CURRENT MISSION
Discovering the world and meeting new people, live my life to the fullest and write a book about it one day.

ABOUT ME
I love discovering new places and listening to other people talking about their lives, their adventures and their projects. For me, trying to know each other and to understand different cultures is the key to living a better life, maybe even a key to make this world a better place.
When I travel, I like to be at ease with my planning, usually I have an overall vision of what I'd like to do but I'm always very flexible and open to changes. My experience is that the best moments just happen unexpectedly, all you have to do is open your eyes and ears and be ready to welcome what comes.

PHILOSOPHY

"You can't ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event." – 500 days of summer

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier." – Mother Teresa

"On n'est pas des sauvages ici en haut, ou quoi." – Arno Camenisch

"L'amour vrai ne serait-il pas d'aimer ce qui nous est irrémédiablement différent ?" – Sylvain Tesson

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn…" – Jack Kerouac

"Nel cuore di ogni uomo c'è un desiderio di una battaglia da combattere, un'avventura da vivere, una bellezza da salvare." – Roberto Saviano

"Where else could you belong, except in the place you refused to leave ?" – Amitav Ghosh

Interests

Exploring new countries and experiencing new cultures, collecting memories, reading (French literature, more specifically Apollinaire and Vian), creative writing, getting to know new people, their approach to life, cooking (Italian food !), eating, sleeping, movies, swimming, fitness, outdoor. I love mountains ! I love learning new languages ! Actually working on learning romansh, the 4th national language of Switzerland. Let you know when I finish…

• writing
• literature
• dining
• italian food
• cooking
• walking
• movies
• reading
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• swimming
• mountains
• harmonica

Music, Movies, and Books

Films : 500 days of summer, Into the Wild, Generazione 1000 euro, Departures, Away We Go, Stranger Than Fiction

Music : oh boy this could take a while… but let's try to name at least some of it – Mes Aïeux, Les Cowboys Fringants, The Lumineers, BB Brunes, Of Monsters and Men, Mark Knopfler, Suarez, Thomas Dutronc, Ben L'Oncle Soul, Gaëtan Roussel, Jovanotti, The Smiths, Noah and The Whale, The Script, Mumford and Sons, and many, many, many more.

Literature : Guillaume Apollinaire, Boris Vian, Sylvain Tesson, Arno Camenisch, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Romain Gary, Amitav Gosh, Szczepan Twardoch

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Breath-taking views in the Rocky Mountains

Being the first white man to explore some Chinese ethnic villages in hilly western China

Dancing all night long at a Serbian Trumpet Festival in Guca

Winning a hitchhiking race from Yverdon, Switzerland, to Athens, Greece

Working on a farm in the Swiss Alps and starting my days by feeding baby cows with milk – the best job I've ever done !

Managing to prepare myself in one hour for an unexpected trip to New York, transit to the airport included (forgot pants)

Observing whales in northern Québec, they're amazing creatures !

Painting on the walls in one of Rio de Janeiro's "difficult" districts with a group of amazing social workers

Managing to travel 60 km on reserve fuel in the Andes, looking for a gas station (OK, this was a close one)

Teach, Learn, Share

Uhh difficult question… I guess I always have the attitude to learn, rather than to teach. Openness maybe ? Plus I like to share stories and jokes. Or anything you'd like to learn in French or Romansh.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I live in a studio flat situated in the heart of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland’s biggest bilingual city (Swiss German and French). You can sleep at my place and if I’m not working, I will be most happy to show you my beautiful city, the old square, the lakeside and some great bars. I love my region and have a lot of stories and ideas how to let you feel its spirit :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, Mauritius, Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Réunion, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Poland, Switzerland