CURRENT MISSION

discovering, learning, sharing, dancing and laughing, again and again!

ABOUT ME

I'm very curious and eager to discover new things, cultures and people. I love travelling and I am currently in a gap year: I make the most of this period to spend time with my friends and relatives in France, and travel as well (China, Russia, Madagascar, Southern Europe, Turkey, Colombia...)
When travelling, I love discovering and sharing people's lives.
I LOVE DANCING, particularly latin dances (salsa, bachata...)
I love sport and good food, which are part of a healthy life.
I have studied environment and ecology in the agro-engineering school of Paris (agroparistech).I'm now working in a county (called 'departement' in French), and my job deals with the protection of natural areas and biodiversity.
Facebook profile: Romain Degoul

PHILOSOPHY

'Il n'y a d'homme plus complet que celui qui a beaucoup voyagé, qui a changé vingt fois la forme de sa pensée et de sa vie', Alphonse de Lamartine
'Les jours perdus sont les jours où on ne rigole pas'
'The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page', Saint Augustine
'Vivez comme si vous deviez mourir demain, apprenez comme si vous deviez vivre toujours' ...Gandhi
'Ta deuxième vie commence le jour où tu prends conscience que tu n'en as qu'une !'

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have got a lot of things to share, and I can receive two people willing to visit Paris. I really enjoy spending time in Paris with my hosts.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Copenhaguen, Stockholm, Australia, Paris and France, Barcelona, Nicaragua, India, Brazil, China, Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Colombia. And many more to come I hope!

Interests

Sports:hiking, skiing, cycling and all kind of outdoors sports, fencing (for 11 years when I was younger), ultimate frisbee
Dancing: SALSA, bachata, meringue, rock n roll.
Leisure activities: music (viola), gardening vegetables, trout fishing
travelling: Italy, Bulgaria, Amsterdam, Ireland, Germany, England, Spain, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, California, Iceland, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Martinique, Saint-Vincent/Ste Lucie et Grenadines, Jersey/Guernesey, India, Brazil, China, Mongolia, Russia, Reunion Island, Madagascar, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Colombia, Poland,Latvia and many cities in France and Europe.
CS is the best concept ever, as it's all about sharing.
It enables people not only to see beautiful areas, but to meet each other in order to know how is life in other countries, what they are happy or worried about...
Environment and sustainable development (biodiversity protection, organic agriculture, compost making, low carbon transport, energy efficiency...).

• books
• festivals
• dancing
• bachata
• environment
• dining
• gardening
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• skiing
• sports
• fencing
• paragliding
• agriculture
• ecology
• engineering
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

viola (8 years in a music school in Nîmes including individual lessons, rudiments of music and orchestra)
latin music for dancing : salsa, I really love listening to Bachata (prince Royce, Aventura), BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB... All kind of music, depending on my mood and my level of energy :-)...
funny movies or suspense film, documentaries (travelling, economy, nature...)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Taken part in an Indian marriage
Skyjumping in Australia
Paragliding in the french Alps, hiking and camping in the Pyrenees
volunteer for a macrobiotic festival in Sevenoaks (Kent) in summer 2007, eating macrobiotic food was a good experience :-)
Travelling 12000 km by train through Northern China, Mongolia, Russia and Finland in a two months trip in winter 2013. With temperatures as cold as minus 30, you realise how adaptable your body is. Frozen Baikal at dusk is just amazing.
Riding the Fianarantsoa-Manakara train in Madagascar, that broke down in the wild at sunset... We eventually arrived 10hours late, in the middle of the night!
Hiking to the very top of some volcanoes, such as the conception (ilsa de ometepe, Nicaragua) or le piton des neiges or piton de la fournaise (Reunion, french island in the indian ocean).
Dancing in Cali, world capital of salsa and whose nickname is 'la sucursal del cielo'!
So I've done many amazing things around the world, but the place where I get the most energy and enthusiasm, is my grand-parents'home in the countryside in southern france (a very wild area called Lozère, national park of cévennes...). Feeling their love, gardening with my grandpa and sharing their life experience is the most beautiful gift I can dream of! This is my favourite destination to recharge my batteries :-)

Teach, Learn, Share

I have been travelling a lot since 2006 and I am very keen on sharing this experience. I have visited many parts of France, and I can give advise to foreign travellers.
A few steps of salsa and bachata :-)
I am very interested in environment and sustainable development, and I enjoy talking about it.
I make my own bread, keeping my dough from one time to the other, I can teach you that funny and easy thing.
I love all kinds of sport, particularly in the open-air.
And if we have the opportunity to meet, I enjoy just talking about the way of life in your area of origin, to understand what make people happy or not in your country... To put it in a nutshell, I am interested in touristic areas, but I prefer much more sharing time with local people :-)

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