CURRENT MISSION

Seeing the world from every possible angle, improving my Russian and German language skills

ABOUT ME

I spent 5 years as a boy in Brazil, and since them contracted an incurable form of dromomania ('passion for traveling' in Greek). I had the dream to visit each European country before turning 40, which I fulfilled last year (after waiting 1 month for a Belarusian visa). I love learning other languages, foreign cultures, casual and unplanned encounters on Russian long-distance trains. I can travel solo or with friends, but always with a light baggage and a flexible plan.

I am a relatively quiet person, more of a listener than a talker, it takes some time before you fully get to know me. I am naturally optimistic and joyful, as life has been extremely generous to me. I like to share what I have with others.

I can fit in virtually any company, as I am flexible and willing to adapt to others' needs.

I can spend an entire evening talking, and remember the content of the conversations years after the event.

PHILOSOPHY

"As a parent, what lessons of life you would want your children to learn?"

"Let them know that it is not possible to force someone to love them; All, that they can do, is to allow themselves to be loved.

Let them know that it is not good to compare oneself with others. Let them understand that is rich not who has more, but the one who needs less.

Let them learn to pardon. Let them know, to forgive each other is insufficient. It is necessary to also forgive oneself..."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting whenever and wherever I can

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

HOSTED IN MILAN
- Sept 5, 2009: Agata Kaminska (PL) & Simon (DE)
- Sept 9, 2009: Nico Gutierrez Wenhammar (MX)
- Sept 18-20, 2009: Klara Bru & Lukas (CZ)
- Oct 8-11, 2009: Zuzana Durajova (SK) & Marek (CZ)
- Oct 31-Nov 3, 2009: Lucia Vondraskova & Tomas (SK)
- Nov 6-8, 2009: Elitsa Stoilova & Ivan & Nadya (BG)
- Nov 10-13, 2009: Lasma Čerņika & Alise Rokzalne (LV)
- Feb 19, 2010: Victor Vorobyev & Alena Karzunina (RU)

HOSTED IN MUNICH
- Aug 5-7, 2010: Simone Heinzelmann (DE)
- Aug 15-22, 2010: Stefania Teodonio (IT) & family
- Oct 1-4, 2010: Graziela Alvarenga, Lilian Laa, Magali (BR)
- Oct 12-15, 2010: Mike Covi (RU)
- Dec 11, 2010: Markus (CH) & Olya (RU)
- Feb 17-19, 2011: Rafael (BR) & Željana (YU)
- Mar 3, 2011: Neli Chakharova (BG) & Bastian (DE)
- May 26-28, 2011: Nicolas Synnott & Chloe (CA)
- Jun 10-13, 2011: Rainbow Ani (AT) & Berthold Maier (DE)
- Jun 21-23, 2011: Fernando Regalado & Andrea (AR)
- Jul 14-17, 2011: Luna Leung (HK)
- Jul 19-20, 2011: Maria Jose Gallego (ES)
- Jul 26-29, 2011: Tanja & Sandra Choinovski (DE)
- Aug 4-9, 2011: Mina & Leila Madani (US)
- Sep 12, 2011 Rio Kong (ML)
- Sep 16-18, 2011 Lauren Shumaker & Matt (US)
- Sep 19-20, 2011 Mariya Siomina & Zhenya & Victor (BY)
- Sep 28-29, 2011 Duckula & Nancy Wang (CN)
- Oct 2, 2011 Xinge Yang (CN)
- Dec 1, 2011: Rainbow Ani (AT)
- Dec 20, 2011: Emma Engers & Adam H. Golding (ZA)
- Dec 21, 2011: Gloria from Turin (IT)
- Jan 1, 2012: Alex Vasilyev & Lena (BY)
- Feb 3-4, 2012: Adam Phillips (US) & Natalia (RU)
- Feb 9-11, 2012: Lukasz Purgal & Maja (PL)
- Feb 17-19, 2012: Stephanie D. (US) & Vitor (PT)
- Feb 17-19, 2012: Yexin Yiang (CN) & friend
- Sep 3, 2012: Mina Madani (US)
- Dec 18-19, 2012: Alena & Grigory (RU)
- Feb 22-23, 2013: Emese Csato & Benji (HU)
- Jun 22-24, 2013: Anastasia Afanasyeva (RU)
- Jul 5-6, 2013: Caroline Kuhn & Ana Paula (BR)
- Sep 17-18, 2013: Olga (RU) & Victor (ES)

SURFED
- Aug 29, 2013: Luna Leung (HK)

Interests

traveling (above all things), learning new languages and different cultures (I am naturally curious and interested in other cultures), listening to music, reading (poetry, travel books, novels), watching movies, mixing with other people, photography (unfortunately I'm very bad at it), losing hours of sleep (provided I'm in the right company), waking up very late in the morning, food (ANY food, possibly from the place I'm in at the moment), alcohol in moderate quantities and in good company, geography and history, airplanes, trains, river boats, consuming my shoe soles walking, reading maps, personal computers and the internet, filling the iPod up to the last megabyte with exotic music, taking casual notes on a Moleskine notebook when I travel, watching the sunrise and sunset, sitting by the fire and looking at the stars ("there are three things you would never stop looking at: fire burning, water flowing and other people working").

• books
• poetry
• photography
• dining
• running
• walking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cartography
• geography
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

MOVIES: I'm heavily addicted, just to name some of the most recent ones: "Two Lovers", "The Duchess", "Twilight", "Seven Pounds", "Once", "12", "Into the Wild", "Lust, Caution", "In the mood for love", Kieslowski (ANY), Kusturica (ANY)

BOOKS: poetry, travel books (most recent: Tiziano Terzani, Paolo Rumiz, "Canton Express", "Berlin-Moskau. Eine Reise zu Fuß", "Deutschland, Eine Reise", Bruce Chatwin), books on Bosnia, anything written by Mario Calabresi and my friend Fabio Geda

MUSIC: Italian (Elisa, Ligabue, De André, De Gregori), Brazilian (Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Maria Bethania), Latin (Santana, Manà , Juanes, Shakira), Balkan (Zabranjeno Pusenje, Goran Bregovic, Bijelo Dugme, Crvena Jabuka), Russian (DDT, Splin, Kino, Chayf, Zemfira), Belarussian & Ukrainian (Lyapis Trubetskoy, Bi-2, Okean Elzi), French & Belgian (JJ Goldman, Brel), German (Wir Sind Helden, Juni), English speaking (Dylan, U2, Dire Straits, Neil Young, Eric Clapton) ... am I forgetting something?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Embarking on a Trans-Siberian trip from Moscow to Irkutsk with very limited initial knowledge of Russian ... managing to meet lots of interesting people (none of which spoke a single word of English) ... ending the trip being able to articulate a decent conversation in Russian!

Teach, Learn, Share

"So what is the smell of summer like? And what is the sound of your heart when you're running? And what is to be fearless like? And what is to have nothing in mind but plenty of space? Teach me again! Teach me again! Please, please if you can ..."

(Elisa, Teach me again)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, France, Germany, Italy

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