COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE I've hosted and surfed a few times, but my first time hosting was somewhat by accident and it turned into a great adventure. I met a really good friend of mine through it. I was living in Montreal at the time, and walking down Saint-Hubert street one day I happened upon a gentleman who was bent over and struggling for breath. I asked him if he needed help - he told me he was having an asthma attack. Apparently, his host had mold in the appartment and he had been finding it hard to breath ever since he arrived. To make a long story short, I stayed with the man and helped him through his attack, and then offered him my own couch. Three years later, we are still close friends.

Movies: The Big Lebowski, There Will Be Blood, The Tree of Life, As Good As It Gets. Music: Van Morrison, Stromae, Christine and the Queens, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, War on Drugs. Books: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, Silas Marner by George Elliot.