Friends call me Gilly or Beans, I’m originally from Cuba and I’ve been living a bit everywhere for the past 12 years of my life. By now I have no country and home is wherever me and/or my (>50) house plants sleep and where my friends live.

I’m currently doing a PhD in molecular biology in Manchester but I love all sort of things like reading, dancing, taking pictures, meeting new people, and drinking tea. However, my life is never full without sport, I like to hike, to play squash, to play waterpolo, I love swimming, snowboarding and lately have been unsuccessfully trying to learn how to surf. I am also a fan of beach wrestling and unorganised fun, being a bit like kids playing no matter what :). I can sometimes be quite shy, but I am working on staying open, smile and adapt.

Hope to meet you soon!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The real question is why isn't everyone on CS? You get to travel, make new friends, they show you around or if you are stuck in a place your new friends travel to yours and you get to see your city through fresh new eyes.

Interests

• hiking
• snowboarding
• biology
• philosophy
• cinema
• diving
• wild camping
• waterpolo
• open water swimming

Music, Movies, and Books

Lately, I only read non fiction/science books and my preferred so far are:
- Sex and Cognition - Doreen Kimura
- The selfish gene - Richard Dawkins
- The egg and the sperm race Mathew Cobb
- The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature - Matt Ridley
- Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
- Life's greatest secret: the race to crack the genetic code - Matthew Cobb
- The psychopath test - Jon Ronson

When I reading fiction my preferred authors were:
Milan Kundera, Italo Svevo, Gabriel García Márquez, Umberto Eco

Music: Radiohead, Mitski, Bjork, The National, Beirut, Antony and the Johnsons, Ibeyi, Chico Buarque, Chancha via circuito, Calle 13
Film Directors: Herzog, Kurosawa, Bergman, Kubric, Lynch, Tarantino, Gutierrez Alea, Tarkovsky

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once saw an iceberg rotate while listening to Shigeru Umebayashi “In the mood for love”

Teach, Learn, Share

Spanish, French, biology, introduction to coding and how to make amazing heatmaps in R

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can cook some cuban dish or make a mango salad.
I can sing (in Spanish) if you want me to, and although I really enjoy it I have been told I am very bad

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Cuba, France, Italy, United Kingdom