a bit of a challenge. However, there were many members who wanted to go there so I felt that it would be worth the trouble. There were about 20 people that wanted to go so we decided to carpool and share petrol money. This was definitely a different kind of event for me to organize, everybody would take their tent and stay for 2 days and 1 night and everyone would share the cost of food  and go to the market together. Approximately 20 people took action and went to the market together, shopping collectively. We shared the payment, showed the invoice (without drinks).  I recommended that we go to Karpasia since Cyprus is very hot. We continued to go to camps all summer long. Approximately 20 people took action to go to the market, provided that 4 or 3 people could get into each car and provided that they share the petrol money.

There is Paradise Island was the most beautiful place in Cyprus. We were shopping collectively at the market. we were share payment showing the invoice.(Without drinks).I would recommend it to "Karpasia" Since Cyprus is very hot, we continue to go to camps all over the summer.

 

Karpasia Camping  Video: https://bit.ly/3eLnvI6

After the camping event I started to think of different ideas for Couchsurfing events. I planned an “OctoBEER festival in October but some of the members were not able to afford it so I canceled it. My next goal was to hold a joint event at the same time on the same day. I tried to contact about 160 couchsurfing organizers and some ambassadors to try to make a video call in the future but due to the time differences it did not work out, however I moved forward with determination and love for couchsurfing.

Next I created the “Exclusive Xmas Kanta Castle Red Camp”. I contacted other organizers to see if they would like to help but they declined, so I continued anyways. In December 2019 I contacted the state “Youth Department” and got the necessary permission. We would stay for one night and two days, including breakfast and lunch for a very cheap price. I set the event for December 27th and everyone would wear red for luck. Twenty two people attended the event and everyone had fun.  I shared my energy inside with the couchsurfing support team and they congratulated me which made me feel wonderful!

Red camp Event Video: https://bit.ly/3eLnvI6

 

The events that I organized this year prior to Covid 19 hitting the world were the “St Hilarion Castle Hiking Event: and the Wine Tasting event in January & February 2020. Arif helped me organize these events and everything was going great in couchsurfing!

St Hilarion Event Video: https://bit.ly/3dpBu5S

 

I just meet  "Arif" whom I met and loved he. he was always congratulating and congratulating me. The congratulation and congratulation of such a good person made me even more alive. by the way Arif was a professional climber. In winter, we organized together Hiking events or going to Cyprus traditional festivals altogether. and all comments from everyone made me very happy. we laughed, we traveled and ate together.

Then the lockdown came!!! Most of the world’s Couchsurfing members were no longer able to meet in person for events which was very sad. Everyone was confined to their homes without any social activities, and some people were even suffering from loneliness and depression.

I had an idea to make a “Couchsurfing International Virtual meetup” with involvement  of Couchsurfers from Phililppines, Indonesia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. It was a perfect idea to bring the community together with the “Stay Home Stay Safe” slogan. Our perseverance and hard work paid off with our first meeting which was promoted by local couchsurfers from 15 different countries.

All organizers started advertising around the world and we had our first zoom meeting before the event. We would attend this virtual event from 15 different countries and due to the many different time zones, we created a list of time zones.

I wrote to Couchsurfing Support regarding this idea and they said that it was a good idea and that they would support us. I want to thank Couchsurfing for their support! I created one main event and added many different city organizers, I had organizers and ambassadors from about 12 different countries. We had meetings and shared ideas together and about 85 people attended our first event. I found out that it was very difficult to control so many people, I had no idea that we would have such an issue. The number dropped to 30 attendees for future events, but these were the most active members and formed the base of our group. We formed a pattern with the most active members, people from Europe, Asia, and America joined us and they started zoom activities in other countries similar to this. We had a daily meeting and everyone became very good friends, they added each other as friends on couchsurfing and took notes on their progressive travel programs.

We accept all couchsurfing event invitations and many are coming in. ALthough we cannot attend all of them we try to attend most of them. On Mondays we attend an event in Florida, Tuesdays an event in Colombia, Wednesdays an event in Germany etc! We invite those in our main room and join together in other community rooms. We have so much fun and everyone loves the zoom events and thanks us for having them. Some have said that there health was good and there were those who congratulated us on our support for staying safe at home.

When our Friend Tarange Was Sleep On Zoom Chat. We start to #TarengChallenge! J

In our zoom events, we laugh and cry together and make life long friendships. Unfortunately we even lost one of our friends that we met in a virtual zoom event, “Calvin Marthen” from Indonesia Ambassador. RIP Calvin, let your place be light, your place is heaven, we love you! <3

I think the world has changed now and everyone must keep up with this change and work to stay healthy. We are making it through this pandemic by meeting new friends at the zoom meetings and supporting one another, especially those that may be lonely and self isolating on their own. I do not think that zoom meetings will end when the pandemic does, because we have made promises to visit one another and even surf each other’s couch!

Internatioan Couchsurfing Virtual Meet Up Video: https://youtu.be/cy6xpS34w2U

We also know how small the world is, of course “we will meet again “guys!

I love you all.

 

Taner ALICI

Thank you. 💓