CURRENT MISSION:
Sharing happiness with lovely people around the globe

ABOUT ME:

Hola, ciao, hello, hallo, ... ! Thanks for visiting my CS profile!

I've been travelling and moving a lot on our beautiful planet.

I'm granted to have met so many interesting, fun and lovely people. It would be great to catch up and to exchange with new (travel)pals through CS!

Other than my passion to discover the globe, I share with a lot of people the love for music and dance (from salsa to rock). I used to play the guitar and sing in a band. Nowadays I sing in the car or at a camp fire: music makes me feel good. Swimming, yoga, jogging and pilates are the sports I love doing to keep in condition.

I'm always in for a crazy and fun party, to meet new people and share with them, cooking a nice meal together (preferably with a bottle of good red wine) and to head for new challenges.

Curious and open-hearted as I am, I love talking to everyone. Age doesn't matter, I learn from everyone.

As a kind of quote, I'd like to end this profile description with my favourite line: 'Abra tu mundo'! Open up your world (and your heart).

Take care, c ya!

PHILOSOPHY:
Abra tu mundo! Open your world... and your heart!

"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because you think your liberation is linked to mine, then let us work together." (Aboriginal proverb)

"On the Path of Truth I have been falling and falling... I have been standing up again and again and keep on walking... and I keep on walking this walk of discovery of the true meaning of LOVE..." (Copyright: www.estastonne.com)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING:

CS is a great invention! We can meet up in town, have a drink or enjoy lunch, and interchange that way or even travel together.

Since I am an experienced backpacker, I like to participate to build this community with the values of an open mind, respect for other cultures and learn from eachother.

I like to receive CS-requests at least 1 week in advance.
**NO LAST MINUTES PLEASE**

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE:

Summer 2008, I heard a lot of good recommendations about Couchsurfing from my friend Barbara who lived in Bruges back then, who has had amazing CS-experiences. So I started slowly from beginning 2009: I've hosted my first couchsurfer while living in Peru for a short time, Javier was a wonderful guest. I was a CS-guest in Den Haag two years in a row (thank you so much Dany and Lorena, and Mehdi!). I had a drink with Christiane in Krakow Poland, joined a delicious CS Gourmet Event in Brussels and a yummie chocolate party in Bruges, where I met Hadewijch, who has helped me to get to know Bruges and has become a dear friend. I lived in Bruges for a year, there I started hosting for real: first a Colombian couple that never heard of CS before, they were so thankful because all hostels were full :-). Followed by a cheeky American adventurer, Matt from Florida; Maciek from Poland came along and inspired me with his professional writing; Meeting Winny from Singapore and going to the beach together; Rene from Alicante flew by; Suddenly I met the most intercultural and artistic person ever: Neptune from India/USA/France; Enjoying the free concert of the Afro-Cuban All Stars with journalist Andres from Paris the day after my birthday; And I played lots of music with the busking 3-headed musicband from the US "From busk till dawn". The biggest and coolest CS-event I joined so far was definitely during the Braderie of Lille, North of France, in september 2010, having met great people and planning to meet again someday. During wintertime, the Bruges-Ostend CS-connection gathered every 2 or 3 weeks during delicious Veggie-Dinner-evenings! We always had CS'ers from other parts of the world around, getting to know the CS'ers from Bruges-Ostend. These have all been awesome and great experiences!!!

I left Bruges in February 2011 and travelled in Oceania for 12 months, from March 2011 until March 2012 (Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and New-Zealand!). On this big trip, I enjoyed great Couchsurfing experiences with Peter in Singapore, Samuel in Adelaide and Rod in Perth, thank you so much for that! Also I've attended a couple of CS-meetings in Melbourne and Perth where I met some nice people, and thus travelled together with Kathy in Western Australia.
A few months later in Tasmania I met very nice travelmates through CS with whom I travelled for 9 days around on a camping-roadtrip, so much fun and so good taking care of eachother. And we all stayed at Ange's place in Launceston, who is probably the greatest Couchsurfmember of Tassie. In New Zealand I surfed the couch at Brough's warm home in Auckland and met some nice couchsurfers along the way who became travelmates.

CURRENT LIFE:

In 2012 I returned back home in Belgium. I longed for a home of my own. I met a man of who I though was the love of my life. We got married in August 2015 but he left me for another woman in April 2016. I've never felt so devastated and betrayed.

I live with my parents now, healing my heart, trying to believe in myself and enjoy life again. I try to figure out who I am, remembering who I was and what I loved doing before I met my ex-husband. And I remember how much I loved the concept of couchsurfing: to connect with other travellers. I look forward to host and meet Couchsurfers again!

Interests

Travelling, writing, meeting people, music, playing guitar and singing, solidarity activities, pilates, dancing, watersports, photography, literature, culture, filosophy, walking, enjoying nature and... relax.

Music, Movies, and Books

All kind of rock music, jazz, blues, world and ethnical music, latino.
But also German 'schlagers' with Carnaval! :)

A few favorite artists: Bon Jovi - Kane - U2 - Glen Hansard - Pearl Jam - ACDC - Tom Petty - Bryan Adams - Anouk - Heather Nova - Anton Walgrave - Mana - Julieta Venegas - Amaral - Marc Anthony - ... and so many others!
I'm always interested in sharing music with my surfers, so bring along your favourite songs while travelling!

My all time favourite band and song: Bon Jovi, Living on a prayer!

Movies: Adventureous movies about legends or biographical and sometimes a romantic comedy.

I read a lot of books... Favourites are especially the biographies from the series National Geographic.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Swimming with whalesharks, and also manta rays, dolphins and seals in Australia!

Living on the edge during a 6-days survival trip in the Peruvian Amazon jungle!

Travel and work in Australia, explore New-Zealand and a bit of South-East Asia during 1 year!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can show you how to make sushi or how a genuine Italian pizza has to be made, since I'm half Italian. Hands-on learning, you will be making the dough. And let's enjoy together the result, a yummie pizza!

I'm always interested to have a good (and sometimes heavy) discussion on social global themes, from migration over politics to global warming. I love to hear your vision and ideas.

There are so many things yet to do and that I'd like to learn! From languages to meditation... Almost anything is worth it to learn and you are very welcome to share your knowledge!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Germany, Peru

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