CURRENT MISSION

Share what you know, learn what you don't

ABOUT ME

I am a 24 year old French student living in Kyoto.

I was born in south east of France, and lived there until I started studying about aircraft engineering in Toulouse, but turned to specialise in computer science. I started working after graduation, and then quitted and came for 4 years in Japan. I am now in Kyoto, on a Ph.D. in computer science.

I keep from my past 3 passions: aeronautics, computer science and cultures/languages.

I am interested in understanding more the links between cultures and languages. So I am always eager to have basics in any language for maybe understanding the culture in the end. I am really passionate about learning foreign languages, although I am not sure I speak correct French...

My only regret about life is that I will not have enough time for mastering all the languages I love. But I am trying to use the time I have for it anyway.

PHILOSOPHY

Keep looking forward, this point far far away... But keep looking around you twice more often. In a word, keep dreaming, keep a goal in future. But do not forget to enjoy present time, it's the only way I found to slow time down...

Make food not war

I also keep this one from Konrad: "Move your ass and you mind will follow"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I was about to travel to Korea with Jean-Baptiste, when he told me about Couchsurfing, and recommended me to subscribe. I did and left for Korea, where we were hosted, and guided by really nice people who could sometimes show us around, and the country looked much warmer.

Meeting people and share experiences about travelling, about living abroad, is way more ingratiating than reading your freshly bought Lonely Planet.

Back in Kyoto, I welcomed several people, brought them to discover local food (it's a good excuse for me to go and have yummy food too), and also rediscovered Kyoto with them.

Sometimes, we also organised some dinners with Kyoto CS community and have good time exchanging about our experience about Japan, about CS, and also having fun around a glass of bier, a meal or going to karaoke.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Started in December 2007

I lost the count, but here are some reliable info...

Countries where I surfed: Cambodia , Hong Kong , Korea , Thailand , Vietnam , US
Last experience: Aaron, in Pasadena

I hosted people from: (lost the count)
Last experience: Valerie, from the US

People I met several times:
- Seung Hee from Korea,
- Su Ann from Malaysia (in Thailand),
- Patrick from Canada (in Korea),
- Aires from Hong Kong

Interests

I am always eager to discover new countries, new cultures, through music, art, cooking, language etc. I think every aspect is a good approach to a culture, and the more aspect you see, the better you understand the people.

I am reading quite a lot, but not as much as I would like to. I happen to write sometimes, but not as much as I would like to.

I am interested in computer science, which is my research topic. I can talk more in details about it if you want to, but it's an option. I like also photography and yoga.

• arts
• culture
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• yoga
• aviation
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• karaoke
• computer science
• engineering
• languages
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

OK this profile is getting stupidly long...

I particularly like world music, that also show the culture of a country, in its own way. Then, I appreciate Jazz music.

I listened a lot to Paul Simon's music. It may come from my father who had a lot of records from him. I particularly like the album Graceland, that involves many South African artists. The disc was recorded in 1986 before the end of the Apartheid and raised many reactions. (more...) Miriam Makeba performed on stage with Paul Simon. I like her Click song she sings in Xhosa, this language from South Africa, characterised with the prominence of click consonants.

Mark Knopfler, the former lead guitarist of the group Dire Straits, who continued recording his own disks under his name after Dire Straits last album. I particularly like Sailing to Philadelphia

After her marriage with Salvador Poe, the Swedish Lisa Ekdahl published an album with him. A close friend of mine lent me that disk, I liked it a lot and started to search about other music by her. She also recorded quite some songs in Swedish.

Lisa Ono is a half Japanese, half Brazilian bossa-nova singer. Caetano Veloso is a Brazilian composer and singer, with a very particular voice. I really like Capullito de alheli.

If you already seen Spirited away (Chihiro), Princess Mononoke, or any other Studio Ghibli animation movie, you probably heard music composed by Jô Hisaishi. This composer worked a lot with Hayao Miyazaki and Takeshi Kitano.

My favourite movie by Studio Ghibli is not very famous. The Japanese name is 耳をすませば, meaning "if you listen carefully". I enjoyed also Babel, whose subtitle is in one word: "Listen". I once met a girl from China who told me that we have two ears but only one mouth, so we should listen to people twice as much as we speak. I try to keep that rule in my daily life...

Then among movies which moved me: 誰も知らない (Nobody knows), 빈집 (3-iron), Goodbye Lenin, Das Leben der Anderen, Hotel Rwanda, Va vis et deviens, Volver

Concerning books, I have been collecting translation of Le petit prince (St Exupéry) from all over the world.

I am fond of novels by Haruki Murakami. I also had a very good time reading novels by Shan Sa (La joueuse de go, Impératrice), Gabriel García Marquez (Cien años de soledad), Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy), Marc Levy, Didier van Cauwelaert and Amin Maalouf (Samarcande).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I am sorry: I forgot!

Each time I did one, I thought in the end that it was not that amazing, and started thinking about the next amazing thing to achieve...

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Austria, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Japan

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