(EN)
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
I read that Cesare Pavese's quote while I was waiting for my canceled train in Lyon a few months ago. I think it captures perfectly the nature of this experiencie. My name is Antonia, I'm chilean and I'm 27 years old. Since I was a child, traveling around with my parents in summer, I dreamt with explore the world. Who doesn't? But as I grew up, life changed a bit, and I ended up studying psychology (another way of travel). I graduated at the end of 2022, and then decided to follow my heart and that dream I had: to travel. That brought me to France. I'm here with a Visa of working holiday. Currently I'm working really hard in a hotel in the middle of Lot as a femme de chambre (housekeeping). It wasn't cheap to come here so I need to get some savings back to be able to travel finally next year. But until then I'll have a couple of days free, in October and in November. I would love to experience CS. I know it's difficult being accepted when you have no references, but if you give me the chance I would love to share conversations, to show you I'm a human you can talk to, and to learn from you.

Being here, so far away from all I know, from the people I love, I found out I wasn't who I thought I was, but in a good way :) I'm stronger, but also weaker, and i'm brave and a chicken at the same time haha and most of all, I have a heart that's happy when I connect with other humans.

(FR)
"Tout voyage est une agression. Il vous contraint à faire confiance à des inconnus et à perdre de vue le confort familier du foyer et des amis, on est en perpétuel déséquilibre. On ne possède rien en dehors de l'essentiel - l'air, le sommeil, les rêves, la mer, le ciel - toutes choses qui tendent à l'éternité ou du moins à ce que nous en imaginons."
J'ai lu cette citation de Cesare Pavese alors que j'attendais mon train annulé à Lyon il y a un mois. Je pense qu'elle résume parfaitement la nature de cette expérience. Je m'appelle Antonia, je suis chilienne et j'ai 27 ans. Depuis que je suis enfant, en voyageant avec mes parents en été, je rêvais d'explorer le monde. Qui ne le rêve pas ? Mais en grandissant, la vie a un peu changé et j'ai fini par étudier la psychologie (une autre façon de voyager). J'ai obtenu mon diplôme fin 2022, puis j'ai décidé de suivre mon cœur et ce rêve que j'avais : voyager. Cela m'a amené en France. Je suis ici avec un visa vacances-travail. Actuellement, je travaille très dur dans un hôtel au milieu du Lot en tant que femme de chambre. C'était un peu cher de venir ici, donc je dois récupérer des économies pour pouvoir enfin voyager l'année prochaine. Mais d'ici là, j'aurai quelques jours de libre, en octobre et en novembre. J'adorerais faire l'expérience de CS. Je sais que c'est difficile d'être accepté quand on n'a pas de références, mais si vous m'en donnez l'opportunité, j'adorerais partager des conversations, vous montrer que je suis un humain à qui vous pouvez parler et apprendre de vous.

En étant ici, si loin de tout ce que je connais, des gens que j'aime, j'ai découvert que je n'étais pas celui que je pensais être, mais dans le bon sens :) Je suis plus fort, mais aussi plus faible, et je suis courageux et un poulet en même temps haha ​​et surtout, j'ai un cœur qui est heureux quand je me connecte avec d'autres humains.

(ES)
"Viajar es una brutalidad. Te obliga a confiar en extraños y a perder de vista todo lo que te resulta familiar y confortable de tus amigos y tu casa. Estás todo el tiempo en desequilibrio. Nada es tuyo excepto lo más esencial: el aire, las horas de descanso, los sueños, el mar, el cielo; todas aquellas cosas que tienden hacia lo eterno o hacia lo que imaginamos como tal”
Leí esa cita de Cesare Pavese mientras esperaba mi tren cancelado en Lyon hace unos meses. Creo que captura perfectamente la naturaleza de esta experiencia. Mi nombre es Antonia, soy chilena y tengo 27 años. Desde niña, viajando con mis padres en verano, soñaba con explorar el mundo. ¿Quién no? Pero a medida que crecí, la vida cambió un poco y terminé estudiando psicología (otra forma de viajar). Me gradué a fines de 2022 y luego decidí seguir mi corazón y ese sueño que tenía: viajar. Eso me trajo a Francia. Estoy aquí con una visa de working holiday. Actualmente estoy trabajando muy duro en un hotel en el medio de Lot como femme de chambre (mucama). Fue un poco caro venir aquí, así que necesito recuperar algunos ahorros para poder viajar finalmente el próximo año. Pero hasta entonces tendré un par de días libres, en octubre y en noviembre. Me encantaría experimentar CS. Sé que es difícil ser aceptado cuando no tienes referencias, pero si me das la oportunidad me encantaría compartir conversaciones, mostrarte que soy un ser humano con el que puedes hablar y aprender de ti.

Estando aquí, tan lejos de todo lo que conozco, de la gente que amo, descubrí que no era quien pensaba que era, pero en el buen sentido :) Soy más fuerte, pero también más débil, y soy valiente y gallina a la vez jaja y sobre todo, tengo un corazón que se alegra cuando conecto con otros humanos.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The first time I read about CS was when I was 16. I was reading my favorite blog about traveling (viajandoporahi), written by a woman who traveled the world alone. She used to write about staying in houses of people she didn't know, and I thought it was amazing. And not for the fact that "saves you money", which is why this became so famous at the end of the day, but because it opened you the door to the soul of a place: their people. To have the courage to welcome someone to your house, and to be vulnerable enough to sleep under the ceiling of someone you don't know is, for me, a beautiful symbol of what humans can do when they connect.

Interests

• arts
• poetry
• coffee
• walking
• traveling
• languages
• psychology
• nature
• spirituality
• conversations
• experiences

Music, Movies, and Books

I love classical music (I used to be able to play a bit of Satie, and I keep crying listening to Yo Yo Ma playing the cello) and 80s music. I love BTS and I love jazz. And I adore the soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop. And the soundtrack of Wong Kar Wai films. Oh and I LOVE Wong Kar Wai films. AND Ghibli films. What an ode to cotidian beauty. My last concerts were Pulp, Blur and Radiohead, I think. I adore Boleros and Tangos (latinoamerican old music). I like to walk listening to Manu Chao songs. Sometimes ABBA songs. At 14 I was a huge fan of The Beatles, which wasn't really popular haha. I was just watching Benjamin Button, beautiful movie. I watch some anime from time to time. I loved Soul by Pixar. And I love Lost in translation, very represented by that movie right now. Books... I love poetry. My favorite poet is Mary Oliver. Here's a bit of one of her poems:

When it's over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Start over.
Love.
Breath.
See the light in the leaves of the trees.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you, if you want, some spanish songs to sing them in karaoke together. I can prepare you coffee everytime you want, and we can talk over it. We can talk about psychology; I can't do therapy for obvious reasons, but maybe I can give you some orientations about it. I'm a bad cooker, awful, but if you're brave, we can try to follow a chilean recipe haha. I love to walk so we can walk around. I can teach you about chilean history. I think I can still remember chords in guitar and piano so I can show u too. WE CAN DANCE.
And I want to learn EVERYTHING you can teach me.
Like the Tarzan song:
I wanna know, can you show me?
I wanna know about these strangers like me
Tell me more, please show me
Something's familiar about these strangers like me

What I Can Share with Hosts

Mmm I think I already kind of answer in the previous question...

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, France, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Chile, France