CURRENT MISSION

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. -Thoreau

ABOUT ME

My name is Gwendal, I'm from France. This trip started in August 2014 and brought me through Europe, Middle-east, Asia, South-East Asia. I stayed two years working and traveling in Australia, then traveled in the South Pacific and came to New Zealand at the end of January 2018.
I was a guitar teacher in France and a full-time busker in Australia but take a break from music as I travel.

PHILOSOPHY

"Life is too important to be taken seriously."(Oscar Wilde)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is for me one of the best idea of the internet. The values shared among many couchsurfers like sharing or helping resonate with me.

That's why I have joined the community in 2012, hosted more than 50 couchsurfers at my home in France, been hosted a hundred times now and shown the town of Rennes (France) to couchsurfers and participated in several CS meetings and events in different countries.

Though I'm disappointed by the changes of the website over the last few years (presentation of the website, profile less complete if not registered in facebook, and the system of neutral and negative references just disappeared!!!)

However, I still believe I can meet wonderful people through CS.

I'm also a member in Bewelcome.
http://www.bewelcome.org/members/Gwendal

Interests

People, guitar, languages, theatre, yoga, literature,opera, festival, walking, ukulele, hitch-hiking, contemporary art, learning and unlearning, knowing that I know nothing, meditation, coffee with one sugar, being alone, silence, cooking, trying new food, humour, painting, writing, wandering, contemplation and chocolate...

Music, Movies, and Books

Radiohead, PJ Harvey, The Dead Weather, The Beatles, Verdi, Jeff Buckley, Arvo Part, Eiffel, Neil Young, Debussy, Bjork, I discovered opera by working in it, I have a lot of funny stories to tell which happened in that crazy place.

I was a student at a university of musicology and conservatoire where I have listened to many different kinds of music.

C.R.A.Z.Y., Pulp fiction, La mort à Venise, fenêtre sur cour, Woody Allen, Gus Van Sant, Lars Von Trier, Beetlejuice, Le roi et l'oiseau...

Kundera, Zweig, Vian, Barjavel, Rilke , Camus, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Kerouac, Proust, J.D. Salinger, Gogol, Hesse, Colette, Céline, Dalai Lama, Werber, Baricco, Hemingway, Sartre, Wilde, Chédid, Beckett, Saint-Exupéry, Kafka...
Letters to a young poet from Rainer Maria Rilke and The Catcher in the rye from J.D. Salinger are two important books for me.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

...

Teach, Learn, Share

I can share my knowledge about music as I studied it and have been a guitar teacher for 6 years in a music school in France, and earned a living by busking in Australia. Always happy to jam with others musicians, share music, organize acoustic sessions, etc...

I would be happy to listen to your stories and simply share a part of life with you.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'd be happy to cook french cuisine for you, share my traveling and couchsurfing stories and share music with you :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, France, New Zealand

•