Hey! I'm Paolo.

I love monkeys, public transports, Internet and tons of other random things.
I'm from Tuscany, Italy, but after living in a few countries, traveling to many more, and meeting people from virtually everywhere I found my place in Berlin. During the winter I try to escape the European cold and visit warmer corners of the globe.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been on Couchsurfing since '08, but in spite of being into pretty much everything Couchsurfing stands for, I've never really used it.

I wish to start using it to meet people, to travel, and to welcome and host visitors...

The reason why I'm filling out my profile (once again), is because I'm traveling alone in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and wish to meet people to go have some adventures with.

Interests

Computers have been at the center of my interests since I was a child. I started coding when I was like 13 -I wished to become a video game developer at the time-, I got really into Linux, Open Source and multiple programming languages. I studied Computer Science at the university and worked for a few years for a couple of big corps. Right now I'm working on my own on Open Source software, dreaming to make a living out of it.

I love animals and wet places rich in vegetation. That's usually what drives my travels. I'd be down to give up technology to live with monkeys.

I also enjoy having philosophical discussions, especially about existentialism, contemporaneity and abstract ideas.

• animals
• piercings
• punk music
• computer science
• plants
• open source
• linux
• monkeys
• free software
• artificial intelligence
• unicycle
• software development
• bodymodification

Music, Movies, and Books

As a kid a was quite into Punk music and refused to listen to anything that was vaguely electronic. While growing up I managed to expand my musical interests and nowadays I like many kinds of techno music as well as rap and hip-hop, punk, 50's music etc.

I love mysterious movies (and animes, or even just stories) - I'm not talking about thrillers or detective movies, I'm talking about the wtf-is-going-on kind of mystery, the mystery that makes you wonder what's going on in that world. That's definitely my favorite genre by far.
I also enjoy psychological horrors, sci-fi, adventure, surreal movies and am ok with comedy, romance, action etc.

I really like trippy-art. Escher is the best, imaginary mindscapes are beautiful, computer generated stuff is awesome... My profile pictures should be a hint.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've done lots of crazy shit I'm very proud of, but can't think of a single one. Sorry.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach something about:
- programming
- riding a unicycle
- building simple stuff out of wood
- juggling 3 balls
- taking nice pictures with shitty phone cameras
- body modifications (just the theory, huh!)

I love to explain (or just talk about) how to turn a myriad of 1s and 0s into the realistic 3D worlds that you see on your monitor. How the physical reactions happening in your brain give birth to an intelligent creature and how complex processes emerge (or abstract) from simpler ones.

I'd love to learn new skills (please teach me to back flip or front flip from standing!) as well as theoretical models (how does the world economy work?) or contemporary history and politics.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I don't know :(
I'll think about it and will have something to say before begging somebody to host me.

Countries I’ve Visited

Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Italy, Switzerland