Hey there! My name is Mateus, I'm 22 years old and I am an International Relations undergraduate student. I was born in São Paulo, Brasil. My biggest passion in this life is getting to know new cultures, places and people! Actually, it was because of this passion that I started to study International Relations in the first place. After 3 years of course I got a scholarship to study abroad, in Paraguay, for one semester. After that I went for a big trip through Chile (41 days) with my girlfriend, Carol, that is also my partner for all the adventures that I have been through in these last 2 years We had such an amazing time and stayed with CS in almost all the cities that we have been to there (in Atacama was impossible hahaha)

Beside studying I do some volunteer work at Amnesty International. There I work with Human Right's themes and try to make a difference in the political and social brazilian context.

Nowadays I am looking forward to go to Spain and getting to know Santander, Bilbao and other cities. Actually, I got a scholarship for a program developed by Fundacion Botin. So I will have 1 week off before starting the program (09.10) in Santander.

Español

Hola que tal? Mi nombre es Mateus tengo 22 años y soy estudiante de relaciones Internacionales. Yo nací en São Paulo, pero actualmente estoy viviendo en Franca por los estudios.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am using Couchsurfing because I think it is the perfect fit to experience two things that I love: travelling and getting to know new people. Moreover, in my opinion, travelling to a country without getting to know its people it isn't really getting the full experience! At last, Couchsurfing promotes values that are important in our world, such as trust, cooperation, dialogue, generosity and many others that goes against all the selfish and segregator behavior that unfortunately has been the "standard" nowadays.

Interests

As mentioned before, travelling is one of my biggest interests. But another passion that I have is music. I love playing the guitar and listening to all sorts of music! Nowadays I am really into Jazz and Soul, but I do like Bossa Nova, Electronic, Pop, Classical, Rock and many others.

Another stuff important about me is that I am a foodie and a vegetarian!! It is been almost a year since I stopped eating meat and started discovering heaps of different and tasty dishes :D

Moreover, I am also really into sports. love playing football - yeah, really cliche for a brazillian haha - climbing, cycling etc and watching sports such as basketball, volleyball and again, football.

• culture
• music
• sports
• extreme sports
• cultural immersion
• food
• vegetarianism
• different cultures

Music, Movies, and Books

I guess it is really hard for me to define my favorite things, but I can indicate songs, movies and books that I really loved.

Music:

As I mentioned, I like a lot of different styles of music, but nowadays I am really into Jazz and Soul. Snarky Puppy, Jacob Colier, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding are examples of what I have been currently listening. Also, during my exchange I started listening to latin groups like Perota Chingo, Buena Vista Social Club, Orishas and stuff. Moreover, I really love pop and funk music such as Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Prince etc. Lastly, brazillian songs amaze me, stuff like Chico Buarque, Tom Jobim, 5 a Seco and others.

Movies:

El secreto de sus ojos, Inception, What the Health, Forest Gump, The Godfather, Lion, Captain Fantastic.

Books:

Notes from underground (Dostoyevsky), Cards on the table (Agatha Christie) Hamlet e o filho do padeiro (Augusto Boal), The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini), Hiroshima (John Hersey), As veias abertas da América Latina (Eduardo Galeano).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I think that bungeejumpying and skydiving were pretty cool things that I've done :D hahaha Also, my two exchanges (one to New Zealand and other to Paraguay) and a big trip through Chile!

Teach, Learn, Share

I think that I can offer an interesting cultural exchange! For sure it will be from a brazilian perspective but as well from someone that had the opportunity to leave in two other countries (New Zealand and Paraguay) and therefore knows something about this other cultures.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I guess that I can also offer my musical ability (if the host has a guitar hahaha) and english/spanish/portuguese/french (this last one I have the intermediate level) "clases" (that is, conversations in those languages).

Taking into account more practical stuff, I can help with cooking, cleaning, gardening and heaps of others things!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Paraguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, New Zealand, Paraguay