ABOUT ME

I'm a bit of a paradox.
I get hyped with small life pleasures, be it having a good conversation with a stranger, see a beautiful landscape, be spontaneous and impulsive, eat a good slice of cheesecake with a cuppa tea or coffee (I've recently started drinking it again after I managed to stop my addiction to it xD damn); but I also get into existential crises and overthink too much.
I love people and chatting (I talk too much beware xD) but I also like my own secluded time watching movies or reading a good book, travelling solo and isolating from society xD
I like nature but I am not sportsy or outdoorsy enough I think, when I try to jog I feel as if my lungs have been run over by a bison, I'm active and lazy at the same time if it makes any sense. I love eating though, my dad calls me "the locust" cause I have a high metabolism and eat too much, maybe some of it is emotional eating but let's deny any anxiety problems for the purpose of this introduction, which doesn't really have to be about a deep portrait of a person, does it? ;)

I have started my Master's degree in Local and Global development and a PG specialisation in Neurosociology :) I am also helping as Italy co-coordinator of a Peace Institute and I'm very excited about these new projects :D

There's a nice quote from The Alchemist (which I used to have in e-book form until I dropped my e-reader and all my highlights and books got cancelled :D I know, I know paper is better blah blah but I don't care, the content of the book is what matters) that I like:
"The heat lasted until nightfall, and all that time he had to carry his jacket. But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight, he remembered that, because he had a jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn. The jacket had a purpose, and so did the boy. His purpose in life was to travel"
I'm in search of my treasure through my travels like the boy in The Alchemist and like many others here on CS.

I've been raised somewhat internationally being half Dutch and half Italian. All in all I've lived in and visited a few places here and there so far but there's surely more to come. There's still so much to discover out there :)

CURRENT MISSION

Find my truth :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I truly enjoy meeting new people and experiencing places as a local. I have got to know extremely interesting people through Couchsurfing, some of which I'm still in contact with after years. I'm just in love with the whole concept of connecting strangers by overcoming conventional barriers.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Our current home is Couchsurfing-friendly :) and we've been hosting quite a few amazing souls. You can contact Uri who manages the requests: https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/uri-vardy
You'll find our hosting references on his profile :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've mainly surfed at peoples places so far, but I also hosted when I could and met people for drinks :)
I once hosted an American girl that got on the wrong train and was stuck in this useless place near my hometown (very touristy but meh to me) at night and she turned out to be this awesome person whom I befriended and saw again years later when she was in Italy again, and these are the experiences that truly bring me joy :)

Interests

I like playing the piano while singing. I love drawing, painting or creating nice things, artcraft and such... I love taking photos to freeze time. I like surprises, the unexpected and the intense. And, quite obviously, I like travelling.

Music, Movies, and Books

I usually enjoy movies with a good plot, good dialogues, unexpected endings or intricated story lines. I like it when a movie manages to capture authentic feelings rather than fairy-tale/unrealistic hollywoodian standards.

I like books that can teach me something, well-written, not too descriptive, with original plots and inspirational passages, that manage to keep my curiosity alive.

For what concerns music I enjoy most genres, I like to vary in line with my mood.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Among things:

I walked through the dunes of Rajasthan at night and saw a shooting star among the thousands of bright ones in the sky. I also galopped with a camel the same day and I swear to God, he was smirking in the pictures :P

I drank chai in the slums of Jaipur with a gipsy guy I had just met 5 minutes earlier and watched sunset.

I kidnapped my friend's stuffed animal and sent a blackmailing letter with a photo and letters cut out of newspapers and all xD

Teach, Learn, Share

Anybody can learn from any experience if they're reflective enough:) I guess it can differ a lot depending on who the parties are :)

ah but I can surely show you what pasta "al dente" means XD it is not what you think, pasta doesn't need to look like a digested-by-a-cow's-5-stomachs-and-vomited mass to be chewable XD
even if I was told once that "Pasta is a great thing, but us Italians do it all wrong. It has to be much more overboiled" XD
and I can show you what "Carbonara" really is ;) I mean, that creamy/mushroomy thing you see sometimes abroad is very tasty but it's not Carbonara :P
Italians are food-nazis so beware of the names/ingredients you use xD

What I Can Share with Hosts

Possibly good conversations, good food, a genuine friendship and my eternal gratitude. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ireland, Italy, Poland