Ciao! My name is Amalia and I'm a 24 years girl. Originally from Milan (Italy) I studied Economics and Social Sciences. I now live in Bonn (Germany) where I do research on gender, labour and behavioral economics. :)

I'd say my friends would describe me as a quiet but fun person to be around. I tend to have a pretty witty sense of humor, which emerges only once you get to know me! I enjoy meaningful experiences and conversations. As a fellow social scientist to be, I have a native curiosity about anything that surrounds me, but this particularly applies to how people live & love in countries different from mine. I'm passionate about languages and I find coins and banknotes fascinating to look at.

I love to meet like-minded people with however different lifestyles from mine. I believe that such exchanges can be eye-opening.

Moreover, I've been vegan for more than 3 years now, mainly for the environment and for animal rights. I love walking and hiking: exploring cities and natural areas on foot is by far one of my favorite activities both when in Italy and abroad.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

While growing up, I had a previous Couchsurfing account, but I'd never had a chance to use it since I was still underage. Then the pandemic struck and I haven't been able to travel as freely as I would have liked.

However, fast forward to 2022, I discover that I've won a free Interrail pass through the DiscoveryEU competition: thus, in August I've been interrailing Europe as a solo traveler. This seemed the perfect occasion to finally try Couchsurfing! I have loved my stay with all of my hosts which became friends after all!

I now have a foldable couch and some futons in my room in my shared apartment, so I can host you in Bonn in case you need to. I am not actively hosting, but shoot a message if you'd like!

Interests

• architecture
• walking
• music
• hiking
• economics
• history
• exploring
• veganism
• climate change
• climate justice

Music, Movies, and Books

Some of my all-time favorite artists include: Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Eugenio in via di Gioia, Alt-J, Twenty-one Pilots, Green Day, Fabrizio de André, and Hozier - however, my music taste is always changing.

Some of my all-time favorite movies and TV series include: Blade Runner, Trainspotting, How I Met Your Mother, Dark, and Dead Poets Society. The list could go on endlessly. I'm always thinking that I should devote more time to watching more movies. I have now bought a small wall projector so I can have a small indoor cinema experience straight from my bed.

When it comes to books I can say that I have a strong professional bias that makes me tend to read more non-fiction ones, although every time I come back to fiction and classics I am mesmerized once again. I am now part of a book club to try to read more fiction. However, some good books I'd recommend on the top of my head are: "Nudge" by R. Thaler and C. Sunstein, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by R. Bach, and "The Man in the High Castle" by P.K. Dick. In life, there is too little time and too many books to read, but I'm devoted to continuing my quest in reading as many as I can!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'd say organizing 3 climate strikes in a year and bringing 7'000 people to the streets on the third one, in September 2019, in my hometown Monza!

Now I'd also add interrailing European capitals alone for 3 weeks in August 2022!

Teach, Learn, Share

Of course, rest assured that I'll teach you how to cook some great pasta in the way only an Italian knows how to make it; perhaps I could also prepare for you some great vegan dishes which will change your mind about vegans only eating salads! :)

If you are interested in a language exchange I'd be happy to give you the basics of Italian and I would love to learn the basics of your language (or practice French and/or German and/or Spanish if you speak them)! Moreover, I can teach you how to read the Greek alphabet ;)

What I Can Share with Hosts

With you I can share:

- Great Italian songs you may not know but you definitely should!
- Tells and tales about how it is like to live as a student around Europe
- Some insights about climate action and climate justice, economics, inequality and poverty from a researcher pov
- Some cool findings of behavioral economics, if you've ever wondered what's that about

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands