CURRENT MISSION

First, do no harm.

ABOUT ME

I think the rest of my profile will tell you more about me than these few lines... I guess I am a rather quiet person, although I am not particularly shy. I open easily to people I feel I can trust. I like to laugh and say the truth. My friends and my pupils say I'm fun, and the others don't know me.

PHILOSOPHY

I have a passion for coherence. I always try to live my life with as much coherence as possible, adjusting my choices to my opinions, trying to see the biggest picture possible. It's hard, and I often fail! Therefore my second most important philosophy is: be nice to yourself, you're ok after all (applicable to others as well, of course).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm not as involved in the CS project as other CSers, but I have actually hosted a bunch of people over the last 3 years, mostly friends and friends of friends.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

All the people I know who either surfed or hosted have enjoyed the experience. My own experience has been really positive. I even won a few great friendships in the process! :D Overall I think it is one of the greatest things the Internet has made possible.

Interests

I'm involved in a feminist group as well as an animal rights group, and I really enjoy both these activities (to me they are "the same": shedding light on aspects of the world which people would prefer to ignore). I am vegan, so of course I love to cook (and eat). I am also really interested in nutrition, and alternative health care in general. Now, that may sound surprising but I am also interested in English grammar, and that's actually a big part of my PhD thesis. Hm, obviously I like to travel (but I try not to do it too much these days, as the environmental costs are too high), and I like books, and good TV series, and daily-life philosophy.

• animals
• fish
• books
• cooking
• vegan
• tv
• traveling
• fishing
• swimming

Music, Movies, and Books

Books, first, since they can never fail you: classic American and British authors (Austen, Dickens, Cather, Dahl, Orwell, Bradbury...), less classic ones (Amis - Kingsley and Martin - Barnes, Lodge, Eugenides, Palahniuk, Ellis...), French classic novels, modern philosophical works once in a while, and, oh, comics! French or American, usually. And vegan cookbooks and blogs. A lot of those! :D
Movies: a bit of everything good, but no blockbusters (except on long plane trips, they really come in handy then), I like modern films as well as oldies (just saw The Red Shoes this morning), I can't watch violent films and avoid films that don't pass the Bechdel test (google it!); on the whole I prefer films that start me thinking, feeling, doubting.
Music: I often say that I like pretty music, which to me means folk or interesting pop. To name names: Elliott Smith, Jens Lekman (love them both equally and faithfully), Herman Dune, Okkervil River, Au Revoir Simone, Nick Drake, The Beatles of course (especially that white piece of art of theirs), and probably many more.
Yeah, I have pretty mainstream tastes! ;)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was in Hong-Kong once, and I was visiting a temple where there was a pond full of white, yellow and orange fish, a pretty common type of fish I think, like carps (people who have been to Asia know what I'm talking about I think!). I was watching the fish swimming in the water, and all of a sudden one of them jumped out of the water and twirled beautifully for one second in the air before falling back in the water. That fish had no reason to do that, other than a desire to. I was struck by that thought and suddenly realized that there was much more to non-human animals than humans thought. To me it was a beautiful and amazing moment.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am not a genius cook, but I know my way around vegan cooking and nutrition, so I could teach you a trick or two in that area! I'd love to share that with anyone.
And basically I'm willing to learn almost anything that will help the world go a bit rounder (but if you could teach me how a computer works in the finer details, like, how it really WORKS, I would be really grateful!).

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom, United States

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