A year and a bit ago I finished my bachelor in politics and sociology at the University of Kent :) after that I left for a year and traveled around Asia for bit. First I was working in Bangkok for a bit, and then I decided to move around and go see what other regions of South East Asia had to offer. I went and did some WWOOFing in Taiwan which was incredible, spent quite some time discovering Hong Kong as well and finished off by doing a 12 day trip from North to South of China (on the Western part) which was incredible!!!
Now I am back to real life though, starting a masters in Intercultural Relations and International Cooperation in Lille. I am eager to start and discover Lille as well!

I also think it is very important to have a passion in life, it is often a drive, a motivation for the rest! My passions are sailing, traveling, trying out new things, and nature :)
In the future I think I would be very interested in working in building ecotourist sites all around the world, where the community is sustainable and based on local culture and knowledge.
My dream is to do something like this: http://intiecolodge.com/
What's yours?!

I found this quote by Stuart Hill that totally describes me:
'‘They are people who belong to more than one world, speak more than one language (literally and metaphorically), inhabit more than one identity, have more than one home; who have learned to negotiate and translate between cultures, and who, because they are irrevocably the product of several interlocking histories and cultures, have learned to live with, and indeed to speak from, difference. They speak from the “in-between” of different cultures, always unsettling the assumptions of one culture from the perspective of another, and thus finding ways of being both the same as and at the same time different from the other amongst whom they live.”

We have so much to learn from each other, we just need to open up our eyes and check out what's around us! xxxxxx

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm on couch surfing because I was recently traveling around South East Asia for a year, and I met so many people telling me great things about couch surfing!
Unfortunately I haven't been able to try it out myself as I was already at the end of my trip and the opportunity to do some couch surfing did not arise.
However now that I am back in France (for two years normally) and that I have a couch and extra beds in my flat, I thought it would be the ideal time to host people from all over the world and show them around my city!

Interests

I love live music, walking around and discovering incongruous little streets, with crazy art, trying out weird or funky food, meeting new people, digging for little trendy/underground bars/coffee shops and chilling in them. I'm also into sailing, yoga, swimming, going on long walks, languages, and I absolutely love being in contact with nature (yes, you might say I'm a bit of a hippie at heart ;))
I love both the sea and the mountains, i find nature very rejuvenating, but the city can also be fun to hang around and meet cool people!
I am always interested to learn new things and I am veryyyyy curious about different cultures, so come as you are! I'm sure we'll have lots of things to share ;)

• arts
• culture
• dining
• coffee
• yoga
• meditation
• walking
• politics
• traveling
• music
• live music
• surfing
• sailing
• swimming
• languages
• religion
• sociology
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

There are so many!!

Books: 1984 - G. Orwell; Crime and Punishment - F.Dostoyevsky; Les Gens - P. Labro; L'elegance du Herisson - M. Barbery; Harry Potter - JK. Rowling; ...

Movies: all of Wes Anderson's; Thelma and Louise; Kubrick's; Leon; The Pursuit of Happyness; Cohen Brothers; Tarantino; Garden State; Good morning Vietnam; Good night and Good luck; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; American Beauty; Into the Wild; Napoleon Dynamite; The Hurricane; Twister; Fight Club; Shawshank Redemption; Mona Lisa Smile; Dead Poet Society; Erin Brockovich; The Imitation Game; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; Little Miss Sunshine; Rushmore

Music: I am interested in various different genres; whether it is the Strokes, Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Fugees, Amy Whinehouse, Gramatik, Parov Stelar, AC/DC, Alain Souchon, Arctic Monkeys, Aretha Franklin, Of Monsters and Men, the Beatles, David Bowie, Dido, Nicolas Jaar, Tchami, Gorillaz...
I absolutely love to groove to some 80's funk tunes!! And I am also a house/deep house/garage lover when it comes to going out :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Joined couchsurfing!! ;)

I think the most incredible thing I've done (it's for sure in the top 5) is going to a meditation retreat for 10 days in Hong Kong, to learn the practice of Vipassana meditation. For 10 days, we were not allowed to talk to each other and the only thing we did was meditate 10 hours per day. It was very difficult at first, having to sit there 10 hours per day, especially as my body was not used to that. However, every minute that I suffered was definitely worth it as it taught me so many incredible life lessons that are applicable every day so as to not get too sucked into and stressed by the fast tempo of life. To just take a minute to enjoy life! ✌️
I'm not a preacher, (especially as it is not a religion, it is a philosophy of life) however I highly recommend it! Go check it out at ----> dhamma.org
May all beings be HAPPY ✌️

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, China, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Macao, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States