CURRENT MISSION

Becoming

ABOUT ME

I'm completing a Master's in sociocultural anthropology at York University, in Toronto, while studying for the GRE and preparing my applications for American PhD programs.

I love to discuss about politics, anthropological matters, sports, and anything else, really.

Nature-lover, I often find myself wandering around where my feet "bring me". The independence and freedom I associate with walking/hiking makes it my favourite way to travel, along with by jam-packed bus rides (although I also have a sort of fascination for underground public transportation).

Curiousity, spontaneity, and open-mindedness would describe well how I (try to) travel, and live my life.

Oh, and I hate being told what to with my life, how to be, who to be, and what to think. Ha.

PHILOSOPHY

"Fais de ta vie un rêve, et d'un rêve, une réalité" - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been couchsurfing since 2012 (if I remember correctly), travelling abroad and hosting some folks at my apartment. It is unfortunately difficult for me to host anyone at the moment due to my living conditions, but I hope that it will change soon. Meanwhile, I am always available to hang-out, and share my love of Toronto and its hidden treasures.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I had an awesome first stay at a fellow CSer's place in Brooklyn back in October 2012. We also welcomed our first fellow CSer last fall, and it was a great experience... a lot of fun and a chance to rediscover Toronto from a different perspective. I followed up with stays in various European and Middle Eastern cities and villages (Chios, Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Istanbul, etc).

Interests

Geocaching
Urban exploration
Moksha Yoga
Outdoor activities (kayaking, hiking, snowboarding, snowshoeing, jogging, you name it)
Reading (a major determinant of who I am)
Writing (too much, sometimes... ok maybe always)
Sports (playing & watching; soccer, hockey, football, ...)
Travelling
Walking around
Cultural events
Asking questions about life, and wondering about the meaning of all this.

Academically, my interests lie in multispecies histories (genealogies that expand beyond human exceptionalism) and an anthropology of the body and the senses (especially kinaesthesia - a sense of movement). In light of this, I have been recently interested in movement, creativity, improvisation, affect, spatiality, and place-making. My Master's project combines, in some odd ways, all of this through an exploration of the spatial experience and movements of migrants and asylum seekers throughout the world.

• writing
• yoga
• walking
• clubbing
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• kayaking
• snowboarding
• snowshoeing
• sports
• soccer
• hockey
• anthropology
• urban exploration

Music, Movies, and Books

Most of the stuff I read is academic, though I enjoy(ed) reading Marc Lévy, Émile Zola and Franz Kafka, among others. Recent, I have re-discovered French existentialist works (Sartre and others), as well as unconventional literary modes (see House of Leaves and S: The Ship of Theseus) and memoirs.

I do enjoy music, although I don't know much about it, and don't play an instrument (except when randomly scratching a guitar without playing a note, thinking I'm a rockstar). Moby, Eddie Vedder, Misteur Valaire, Qualité Motel, Bran Van 3000, and Les Cowboys Fringuants are some of the groups I (used to) listen to [I haven't updated this in a while, which might say something about my relation to music!].

I don't watch television a lot, except for some hockey and soccer games.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hopefully this will be short and sweet, and make sense, but please bear with me. About 4 years ago, I bought last minute flight tickets to Torréon, Mexico. On the day before, I had seen Montreal Impact defeat Santos Laguna 2-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal (soccer). As I was later talking to friends about the return match, and planning where we would watch the game, I jokingly said that the Mexican stadium was an option. The joke became reality minutes later, as my flight was booked. In Torreon, I join four other Montrealers which had also came for the game. We had an amazing week travelling around Northern Mexico (one of the greatest in my life), and on the match day, as I jumped on the fence separating us from the field, following Montreal's first goal, the realization that I was living my childhood craziest dream hit me. I was there, in Mexico, hundreds of kilometres away from home, actively supporting my team as they were battling for the continental title. This was my first step towards my dream, that I've kept on living for the past 4-5 years. (I should add that although this might be a casual practice in Europe to travel abroad to support your club in a continental competition, North America's geographical situation makes such trips much harder for us, and thus much more rare.)

Last month (April 2015), I returned to Mexico with 50 Montrealers as Montreal took on Club America in the final of the same championship/cup at the mythic Estadio Azteca.

My US road-trip that led us through 35 States has also been amazing in many ways. Hoping to hop on road 66 with my dad next summer.

Teach, Learn, Share

How to navigate York University's cumbersome bureaucracy?

More seriously, I can't quite put the finger on something right now, but I assume that I'm somewhat knowledgeable about sports and some anthropological stuff, and those are things I love to talk about.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominican Republic, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Greece