CURRENT MISSION

Practicing languages and making friends.

ABOUT ME

I am friendly and open minded, I like talking and exchanging points of view and experiences. I appreciate politeness, sensitivity and thoughtfulness while I can't put up with arrogance and carelessness.
My usual guests are happy with my hospitality and I hope we too can have a nice time together.

PHILOSOPHY

Festina lente.

아직 가지 않은 길

"이제 다 왔다고 말하지 말자
천리 만리 였건만
그동안 걸어온 길 보다
더 멀리
가야할 길이 있다
행여 날 저물어
하룻밤 잠든 짐승으로 새우고 나면
더멀리 기야할 길이 있다
그동안의 친구였던 외로움 일지라도
어찌 그것이 외로움뿐이였으랴
그것이야 말로 세상이었고
아직 가지 않은길
그것이야 말로
어느 누구도 모르는 세상이리라
바람이 분다"

-고은

"La strada non ancora percorsa.

non diciamo di essere già arrivati
saranno stati mille, diecimila passi ma
più di quanto abbiamo percorso
ancora più lontano
c'è una strada ancora da percorrere
il giorno volge alla fine
mi alzo dopo una notte trascorsa da animale addormentato
una strada ancora più lunga da percorrere
sebbene la solitudine mi abbia tenuto compagnia
non è stata mera solitudine
è stato il mondo
la strada non ancora percorsa
è senza dubbio un mondo che nessuno conosce.
Il vento soffia."

-Ko Un

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

In this moment, I'd like to participate in the CS mostly for hosting and getting to know friends from Korea, since I'm studying Korean language and I'd love to put my poor Korean into practice.

안녕하세요? 베네치아에 잘 오셨어요! :)
한국어 좀만 할 수 있는데 한국 사람과 같이 말하고 싶습니다 ㅅ.ㅅ
베네치아를 보고 싶습니까? 영어도 좀 할 수 있으면 제 집에 잘 오세요!

So if you are coming to Venice and looking for a nice host who can show you the city, please contact me: I love the city where I live and I'm always enthusiast to show whomever is truly interested around, when I can spare some time. Hospitality is beautiful.

In the future, I might want to try CS as a guest, too.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

In the past I hosted a couple of CSs from Vilnius for one night. They had been previously hosted by a good friend of mine (Gianluca) who called me because of their arrival in Venice. Justas and Laura were exquisite guests and having them was a very nice experience. I was positively impressed! Of course, I love to host friends and new acquaintances that I meet outside CS as well.

Last summer I had a very nice guest from Montreal who happens to be a great couchsurfer, too (and a friend :-) hi Marika!)

This August I had the privilege to host Jiyoung from Korea, who cooked jjajangmyeon for me and taught me some Korean while sharing interesting cultural facts and opinions.

Interests

I love so many things that they almost slip through my hands... how many beautiful things in this world, right? Among the best experiences I've had are the Camino de Santiago, the coast-to-coast crossing of England on foot in September 2013 and volunteering at an earthquake-stricken displaced camp in Emilia region in Italy. Actually, sharing good moments with others is what I like the most. It can be anything, really! From a chat to a meal, to an intense or adventurous experience, just watching a movie or reading together and whatnot.

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC

I'm always open to new music :-)

The albums I've been lately listening to the most are:
Into the Wild OST - Eddie Vedder
Spiegel Im Spiegel - Arvo Pärt
Songs - Anders Lewen
Lady's Bridge - Richard Hawley
Broken Little - Logosfabula - it's me! :D
Suite n.1 in G, BWV 1007 - J. S. Bach
High and Shy - Bordeaux
Songs - Christian Riga - my long time friend :D
Declaration of Dependence - Kings of Convenience
Tubular Bells II - Mike Oldfield
버스커 버스커 1집 - 버스커 버스커
앨범 정규 - 두번째 달
...

My all time favourite bands and singers:
Dead Can Dance (watched the gig: checked)
Cocteau Twins
The Pixies (watched the gig: checked)
Sigur Ros (watched the gig: checked)
Mike Oldfield
R.E.M. (watched the gig: checked)
Stevie Wonder
Living Colours (watched the gig: checked)
The Smiths
...

I also like easy listening music ('80s pop, '70s dance, etc.)

BOOKS

I just finished reading "Non Ora, Non Qui" by Erri De Luca. I'm currently reading "Famous Potatoes" by Joe Cottonwood. I'm interested in essays on Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing.

MOVIES

I love cinema the most. Generally speaking, I feel like it has been declining a lot recently, with only a handful good movies each year. Recent good movies I appreciated:

Tale of Tales - Matteo Garrone
Heimat IV - Edgar Reitz
The Salt of the Earth - Wim Wenders

Movies I watched more than any reasonable number of times...

Blade Runner - Ridley Scott
Akira - Katsuhiro Otomo
Until the End of The World - Wim Wenders
Adaptation - Spike Jonze
There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson
The Royal Tenenbaums - Wes Anderson
The Draughtsman's Contract - Peter Greenaway
Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki
Waking Life - Richard Linklater

All time favourite directors:

David Lynch, Kim Ki Duk, Mario Monicelli, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Abel Ferrara (not recently), Ermanno Olmi, Vittorio De Sica, Charles Chaplin, Sergio Leone, Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Alman, ...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I reached the Northern Sea on foot and by doing so I raised quite some funds for a children's charity. But of course, the most amazing things are yet to come :-)

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd love to teach Italian and improve my Korean, Spanish and English. :-)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share my couch, which is actually a couple of comfortable beds used as a couch. We can eat together if you like. I can cook Italian dishes, sushi-rolls and kimbap (thanks Jiyoung for teaching me more proper kimbaps)! Sometimes I let my guests use my own bedroom, because I might disturb them in the morning when I wake up earlier or I need to stay up late working or studying. I love cleanness, so I hope you too can appreciate it ^^. We can also watch movies together as I have a nice projector. Finally I can of course share some tips about my city, Venice, and show you around if time permits.

어서 오세요!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy