Hi! My name is Jane, I'm half French, half American but have lived in France most of my life. I studied law and specialized in Human Rights (mostly rights of foreigners), and passed the Bar exam this year. But before finishing lawyer school, I'm taking a gap year to work and travel a bit. I really love traveling and discovering new places. I've lived in several different countries (a year in Lebanon, almost a year in Morocco) and am currently living in the outskirts of Paris with 4 other roomates. I love learning and discovering new things, meeting new people, drawing, painting, reading, ... I'm very sociable and love to laugh but at the same time I really need to have a lot of time for myself on my own; I'm very independant. I consider myself a very positive person (when it comes to my life, not so much about our world/civilisation/economic model though... ;) ), I think I manage to appreciate the beauty of life, people, and small things. I tend to always see the glass half full or consider that there's most of the time a lesson or a reason hidden in everything that happens wether they are good or bad (which is easy for me to say, given that I live an easy life in a peaceful country... ). But still, it helps me stay positive about many things :).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm taking a gap year before starting lawyer school and plan to travel around the States ( and Mexico and Columbia) for about 7 months. I'm mainly going to do HelpX and Workaway but when it comes to discovering new cities, I prefere to couchsurf to meet new people (maybe new friends) and get to know the city better with the locals :) !

Interests

I love to travel (and discovered recently that I love even more traveling alone :) ), never stuck to any activity too long, but I tried out quite a few things music and art wise and am now currently in a drawing/painting phase. We'll see how long that'll last... ;)
I really enjoy hicking and walking, being in nature; eating (well, half French-half American, what do you expect?...), going to the movies, reading, music (I used to play the saxophone and the guitar but it's been too long so now mainly listening to music :), , meeting new people, hanging out with my friends, roomates, playing board or card games, and above all learning new things! I've been getting more and more interested these last few years in alternative ways of living (both socially, economically and spiritually to a certain extend). Might try to dig into that this year

• animals
• arts
• beauty
• human rights
• modeling
• walking
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• music
• guitar
• law
• tours

Music, Movies, and Books

Music : I have kind of ecclectic tasts, so folk, electro swing, jazz, blues, rock, world, etc. I'm not to high on rap, hip hop, dance and stuff like that but it depens ;). I strangely do not like bossa though. Never did.

Movies : aw, same thing as for music. It just depens on my mood or the people I'm seing the film with.

Books: Same thing. Although I discovered two awesome authors this year : Kurt Vonnegut and Romain Gary. I guess they would be my favorite. I love Steinbeck as well. Oh and the book "Boussole" by Mathias Enard. That blew me away.

Series: The HBO serie "The Wire" !

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Over the last three years I've :
Lived in Beirut for a year and in Morocco for nearly a year.
Went to India.
Rode an Elephant (for info: those animals are really slow and their hair feel like wires. petting them is not a pleasant feeling, believe me). Rode a camel (they can make huge bubbles with their tongues!!).
Walked 850 km across the north of Spain for 5 weeks on the Camino of Santiago.
Explored the underground catacombes in Paris!

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd say if you believe that you can get a lesson out of any event or situation-positive or negative- that happens to you in life, you will little by little actually stop seing any events as negative and be overall a lot happier person.
On the other hand, I'd say you should also be indignated about the absurdity of our society, and question the legitimacy and the validity of what are commonly considered as pre-established norms. But that attitude will get you more and more depressed. Your call. ;)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Discussions, drinks, guided tours in fun but non touristic places in Paris... :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Lebanon, Morocco