CURRENT MISSION

Making the most of my time in Cambridge

ABOUT ME

A travel addict, I love speaking foreign languages, meeting new people and discovering new cultures (which is basically why I subscribed to couchsurfing). Friends call me "the wanderer" or "the girl with a suitcase": I spent one year in Dijon, France, thanks to the Erasmus grant, two summers in Luxembourg, where I worked as a French teacher, I attended a Czech language summer school in Brno and now I'm working in Cambridge as a project manager for a translation agency. I think of myself as sociable, polite, creative, honest, ironic and open-minded; I love to listen and to talk, to share my experiences and to live unexpected experiences. I tend to be rather quiet but with the right people I can become quite talkative and sometimes even a little crazy :) I guess I can also say I'm a kind person, always doing my best to help others. I hate competitive environments, I'm the sort of relaxed, slightly lazy person who likes to do things for herself and not for the others, and who treasures time spent with friends.

PHILOSOPHY

Long story short, I'll quote three sentences that sort of sum up my personal philosophy (I know, quoting is a easy way out):

"May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift, may you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift." (Bob Dylan, "Forever Young")

"Kolik jazyku znas, tolikrat jsi clovekem." ("As many languages you know, as many times you are a human being" - Czech proverb)

"These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone." (Roald Dahl, "Matilda")

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host (when possible) and I surf
Sometimes I participate in CS meetings (language exchange meetings, gatherings in pubs, short trips)
I ask and give advice and tips

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far great! I often turn to couchsurfing whenever I need a tip or want to share activities with people and thanks to this wonderful community I have been able to travel to Kaunas (Lithuania) and to Trieste (Italy). Unfortunately I haven't been able to host people often (I only hosted a nice Lithuanian couple when I was living in Luxembourg) because my flat in Trieste was barely big enough for me and now I live with my father who's definitely not eager to host strangers at home... but I hope I can make up for that in the future! Another thing I owe to couchsurfing.org is having met some good friends back in Trieste and in Luxembourg (but also some rather unpleasant skirt-chasers, which might be one of the very few negative aspects about meeting people on couchsurfing)

Interests

Books (classics and crime novels), writing, cinema, TV series (Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Father Ted and Red Dwarf among my favourites), photography, cooking, singing (although out of tune!), going for walks, hiking, travelling, being in love, foreign languages, translating, flea markets and vintage stuff, making, buying or exchanging jewellery (especially earrings...that's my Achille's heel!). I have a probably unhealthy obsession with everything that is retro and I dream to live in a world where I could walk around dressed like in the 20's-30's. I have always been keen on French and in recent years I fell in love with Czech culture and language and I would love to work as a translator/Italian teacher in Czech Republic! I have recently started to practice yoga and I love it.

• dogs
• culture
• humanities
• writing
• books
• singing
• photography
• cooking
• yoga
• pub crawls
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• hiking
• teaching
• languages
• study abroad
• language exchange

Music, Movies, and Books

Wow, where do I start from?

Movies: the whole Star Wars saga, 500 days of Summer, Howl'€™s moving castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Forrest Gump, Edward Scissorhands, Dead Poets Society, La vita è bella, Love Actually, The Jane Austen Book Club, Into the Wild, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Peter Pan, Moonrise Kingdom, Juno, La Dolce Vita, Amici Miei, Mary Poppins, Miss Austen Regrets, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Fried Green Tomatoes, Ninotchka, You've Got Mail, The Shop Around The Corner, Jumanji, Little Miss Sunshine, Hable con Ella, Kolya, Fascisti su Marte, Pleasantville, Wszystko co kocham, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Vanilla Sky, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, This must be the place, Persepolis, Anastasia, The Lion King, Non ci resta che piangere, A mi madre le gustan las mujeres, Obcansky Prukaz, The Hours, The Crucible

Music: The Beatles, Fabrizio de André, Gogol Bordello, Goran Bregovic, Mnaga a Zdorp, Jaromir Nohavica, I Ratti della Sabina, Jeff Buckley, Giorgio Gaber, Modena City Ramblers, Bebe, Abba, John Williams, Nicola Piovani, Yann Tiersen, Dario Marianelli, James Horner (I have a huge passion for soundtracks!), Guns N'€™ Roses, Rino Gaetano, Edith Piaf, David Bowie

Books: Jane Austen's novels, Le Avventure di Pinocchio, Anna Karenina, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, A Room with a view, Reading Lolita in Teheran, Le Paradis aux Ogres, La Fée Carabine, Monsieur Malaussène, Messieurs les enfants, Il bar sotto il mare, The Hours, Madame Bovary, L'Education Sentimentale, Agatha Christie's books, Mrs. Dalloway, Great Expectations, Le bellissime avventure di Caterì dalla trecciolina e altre storie, Harry Potter books, Pippi Langstrump, Emil i Lonneberga,Rasmus, pa luffen, Matilda, Notre Dame de Paris, Nesnesitelna lehkost byti, Le petit prince, Farheneit 451, Le rouge et le noir, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Hours

A constantly editing list :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My Erasmus in Dijon, the summer school in Brno, having friends all around the world

Teach, Learn, Share

I don't know exactly what I could teach others or what I want to learn from them. I guess the main point is sharing, be it a recipe, a hobby, a book or simply a nice moment together. I have always given something to and taken something from the people I have met in my life, every new meeting is a whole new world to be discovered and may change your life.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I guess my time, mostly.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, France, Italy, Luxembourg, United Kingdom

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