CURRENT MISSION

Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience. - Victoria Holt

ABOUT ME

What could I tell? :)

People say that I am a reliable friend.
A bit anticonformist too, and always looking for extraordinary events ;p

I like to be "on the road" and I used to be an itchy-feet traveller.

I was a Physical Education Professor, then employed as an Instructor for the Italian Fire Fighter National Corp.
I have also been running a Lifeguards School for the last 12 years.
At the moment I am working in the European Fire Brigade at CERN - city of Geneva (European Centre for Nuclear Research)

PHILOSOPHY

-LIFE IS EITHER A DARING ADVENTURE OR NOTHING.
Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.
(Helen Keller)

-Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.
(Mark Twain)

-Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
(John Lennon)

-A journey is best measured in great friends, rather than miles.
(Tim Cahill)

-Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.-
(Benjamin Disraeli)

-The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.-
(Samuel Johnson)

-Tourists dont know where they„ have been,
travellers dont know where they are going.-
(Paul Theroux)

-Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go.
But no matter, the road is life.-
(Jack Kerouac)

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ITAKHA

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that one on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfumes of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

(K.Kavafis - 1894)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Discovering new perspectives, new ways of thinking and living. Getting enriched inside by living in different places and meeting different people. Don't want to feel tied to usual habits or common opinions. The world is wide and there are many truths, feel free to choose the one that best suits to you!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I always enjoyed a sort of "CS" since a long time ago, thanks to travelling and many international friends I'm staying in touch with. By joining the CS community I found a better way to do it.BTW, as a member of IOAPA (International Olympic Academy ex-Participants' Association) any IOA student is welcome!

Interests

I love nature, especially when there is water around (sea, rivers, lakes..)
Travelling for sure (tourism, trekking, adventuring), fitness, cinema, literature, books & comix, art, science and culture in general...
I love to know new places, hidden mysterious lands, or exciting stories.
Pls, let's avoid boredom! ;p

• arts
• culture
• books
• literature
• perfumes
• festivals
• education
• fitness
• running
• instructor
• movies
• traveling
• sailing
• sports
• teaching
• science
• tourism
• volunteering
• lakes
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

BOOKS :
"The Alchemist" by P.Coelho
"On the Road" by J.Kerouac
"Siddharta" by H.Hesse
"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R.Tolkien
...among many others ;)

MOVIES :
"Little Big Man" by A.Penn - 1970
"Blade Runner" by R.Scott - 1982
"3 colours: Blue - White - Red" by K.Kieslowski - 1993
and any kind of good movies (no Hollywood propaganda trash)

COMIX :
Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Watchmen...)
Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis...)
Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Orion...)
Kentaro Miura (Berserk)
Tsutomu Nihei (Blame, Abaras, Biomega ...)
Hayao Myiazaki (Nausicaa and Ghibli Studios art)
Yukito Kishiro (Alita...)

MUSIC : Goran Bregovich, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Franco Battiato, and any good kind of electronic, experimental, jazz, ethnical. I loved heavy metal and hard rock in the past, and they still kick ass!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- I have been 3 times at International Olympic Academy in Olympia - Greece, the place where Internationalism, Sport, Culture and Art meet together and it has been amazing every time.

- In 2000 I worked almost 3 months in UlaanBaatar (Mongolia), as an English conversation teacher for Mongolian students.
I was a stranger in a strange land.
Great time! ;)

- I work at CERN, the coolest/hottest/weirdest place on (or under) Earth. Surrounded by antimatters and black holes around...and I am part of the international team that had to fix it! ;)

- Burning Man 2011 and 2012 - Black Rock City - Nevada desert, worked for the volunteer Fire Service at the ultimate festival....enough said!! ;)

Teach, Learn, Share

Funny facts, international misunderstandings, wise views and philosophy of life!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, Switzerland

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