G'day, it's Nelson here

I'm an Australian student currently living in Milan for my semester abroad.
I've been in Europe since January and am planning to stay in Belgium or The Netherlands next semester to complete some research however that's not confirmed yet.
In the mean time, I've got a solid 2 months of travelling up my sleeve and and a travel itch that's been raging for a few years now.

I've lived in share houses for 4 years so the whole concept of respecting space is not foreign to me. Moreover my family always hosted foreign students when I was growing up so I've been exposed to passing through people's houses and the etiquette that goes with it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Most of my travelling will be solo, and as much as I value my solitude, it would be nice to not feel on the outer all the time. So from what I've heard, Couchsurfing has proven a great experience for friends that have done it previously because they've gotten to feel included whilst travelling alone. Hence I'd really like to interact with hosts and get that insight to a city/town/village that only locals have.

I've also got 2 months of freedom and am very keen on trying a new way to stay while travelling. Dingy hostels can only serve your needs to a certain point and there are only so many nights you can spend listening to drunken school leavers sing their football club song. I'd rather learn how to economise on travel more efficiently by staying on someone's couch.

Interests

Sections like this I always find hard to fill out because it's not like there is a specific sport or anything that I've spent years committed to (and writing 'trying new things' is too vague). One thing I can securely say I geek out over is language learning; for some reason foreign language and comparisons of their syntax and grammar and the like have always interested me and it's one of the few things I can sit down and spend hours poring over.

I study international studies and the things that interest me the most within that are global governance, urban development, and sociology broadly speaking. Needless to say I like to keep up to date with current affairs and have a general understanding of politics etc.

• writing
• literature
• singing
• cooking
• clubbing
• politics
• traveling
• music
• hiking
• sports
• soccer
• languages
• sociology
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I tend to start but not finish books, but the last one that really stuck with me was 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'. I'm currently reading '100 Years of Solitude'.

The last film I raved about was 'Before Sunrise' (late to the party, I know).

This is what I'm listening to currently: 'Pillow Talk' by Sylvia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DDaOyKzriA

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Ok so humble bragging can be hard, so I'll tell this story instead:
This one time recently some friends and I were holidaying in the Cinque Terre and it was pouring down rain the whole weekend, however we weren't deterred.
We wanted to make the most of our time there and hike between all the towns. So on this incredibly wet day we decided to do the steepest hike of all without a guide which turned out to be literally scaling a mounting with our hands and feet and then edging down the other side again. Actually pretty dangerous but it was very thrilling.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can speak English and French and my Italian is pretty ok so if you are interested in talking in/about other languages , I'm in.

Also always happy to compare life in different cities, what you like about yours, where you've been. Most of the point of my trying Couchsurfing is about meeting other people, so I'm curious to know about the hosts as well.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm not a great cook but I'm more than happy to help in the kitchen and clean up as well.

Hosts would be more than welcome to stay with me whenever they need, be it in Australia or wherever I'm living in Europe.

I would be more than happy to share musical tastes and show new music to anyone willing and lend any literature I have on hand if hosts are interested.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, France, Italy