Personal

I love hiking and camping. Some of my favorite memories are from countless hikes through the Alps with my dad (I’m from Austria).

The most cinematic scenery, though, was a two-week hike with wild camping through Iceland: every day felt like a new planet-- colorful mountains, glaciers, and rocky volcanic trails in constant rotation.

I like cross-country skiing, my favorite trip was when I skied into a national park in Lapland, built an igloo just to sleep in it overnight, to watched the northern lights at full volume: no light pollution, no notes.

I’ve also gone dog sledding and ice fishing, and I’ve been ice climbing multiple times. In general, I like trying new things, new activities, and new cultures.

In my free time, I also like to run. In September 2025, I finished the Berlin Marathon, and now I’m hoping to make my way into one of the next majors. On my bucket list: the Boston Marathon (for obvious reasons) and the Svalbard marathon.

I prefer walking and biking over any other form of commuting all year round. My most recent longer one-day biking trip was 100 miles following the Berlin Wall.

The cycling path runs along the former customs route in West Berlin and along the Column Track in East Berlin. It took me through rich green forests, extensive fields and picturesque meadows, along rivers and idyllic lakes. Going through the city formed a contrast to the beautiful nature: historical and modern architecture and straight canals.

As you might have guessed from various doodles in my presentations, I like drawing, doodling, and photography. I also love stationery and lettering, including the joy of sending and receiving actual physical mail.

Lately I’ve been taking workshops and classes in bookbinding, and I’ve fallen down a very charming rabbit hole of medieval manuscript illuminations. I’m also starting to practice calligraphy which turns out more challenging as I thought being a left-handed person.

One crafty project I’m very proud of: my chocolate dragon eggs. In 2019, a group of friends and I had a regular watch party for the new GoT episodes. For the series finale we brought themed food. I made 8" tall chocolate dragon eggs, and hid toy dragons inside. I used shredded almonds as scales and painted them with edible paint.

After high school I spent some time in Myanmar at a Buddhist monastery teaching Mathematics and English at its school. We spent some time rebuilding houses, school facilities, and a hospital that had been destroyed by Cyclone Nargis. During my time there I also ran into Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. 🤓 I miss the people, the smell of the forest and the Burmese tea.

I am a fan of puzzles: my favorite puzzle book is 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems by Henry Ernst Dudeney. I recently found The Language Lover's Puzzle Book by Alex Bellos, which I can highly recommend.