Why I'm on Couchsurfing
HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
I heard about this beautiful project in February 2008 by an ex-colleage when I was planning my trip to the West Canadian. Then I subscribed myself 4 months later, in June. My first CS meeting was in July in Calgary. In this cowboy city, I met my first CS friend (Mark Lewis) and experienced for the first time by surfing a couch @ Mark Hopkins's appartment.
I went back to MTL in September 2008. My first event with MTL community was the BBQ Party @ Andres's appart. Since, I get involved in many events and activities in MTL. Here are a few events that I have organized myself or with other CS friends:
YEAR 2009
February: Celebrating the Chinese/Vietnamese New Year
March: Badminton & PingPong Sport Group
September: Sushi Night (with Sebastien Chion)
September: Camping @Mont Sainte-Anne (help in planning)
October: Tapas & Cocktail (with Seb C. again for our 2 birthdays)
November: Invasion in Rimouski (with other CSers)
November: CSE (CouchSurfing Explorateurs) has been founded
November: CSE 1st edition = about CHINA (by Carlos Mateu)
December: CSE 2nd edition = about ROMANIA (by Marjorie)
YEAR 2010
January: I founded a volleyball team called "Les Canapés Sauteurs"
January: CSE 3rd edition = about INDIA (by Marie&Thomas)
February: CSE 4th edition = about WESTERN CANADA (by Sébastien Chion)
April: CSE 5th edition = about AUSTRALIA (by Christian Héroux)
May, June, July: (Break - Health problem)
August, September: (Break - Work like crazy!)
October: CSE 6th edition = about MEXICO (by Alex)
November: CSE 7th edition = about SCOTLAND (by Jérémie Vachon)
December: CSE 8th edition = Sinterklaas in Netherlands (by Leonie)
YEAR 2011
February: 5th SNOWBALL GATHERING EVENT IN MTL
March: Food + Fire = Fun @KOBE Restaurant
March: 9th CSE = L'Europe (Paris-Istanbul) en Vélo (by Pierre-Olivier)
April: 10th CSE = Le Japon (by Pascal D., Isabelle & Serge) with a sushi workshop beforehand
May: 11th CSE = La Malaisie (by Alex Agassian)
Upcoming events or activities that I want to realize soon:
-Spring Rolls or Sushi Evening
-Karaoke Night
-Cranium or Poker Evening
-Chess
-Guitare
-Skill Exchange Workshop
-Camping
-"Sex Opposite" Party
-etc. etc.
COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
Since I discovered this site, I love it! This is really a good way to meet people locally and around the world...
HOSTED @my place:
-David Cammaerts(BELGIQUE) 2008
-Todd (Ontario, CA) 2008
-Martin Poirier (Rimouski, CA) 2009
-Simon (Sherbrooke, CA) 2009
-Wilfried (FRANCE) 2010
-Benjamin (FRANCE) 2010
-James Taylor (AUSTRALIA) 2010
-Jean-Sebastien Bolduc (Beauce, CA) 2010
-Heinrich (GERMANY) 2011
-Sabine Dietz (GERMANY) 2011
-Vincent Germain (Montreal, CA) 2011
-Catherine (New York, USA) 2011
-Hanh and Ngan Nguyen (Ottawa, CA) 2011
SURFED @:
-Mark Hopkins & Danielle (Calgary, CA) 2008
-Léon & Valérie (Québec, CA) 2008
-Sébastien (Sherbrooke, CA) 2008
-Jérémie Vachon & Sébastien C. (Sherbrooke, CA) 2008
-Simon Gauvin (Québec, CA) 2009
-Martin Poirier (Rimouski, CA) 2009
-Wilfried (Halifax, CA) 2009
-Jean-Sébastien Bolduc (Beauce, CA) 2010
-Xavier Vachon (Jonquière, CA) 2010
-Éric Bergeron (Chicoutimi, CA) 2010
-Jérôme (Québec, CA) 2010
-Christian (Montréal, CA) 2010
-Adam Han (Ottawa, CA) 2010
-Chloé (Toronto, CA) 2010
-Christian Perron (Lac Mégantic, CA) 2011
-Alain Lanthier (Montréal, Festival Nuit Blanche) 2011
-Erdi (Ottawa, CA) 2011
-Dan (Dawson City, Yukon, CA) 2011
-Hanh (Ottawa, CA)2012
- Amsterdam, holland
-Istanbul, Turquie
- Selcuk, Turquie
-Marmaris, Turquie
- Gorem,Turquie
So far, my CS experience is pretty good. I'm happy to make some new friends. Everytime I meet a new CSer, it's a new experience for me. In general, people are nice and generous to me. BUT, it happened 3 experiences in which I was NOT comfortable.
After 4 years knowing and actively participating among the CS community, I realize that CS world is like any other world: there are always Good, Bad and "Weird" people.
I had a weird experience with a CSer but he was ok afterwards so I left a positive reference to him (he likes to be naked and asks people to do so but I refused). Few months later, I met another guy who at first was very nice then turned vinaiger by being very selfish and he stealed my money. So I left a negative reference to him in order to protect other CSers, especially girls newbies. (But apparently, some newbies girls are so naives that they kept surfed at his place. Some girls are kind of stupid you know, they dont read references left by people). My third bad experience was with Mister Yan Gourves, which everybody know him, particularly in Montreal and Québec. Because he has a big mouth and likes to control everything and everyone. It happened many times that he yeld at me or pissed me off just because I organized an event which happen at the same time to another one. That's really ridiculous. When I set up my CSE event which he was not happy with the date and time, he kept ringing, phoning and texting me until 3AM!! He's really a "freak control" for sure!
In short, after 4 years having met and chatted with M-A-N-Y people, I realized in some way that the profile is not necessary what and how the person is in real life. So when you read a profile, you have some expectations about that person. Then when you meet him/her, you might be very surprised (in both ways positive & negative!!) So watch out! CS world is a jungle like everywhere... LoL
