CURRENT MISSION

Getting to know more about the Balkans...

ABOUT ME

I'm open-minded and outgoing, I love meeting new people and the thing I enjoy the most is learning :) I'm curious and enthusiastic, I've always a project or an idea in mind! Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming, but I can't really stop having the feeling that I have to try everything :)
My dream is living my life fully: I intend to eat as many ice-creams as I can, speak with a number of beautiful people, and visit, live and teach languages all around the world.
I am interested in getting to know as much as I can about other cultures and other ways of living.

PHILOSOPHY

"I've always dependended on the kindness of strangers" (A Streetcar Named Desire).
"There was nothing to go, but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars" (Jack Kerouac)

I try my best to enjoy every moment of my life. Sometimes it's difficult, but I still believe the world is too beautiful to miss even a bit of it. I have been lucky enough to meet some amazing people in my life. People who at the beginning were strangers met during my travels, students who turned into friends even if they lived on the other side of the planet, language partners who taught me not only how to speak, but also how to feel and live in another language and culture. There is still so much to explore, learn, experience. I feel that I don't know enough about so many topics! I hope you can help me with that. I would be happy to share with you everything I know and to help you feeling at ease and finding your way, if I can.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I would love to meet new people from different countries. I would be very happy to visit cities or go hiking together. I can help you improving your Italian or English and I have lots of stories to tell. I am really keen on hearing your stories as well :) I am sure you can teach me something I don't know and I look forward to it.

Unfortunately, so far I have used CS mainly for making new friends and doing language exchanges, but I really hope that I will be able to host once I'll go back to Italy. I always enjoy hosting the friends I have made on Skype while teaching or who have been my travel companions :) I have been doing it a lot and it would be an interesting experience to have new guests from CS :)

Interests

I'm mainly interested in people :) I can be a very good listener and I love getting to know other people better.

I am also very interested in travelling (I have been bitten by the travel bug and I don't think I am going to stop moving from one country to another soon). I feel that travelling and meeting new people is the thing that makes my life more worth living...I have learnt much more from experiencing things and talking to people than from reading and studying (even if I still love doing it :) ).

I love teaching languages, because I like the relationship I can create with my students. I love listening to them talking about their lives and I feel complete when I can be useful to someone else :) It's just so fulfilling to feel that you can help someone else organising their trip to a place, making new friends abroad or feeling more comfortable abroad.

I like writing a lot. I have always wanted to be a writer and have my own bookshop. Unfortunately, I am a very lazy writer, but I am working on it!

I also love reading, writing poems and short stories, watching movies and plays at the theatre, going to art exhibitions and learning new languages. I am passionate about Russian animated movies (e.g. Vinni Pukh) and Walt Disney animated movies.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• literature
• poetry
• coffee
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• hiking
• sports
• tennis
• table tennis
• extreme sports
• languages
• language exchange

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: "Donnie Darko", "Forrest Gump", "Never Let Me Go", "My name is Sam" are my absolute favourites :) I love going to the cinema and watching a movie at home with friends. I am addicted to post apocalyptic movies and I am deeply attracted to weird and mysterious movies with a sad ending :)
Some of my favourite directors are Gus Van Sant and Lars Von Trier.

Music: Reggae, Rock, Indie. "Florence and the Machine", "The Beatles" and "Sigur Ros" are three of my favourite bands.
Books: Since my strongest passion is probably literature, I have too many favourite books and authors. I'm obsessed with Richard Yates's work. It really makes me sad that his work is not so well known. I'm in love with the works of Kundera, Ishiguro, Gaarder, Orwell and Kerouac as well.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I have done white water rafting in Rotorua, New Zealand and I have been to an "Onsen" (Japanese spa) in Kanazawa, Japan. They were both very scary experiences for me for different reasons...but I am so glad I have done them! :)

A wonderful things I have done and changed my life is going to study Russian in Russia without knowing the language. I stayed with a Russian woman who was incredibly kind to me and I met some amazing people who helped me survive and showed me St. Petersburg and Moscow :) Not understanding Russian was challenging, but also very exciting: all the taxi rides became crazy adventures and opportunities to practice my few sentences.

I also enjoyed travelling around the USA by bus, when I finished my semester abroad. That must have been the moment in which I understood how much I enjoy travelling alone in order to have the opportunity to help and get help from people met on the road.

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach English and Italian...I could definitely help you practicing and improving these two languages...I could tell you a lot of things about Italian literature and culture and literature in general :) I can also speak about movies, songs, learning foreign languages and books for hours...
I would be very happy to recommend you places to visit in Italy too...And if I am in Italy to take you around :) I have a 500 Fiat and I can drive you to Como, Milan, Monza and all the gelaterie and pizzerie which are worth visiting ;)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am a very friendly, caring and cheerful person...I am in love with life and there are only a few things I wouldn't like to try at least once in my life. From the outside, I don't look very adventurous, but once you get to know me better, you will notice that, even when I am scared, I always dive into new experiences and in the end I enjoy them a lot.
I like challenging myself: I always try to improve and expand my cognitive horizons: I would love you to recommend new artists, unexplored countries, foreign languages, extreme sports, writers and books to me...

I have a lot of stories to tell about places I have visited and people I have met in my life, especially during my journeys. I am quite talkative, so if you are shy, you don't have to worry about moments of silence with me ;)

I have seen many movies and tv shows, read lots of books and eaten so many sweets you can't even imagine :) I am happy to exchange ideas about these three passions I have :) I would also be really glad to eat cakes and drink coffee or tea together! I like exploring new cafés :)
And last but not least, I am always up for a table tennis match, a hike or a movie!

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Russian Federation, United States