CURRENT MISSION

To learn everyday

ABOUT ME

I'm 25 years old and since recently graduating in Spanish and Portuguese I've been living in my favourite city, Lisbon, teaching English and learning Portuguese...

I think anybody who knows me would say I'm obsessed with dancing, be it Kizomba and Semba, Salsa, Tango, Contemporary or waving your arms about in the street, much of it learnt on my various travels.

Apart from that I've been Vegan all my life and have a deep interest in animal and human rights and social issues. I'm also passionate about independant cinema, books or just meeting random people and talking for hours, provided it be a conversation I somehow learn something from.

I like to be alive, I like to have my mind opened every day, to 'see the diamond from every angle'. I like to know people for the day to day reality and not the smalltalk or the image. I prefer the ghetto to the tourist spots, rice and beans to gourmet and simple humility over arrogant greatness any day. I like old ladies who feed pidgeons and anonymous people who leave post it notes with poetry on the Metro. I can tolerate anybody, so long as they are themselves, whatever that is... I want to meet people but know people and I want to know life!

PHILOSOPHY

Be yourself!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted, been hosted, met for coffee, gone to parties, gone partying with people in the street who turned out to be couchsurfers...

My experience of travelling is that my memories of places are not based on the buildings I saw or the things I did there but the people I met along the way. Couchsurfing has opened me up to some amazing people and deepened my travelling experience.

Interests

Veganism, politics, social change, alternative culture, dance, art, general creativity...

• animals
• arts
• culture
• books
• poetry
• dancing
• tango
• human rights
• coffee
• picnic
• vegan
• partying
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• military science

Music, Movies, and Books

My favourite author is Hanif Kureishi, who wrote Buddha of Suburbia, Intimacy, Gabriel's Gift, Midnight All Day etc. I also like Nick Hornby's books (How to Be Good and High Fidelity). I'm currently working my way through a variety of Cuban autobiographies and my favourite film director is Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tie me up Tie me Down...) Anything that makes you look at life through different eyes.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I recently had an impromtu picnic in the park with a hungry drunk homeless man who told me his name was Tomahawk. Eventually he admitted he was an ex soldier who had fought in Yogoslavia and left the army after he was called 'crazy' when his army 'accidentally' dropped a bomb on a village full of civilians. I can't remember the last time I met anyone so angry in the face of suffering, so confused by a perceived inability to fight against it or so determined to be true to himself even if it meant turning his back on everything. I gave him my lunch, but he gave me a great deal more.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Cuba, Portugal, United Kingdom