CURRENT MISSION

profiter, partager, pédaler...

ABOUT ME

I spend much of my free time cycling quite far. I've volunteered at various bike recycling projects so am skilled up on fixing bikes and happy to help others get back on 2 wheels. I love living for free and enjoying simple pleasures, such as fruit and mushroom foraging as well as skip diving.
I'm Northern Irish, but have been living away for the past 12 years, in England and France.

PHILOSOPHY

I live my life for that euphoric feeling I get when rushing down hills on my bike with no heed for the brakes. I got the same feeling the one time I went skiing. But deeper than the pure adrenaline rush, I guess it's got something to do with being outside, feeling fully alive, engaged and connected to others and your surroundings.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My 3 housemates and I can usually host people at our house outside Valence. We live 6km from the city centre, in the countryside, and there's no real public transport to get to our place. So you need to have your own wheels to get here. Also my parents and I are happy to welcome people in Omagh, N. Ireland, if I happen to be around at the time (during the summer).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I surfed in Paris when I first arrived and hosted a couple of people at my parents' home in Omagh. I also hosted cyclists in Paris through warmshowers. On a trip to Canada and the US in 2011 I was hosted by many wonderful people.

Interests

Cycling as a serious form of transport, cycling for fun, cycling down hills really fast, pulling apart bikes, putting them together again..but apart from cycling: yoga, reading, writing, painting, drawing, playing piano, guitar, tin whistle, singing, learning languages (Russian, Irish), cooking delicious vegetarian food.

• writing
• literature
• singing
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• yoga
• crafts
• reading
• crochet
• painting
• drawing
• music
• guitar
• piano
• cycling
• scuba diving
• skiing
• languages
• hitchhiking
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

After studying French, I feel I've fallen behind on English literature, but the French authors I enjoy most are Proust, Diderot, Voltaire, Zola, Perec...
In English, I enjoy A.S Byatt, as well as Orwell, D.H Lawerence and Dostoevsky (life ambition: be able to read him one day in Russian).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Absailing down a waterfall in Uganda.
Hitchhiking solo from Montreal to Pittsburgh in January (@-30 c!)

Teach, Learn, Share

Languages: fluent in English and French, learning Russian and Irish
Music: piano, guitar, tin whistle, singing
Bike Mechanics
Crochet, bike crafts

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Canada, China, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar, Netherlands, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom

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