I really love the motto "you have friends in..., you just don't know them yet". It is not only convenient to be hosted by someone local and get the true flavour of the place you are visiting, it's also a great philosophy of people sharing the world and being kind and generous.

Movies which can make me laugh or cry, which can touch me, like "Life is beautiful" by Roberto Benigni, or "American Beauty", or the mexican movie "Side effects", etc. Rock, rock'n'roll, punk-rock. Erich Maria Remarque, "We all are welcome here" by Elizabeth Berg. "Little Prince". And Russian classic Literature.