Disclaimer

❗️To ensure that our interactions are meaningful and respectful, I kindly request the following:

- Please refrain from sending friendship requests if we haven't had any prior interaction
- Couchsurfing isn't a dating app. Please respect my boundaries and intentions for using this platform
- When contacting me, please include a clear statement of your reason for reaching out and the type of connection you're seeking, instead of just a random and generic "hello". This helps us start our conversation on the right foot and ensures we share similar expectations❗️
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About me

I'm a work-in-progress person, always learning to be an understanding and respectful member of my community. And yes, also this CS profile is WIP :P

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Hosting

Not yet organized to host. At the moment I might only offer to split my king size bed in case of urgent situations (hence only accepting women or vulnerable people). As I'm often out, my flat is not spotless.. and you'll for sure see a couple of spider webs when looking up, as my animal advocate friend once made me feel super guilty about spiders dying from sadness when separated from their webs - the good thing is that the ceiling in my flat is very high so it's extremely unlikely you'll be bothered by these sensitive creatures 😅

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love the concept of traveling interacting with locals and sharing skills and experiences. Besides, I've been raised not to trust people, and sometimes I'm a bit too aware about the cruelty and selfishness in this world.. Couchsurfing is a gift I treat myself with, when I need to see the beauty, kindness and warmth in human beings :)

Interests

• civil rights
• human rights
• politics
• board games
• science
• volunteering
• nature
• mindfulness
• intersectional feminism
• science-based sustainability

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm a book lover, I especially listen to the audible versions.

I value the opportunity to expose ourselves to different point of views and interpretations. Not all of these suggestions fully represent my opinion about the topic but have contributed creating an inner conversation, as I find that challenging my certainties and prejudices is paramount for growth.

Some books and podcasts advice on my interests:

Intersectional feminism
Novels
- Génie la folle (Inès Cagnati)
- Le Bal des Folles, (Victoria Mas)
- La casa de los espíritus (Isabel Allende)
Curious how recurrent the "madness" element is! ;)
Nonfiction
- We should all be feminists (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
- Feminism is for Everybody (Bell Hooks)
- The ethical slut (Dossie Easton Janet Hardy)
- Per soli uomini (Emanuela Grigliè Guido Romeo) --- as I'm writing, no translations are available, which is a pity as it's an incredible review on how information is based on white male-centric data (e.g. AI, drug trials, car safety tests, etc)

Purpose, Mindfulness, Mental health
Novels
- Succede sempre qualcosa di meraviglioso (Gianluca Gotto)
Nonfiction
- Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (Francesc Miralles Hector Garcia)
- Shinrin Yoku (Annette Lavrijsen)
- Prendila con filosofia: manuale di fioritura personale (Maura Gancitano, Andrea Colamedici) --- beautiful workbook journey, translations available :)

Science (nonfiction):
Not sure if translations are available - Anything of
- Dr. Dario Bressanini --- mostly focused on fake news and hot topics around food, science-based recipes
- Dr. Beatrice Mautino --- mostly focused on cosmetics and science-based sustainability
- Piero Angela --- lots of different topics, I specifically recommend "Ti amerò per sempre", about the science of love
- Dr. Roberta Villa --- medicine
- Dr. Edoardo Mocini --- nutrition and fatphobia

Travel the world through books:
Novels
- Half of a yellow sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
- Born a crime: stories from a South African Childhood (Travor Noah)
- Reading Lolita in Theran (Azar Nafisi)
- World Cup wishes (Eshkol Nevo)
- The vegetarian (Han Kang)
- Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
- The last queen (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)
Nonfiction
Not sure if translations are available - Anything of:
- Giada Messetti --- China
- Francesco Costa --- USA

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm not an adventurous person, so here are a few things that seem incredible to me, in some cases depending on the effort required to step out of my super cozy comfort zone:

- I covered a 3months maternity leave in the Philippines in a role I wasn't prepared for. It was a very hard experience but I also got to meet lovely people and most of all 2 of my best friends.

- Attended a Thai funeral and travelled through a part of Thailand with my grieving friend in the following days, adding some stops in very significant places for her. The occasion was of course extremely sad, but it was a humbling experience to witness how death is approached and lived in such a different culture compared to mine.

-In 2023 I volunteered for 3,5 days during the Festival of Contemporary Thinking in my town: I got home only for 7h sleep a day and met some of the most important personalities of the contemporary Italian culture (writers, philosophers, scientists, comedians, musicians, journalists, educators, activitsts etc) as well as wonderful warm-hearted young volunteers full of energy. It was one of the best experiences of my life as I could practice kindness with thousands of strangers for a very full and hectic long weekend. It was the first edition and for sure I'll repeat it this year!

- Ended up enjoying a 4 days yoga retreat in a beautiful place immersed in nature just with the property owner and the yoga teacher. They had previously decided to cancel the planned group event due to uncertain weather, but I asked if I could attend anyway and they agreed.. the weather turned out to be mostly lovely and I even got to stay in the full property alone for 24h.. which is a dream for an introvert like me!

- Planned a whole long weekend trip to South Italy just to see a Gospel Choir concert with more than 300 members

- Spent a holiday week in Tuscany in a priest's apartment (he's a relative on my mother's side). I basically had breakfast on the terrace where the main rose window of the church was, hearing the Mass downstairs, and walking in my pajamas through the room where the Mass preparation was happening because it was the only way to reach the kitchen from my bedroom 😅

What I Can Share with Hosts

-Healthy homemade dishes
-In case of choking children I can help with first aid --- free trainings are available all over EU, I recommend following one

Countries I’ve Visited

Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, Philippines