CURRENT MISSION
My friend and I are cycling from Antwerpen to Kyrgyzstan, to raise money for a project called 'Cycling for education'. Because cycling for personal enrichment is one thing, but it gets even better if you can cycle for others. By giving other, less fortunate people chances in life.
This is why we started up this project. We believe that educating children is one of the most important ways of helping families break the cycle of poverty.
In the countryside around Kolkata, children still struggle to get proper education. Schools are spare, and a lot of children walk every day 10 miles back and forth to reach school. The distance often discourages the children to continue going to school.
With Biking 4 education, we want to offer these kids bikes to facilitate their every-day transport to school, thus motivating them to continue school and helping them building a better future for themselves and their families.
Need some more information? https://bikingwithoutborders.wixsite.com/cycling4education

ABOUT ME

It's not so easy to make up some paper-me, I guess you'll find out when we meet each other, however,I'll try to give you some picture of who I am:).

I think I'm an openminded person and I like to meet people from different cultures: it can be so inspiring or renewing to be emmersed or to get a view in a totally different life style.
I think that might be one of the major reasons why I'm such a travel addict; I'm always up to new things,new experciences, I love to gain some life philosophies while traveling and I just like - not easily to describe - "the flow of going" one seems to undergo during journeys.

I'm a friendly, honest person, who loves to listen to other peoples' stories. I can be talkative although sometimes very quiet:). I like to discuss or change opinions about how you see life, about politics, and so on...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think hospitality is one very interesting value we forget about because the society offers us expensive hotels as mainstay. But travelling for me is about meeting people, sharing stories and experiences, not about paying.
When we're back from our travel trip, I would like to host with pleasure.

Interests

People from different cultures, with different views, exciting experiences (I LOVE to talk about travelling experiences for example:)), who can teach me something; a way of life, new insight, ..

• make up
• partying
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• emergency services

Music, Movies, and Books

Corinne Bailey Ray, Norah Jones, The Beatles, Buena Vista Social Club, Coldplay, Dire Straits, Eddie Vedder, Habib Koité, Isbells, Jónsi, The National, Radiohead, Tracy Chapman, Ella Fitzgerald, Absynthe Minded,...

Some classics:
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain,Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, The Black Swan,Some like it hot, ...

Into the Wild, Les choristes, "4months, 3weeks, 2 days", Maria Full of Grace, Chocolat, Altiplano, The girl with the Pearl Earring,The Woman With The Broken Nose (Ghent Film Festival), Soul Kitchen, The King's Speech, Bienvenue chez Les ch´tis, Juno, The Pianist, One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest,Vicky Cristina Barcelona, ...

Books:

1984 (George Orwell), Blindness (José Saramago), La sombra del viento (Carlos Ruiz Zafón), Respire (Anne- Sophie Brasme),...

De Engelenmaker (Stefan Brijs)
Het Lelietheater (Lulu Wang)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Being unexpectedly stuck in a train with a bunch of smugglers. Being controlled three times on the border Serbia-Bulgaria, but still the "border police" didn't see the smuggled goods, although we could see them very clearly hidden under chairs,...
It left me something to think about...

Some years ago, I went to Israël and Palestine. It was a trip that was organised by Lucas Pairon, funder of music fund (they raise music schools, try to collect music instruments in Europe, rennovate them and then give them to people in for example Congo,Palestine,...) and funder of 3rd party, a peace movement. We spoke with a lot of peace organisations there, Israelian and Palestinian, were hosted there by different, enormously kind people. We talked with them on how they saw their situation, about the daily life, the innumerable check points,... I can say a thousand things about this exciting trip, however, a true story is always better being told, so I can tell you all about it if we meet up;).

8 years ago, as a medicine student, I had the chance to meet some wonderful people of IIMC, the Institute for Indian Mother and Child. They work to improve the lives of the poorest people living in the rural villages of West Bengal by providing education for their children, medical and healthcare for the villagers, setting up programs to empower the women and running development projects like building toilets and constructing tube wells
Dr. Sujit, the founder of this project – who had graduated as pediatrician in Leuven in his previous life – presented his project at the university. 6 months later I found herself on East Bengal ground as a medical volunteer.
It was a compelling and overwhelming experience, those 5 weeks. On the one hand it was difficult to see all these poor, poor people and to bounce against the fact that sufficient materials for necessary care were lacking.
On the other hand, it was astonishing to see how the people of the IIMC made the impossible possible with such little supplies.
When I left, I felt I wanted to do much more for this people.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cuba, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium