Hi! My name is Christelle. I didn't choose my name, so I doubt it tells you much about me, so here goes.

If I was reborn into the body of an animal, I'd like to be a penguin. If you ask for a book recommendation, I'd most likely talk about Gogol's 'Dead Souls' or possibly Calvin and Hobbes. I collect editions of 'Le petit prince' in the various languages of countries I've been to. I like singing and dancing despite my utter lack of talent in both areas. I like to meet people who still feel awe and wonder about the world, and I myself like to watch life, nature and animal documentaries sometimes to remind myself of how amazing this planet is, and how little of it we truly know.

The people I admire most are those genuine people who you can't truly define without sounding tripe, but when you meet them you know, and you remember them for a long time afterwards.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have not yet officially couchsurfed through couchsurfing and I have not yet hosted due to lack of proper space. But I love the concept, for the same reason that I love hitchhiking trips (both where I'm the one hitchhiking or picking hitchhikers up) -- because people often stay at home instead of travelling, saying it's too expensive. And the cheapest ways of travelling are often the greatest; by relying on luck, adventure and friendliness, you make the most amazing discoveries and share the coolest experiences with strangers and loved ones. It's one big bunch of awesome.

Interests

Learning languages. Literature. Writing. Philosophy of language. History of languages. Arthurian legends. Fairy tales and folkstales. Theater. Voices. Silences. Playing board games and party games. Knitting socks. Cooking and baking. Historical figures of madness.

Eating is good. Fishes creep me out.

• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• theater
• photography
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• baking
• tv
• traveling
• socializing
• knitting
• drawing
• music
• paragliding
• teaching
• history
• languages
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies. I like... Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, The Princess Bride, La Danza de la Realidad. About Time. Secondhand Lion. Wes Anderson movies. I really enjoyed The Lives of Others. The Green Miles always makes me cry, and the only other movie I never fail to watch when it's on TV is Miracle on the 34th Avenue. I would rewatch V for Vendetta over and over, probably, and I'm a huge sucker for vibrant, beautiful movies like Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Slumdog Millionaire or Big Fish.

I like a lot of books. I also like reading the back of a cereal box, or the car's manual when I have nothing to do. I really liked L'élégance du hérisson; Dead Souls (by Gogol); Le Comte de Monte Cristo (by Dumas); Les liaisons dangereuses (Laclos); La vie devant soi (Romain Gary); La peste (Camus); all the "Paul" serie from Michel Rabagliati, but especially "Paul à Québec". Tons of others.

I love the plays of Wajdi Mouawad and Évelyne de la Chenelière. Of Samuel Beckett, too. My favourite all-time play is The Laramie Project.

I also like the poetry of Gaston Miron from the bottom of my heart. I also like this badly translated verse from Pushkin:

"Say: there is a memory of my name,
There is in this world a heart, where I live."

One of my goal is to get myself a copy of Le Petit Prince, de Antoine St-Exuspéry in the language of every country I've travelled to.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Real quick, I think...

Hitchhiking across Canada after a wonderful summer in the Okanagan valley.
Finding the most charming bookstore in Oia, Santorini. Paragliding from the Mont-Blanc in Chamonix, France.
Canyoning and the subsequent ten meters jump into water it involved in Reunion Island.
Impromptu trip to Asia

Teach, Learn, Share

I want to learn so much stuff. I want to learn how to unbuild and rebuild a car's engine. I want to learn most Asian languages. I want to learn how to make amazing food and fun websites. I want to learn how to knit lacey projects, and later how to crochet. I want to learn how to carve wood, too.

I can probably teach you some interesting stuff on literature (did ya know that when people started reading books quietly instead of reading them out loud in their salons, people thought that was really strange and probably a sign of mental illness?).

I can teach you about French, too. I was pretty good at being a French tutor, in any case. I could show you the simplest knitting stuff. I'd be happy to cook with you too.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories. My own, the stories of strangers on trains I eavesdropped on, the stories of the people that I love - also, I usually also travel with books that I'm happy to share with people who seem like they'd give them a good home! Lots of stories in all shapes and sizes.

Cooking, too. Language learning geeks out? I'm flexible. I'm also up for a variety of activities - from spinning classes to dancing to going for a cold swim or anything that might seem like it might make a great memory. Just ask.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Réunion, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Germany, Italy, Réunion