Mathew REES's Photo

Unverified Profile

  • Payment not verified
  • Phone not verified
  • Government ID not verified

Not Accepting Guests

  • Last login over 2 years ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Mathew’s full profile.

Overview

  • 29 references 16 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, French, Spanish; learning Chinese, German, Italian, Swahili
  • 33, Male
  • Member since 2011
  • Studdying botany
  • Blame my parents ...
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

to discover, learn and teach about plants from all over the world !

ABOUT ME

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah. And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you. (Monthy Python Flying Circus )

Born an Englishman but raised in France, I have always been accustom to travelling. I love to meet foreigners in my home town and just go up and have a chat/exchange stories !

PHILOSOPHY

All is one => O

Le vrai voyageur n'a pas de plan établi et n'a pas l'intention d'arriver.

La route n'est jamais longue aux côtés d'un ami.

The way things seem and look and the way things really are, is not always, but generally different, and that's what's magic about life, you can always be surprised.

The most simple things in life are the most fascinating and the most complicated to understand.

You can not tell what the world is or is not. You can only choose what the world is to you. What you see in it is in fact what you see in yourself : you're own limits. To surpass one's limits and to change one's thoughts is to change the world. The world is what you want it to be. There are no limits.

When you think positive, positive things happen.

For me languages are like colors: when you change the colors, you see the same painting in a different way. You understand it differently, you feel it differently.

Life is like a rainbow, you need both sunshine and rain to make it's colors appear.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I would be delighted to introduce my home town to any traveller ! For any interesting places to visit or bars to hang out and chat :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

100% positive experience ! Met so many good people :)

Interests

I really like watching movies, being outside in the fresh air. Any type of sport is a world of wonder. Music is my inspiration. Living really odd stuff with really odd people, the type of stuff you think like waaoo that was so random and when you recount it it sounds so crazy ! And of course hanging out with friends having a couple o' pints.

  • concerts
  • partying
  • drinking
  • gardening
  • movies
  • traveling
  • music
  • hiking
  • sports
  • languages

Music, Movies, and Books

I try to watch as many films as possible. Jarmush (Coffee and Cigarettes), Spike Lee (He Got Game), Tarantino (Django!), Coppola father & daughter (Lost in Translation or Apocalyspe Now), Kurosawa (7 Samurai), T.Malick (The Tree of Life), Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), Wes Anderson (every single one) and many many more. I love Asian culture in general. Especially old samurai films like Rashomon or more recent ones like Zatoïchi.
Animation films, like all the Walt Disney's or Hayao Miyasaki's films are part of my childhood and therefore a part of who I am today.

I was brought up listening to my father's music of course, and that would be jazz, soul, funk type of music (not that much English rock as you could expect) but I have developed a very large range of music styles I listen to, including classical music as well as old school hip hop or Latin American music.

Unfortunately I don't read very much or if I do it's just science articles and natural history related books. I always get excited when it's sunny weather and go out and play instead.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once entered a "disco toilet" : the four walls were mirrors and there was dim pink light showing off a disco ball on the ceiling whilst earth wide and fire was playing. It felt like taking a piss in the middle of the dance-floor but in a groovy way ...

Getting second at Mario Kart double dash with 0.004 s difference ...

Falling in a river known for it's crocodiles

Hiking alone through the rainforest and climbing the highest tree to watch the sunset

Randomly being offered 20 pizza's from pizza hut just before arriving at a party :)

Sitting in a rocking chair, on the hostel's balcony in front of the sea, and chatting away all night long with an old man, drinking Rhum and watching the raging storm out in the ocean ...

Private concert : harmonica and banjo players hidden up a tree.

Scuba diving in crystal clear waters of Isla Tortuga

Tête a tête with a hummingbird and two morphos butterflies next to a waterfall in the jungle.

Spending some time in the Amazon jungle and in the highest peaks of the Andes

Hiking an active volcano alone

Yosemite National Park: seeing the bristlecone pines, almost getting bit by a rattle snake and star gazing throughout the milky way

Becoming a full time botanist and traveling the world to discover plants !

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach English trough conversation classes: I consider it more like an inter-cultural exchange because sometimes people teach me ! We meet up and talk of any subject, taking time to correct people and explain grammar or vocabulary. The aim is just to become more fluent and feel more comfortable with English.

I also teach botany or give advice with things that can help you in the garden :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Laos, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Costa Rica, England, France, Scotland

Old School Badges

  • 1 Vouch

Join Couchsurfing to see Mathew’s full profile.

My Groups