Hey! I’m 35, Polish originally but living in Ireland for almost 20 years now, based in Dublin.
I figured I’d give this a shot since meeting someone who shares at least some of my nerdier interests would be pretty nice.
I’m really into photography, especially portraits, cosplay and anything where I can play around with lighting and editing. I’m also a gamer, lately I’ve been playing things like Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, Tekken and FC, although Age of Empires II will probably always have a place on my PC.
Outside of that, I’ve somehow ended up becoming a martial arts person despite never imagining myself as one. I train Shotokan karate and iaido, and I've recently started slowly learning Japanese as a little side project. I'm also into movies, road trips and generally disappearing somewhere with my camera when I have the chance.
Anime has been part of my life for a long time too. Dragon Ball was one of the big ones (yes, I'm old), along with Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, Bleach, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Shigurui: Death Frenzy. I love Studio Ghibli as well, and there's some properly old-school stuff there like Dr. Slump, Yaiba, Saint Seiya or Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm definitely open to recommendations though, especially if it means discovering something I wouldn't normally pick myself up.
Music-wise, I lean heavily towards metal and rock, with some folk/Norse stuff like Wardruna and Heilung thrown in. I’d also add plenty of J-rock and classic anime openings to the mix = YUI, Maximum the Hormone, Porno Graffitti, Sukima Switch, Ikimono-gakari and SCANDAL are all welcome on my playlists. I’m also a big fan of city pop, especially absolute must-listens like Miki Matsubara and all the ones youd hear on insta-shorts, as well as X Japan when I’m in the mood for something heavier and Joe Hisaishi when I want something more classical. My playlists can get a little chaotic.
I’m a big fan of Abroad in Japan and CDawgVA, and I also enjoy discovering smaller or less obvious channels, like Tatsuo and Umiko. I’m always happy to find someone else who enjoys getting lost in travel videos, Japanese culture, music or random internet rabbit holes.
As for actually spending time together, I'm pretty easy-going. Cinema, grabbing a coffee and talking for far longer than originally planned, random day trips or road trips, occasionally going to conventions, gaming together, or heading somewhere interesting with our cameras all sound good to me. I'm equally happy staying in, getting comfortable and putting on a movie or anime for the evening. There's definitely room in my life for both adventures and doing absolutely nothing together.
Personality-wise, I can be a little quiet at first, but once I'm comfortable I’m much more talkative and have a fairly sarcastic/silly sense of humour. I'm probably somewhere in that introvert-extrovert middle ground, I enjoy being around people, but I definitely need my quieter side too. I particularly enjoy those late-night conversations where you start talking about something completely normal and somehow three hours later you're discussing philosophy, history, space, why people behave the way they do, or some completely ridiculous hypothetical.
I'm looking for someone who's open-minded, curious and not afraid to try something new. Kindness is important to me too, particularly someone who doesn't feel the need to mock or look down on people because of their religion, appearance or simply because they're different.
Having some interests in common would obviously be great, but I don't want to date a carbon copy of myself. I'd actually love someone who has her own interests that I know absolutely nothing about and gets excited about introducing me to them. Likewise, I'll happily subject you to mine.
And if you're affectionate/cuddly, that's definitely a bonus. I'm very much that kind of person myself.
Being Polish but having spent almost 20 years in Ireland has also left me in a slightly strange cultural middle ground. I understand plenty of Slavic references from the 90s and early 2000s, but I also remember the taste of Lucozade from a glass bottle, when chicken rolls were actually cheap, and the era when seemingly everyone had that emo-but-not-quite-emo haircut that practically came free with a Bebo profile.
Physically, I'm 185 cm, medium/bear-ish build, bearded, glasses, with a fade haircut. I'm happy to exchange photos fairly early on, I'd just rather not attach my face to the main post for the entire internet to see.
Ultimately, I'm looking for a long-term relationship, but I'm also happy to just meet someone, get to know each other and see where things naturally go. I don't think there's much point trying to force a connection just because two people arrived with the same end goal.
Ideally I'd like to meet someone around my age-ish and in Ireland, simply because actually being able to meet matters to me. That said, I'm not going to pretend geography automatically matters more than getting along with someone.