Ciao! My name is Amalia and I'm a 22 years old grad student from Milan. I'm studying Economics and Social Sciences and dreaming of a PhD :)

I'd say my friends would describe me as a quiet but fun person to be around. I tend to have a pretty witty sense of humor, which emerges only once you get to know me! I enjoy meaningful experiences and conversations. As a fellow social scientist to be, I have a native curiosity about anything that surrounds me, but this particularly applies to how people live (and love) in countries different from mine. I'm passionate about different languages, I find different currencies fascinating to look at and I love to meet like-minded people with however different lifestyles from mine. I believe that such exchanges can be eye-opening.

Moreover, I've been vegan for more than 3 years now, mainly for the environment and for animal rights. Despite telling myself that I should be more active with my body, I'm not quite the gym-goer type. Nonetheless, I love walking and hiking: exploring cities and natural areas on foot is by far one of my favorite activities both when in Italy and abroad.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

While growing up, I had a previous Couchsurfing account, but I'd never had a chance to use it since I was still underage. Then the pandemic struck and I haven't been able to travel as freely as I would have liked.

However, fast forward to 2022, I discover that I've won a free Interrail pass through the DiscoveryEU competition: thus, in August I've been interrailing Europe as a solo traveler. This seemed the perfect occasion to finally try Couchsurfing! I have loved my stay with all of my hosts which became friends after all!

Unfortunately, I am not in a position to welcome guests into my house at the moment because I'm still living with my parents. My house would be pretty small and far away from top attractions, so it wouldn't be a hoot anyway. :D

Interests

• architecture
• walking
• music
• hiking
• economics
• history
• exploring
• veganism
• climate change
• climate justice

Music, Movies, and Books

Some of my all-time favorite artists include: Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Eugenio in via di Gioia, Alt-J, Twenty-one Pilots, Green Day, Fabrizio de André, and Hozier - however, my music taste is fairly experienced and always expanding!

Some of my all-time favorite movies and TV series include: Interstellar, Inception, Blade Runner, Dark, Dead Poets Society, and The Big Short. The list could go on endlessly. I'm always thinking that I should devote more time to watching movies since I find it a piercing art form.

When it comes to books I can say that I have a strong professional bias that makes me tend to read more non-fiction ones, although every time I come back to fiction and classics I am mesmerized once again. However, some good books I'd recommend on the top of my head are: "Nudge" by R. Thaler and C. Sunstein, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by R. Bach, and "The Man in the High Castle" by P.K. Dick. In life, there is too little time and too many books to read, but I'm devoted to continuing my quest in reading as many as I can!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'd say organizing 3 climate strikes in a year and bringing 7'000 people on the streets on the third one, in September 2019, in my hometown Monza!

Now I'd also add interrailing European capitals alone for 3 weeks in August 2022!

Teach, Learn, Share

Of course, rest assured that I'll teach you how to cook some great pasta in the way only an Italian knows how to make it; perhaps I could also prepare for you some great vegan dishes which will change your mind about vegans only eating salads! :)

If you are interested in a language exchange I'd be happy to give you the basics of Italian and I would love to learn the basics of your language (or practice French and/or German and/or Spanish if you speak them)! Moreover, I can teach you how to read the Greek alphabet ;)

What I Can Share with Hosts

With you I can share:

- Great Italian songs you may not know but you definitely should!
- Tells and tales about how it is like to live as a student in Italy
- Some insights about climate action and climate justice, economics, inequality and poverty from a researcher pov
- Some cool findings of behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, if you've ever wondered what that's about

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom