Last update March 2026

I believe we should all take care of ourselves more, so I'm striving to be the change I want to see. I pay attention to what I eat and I try to exercise and meditate daily, both indoors and in nature. I've been living together with my wife Anna in Perugia since 2020 and I believe it's never too late to be what you might've been, so after my career managing IT Projects for the UN, I'm back in Med School and pay the mortgage by freelancing at gaming conventions.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

All in all, I have a great faith in humanity. When I tell some of my crazy travel stories, my friends usually point out how lucky I have been to meet this or that person in a dire situation to get me out of trouble. It is not luck: good people are actually the majority, but we don't realize it both because media focuses on bad people, and our brains are three times more likely to remember bad things than good things.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/your-money/why-people-remember-negative-events-more-than-positive-ones.html

Once we acknowledge this, it becomes obvious that it is in our interest to be part of an economy based on giving, and feel no awkwardness in receiving help or hospitality from a stranger today: as long as we have the mindset of making a positive impact on another fellow human being tomorrow, we contribute to the creation of a virtuous cycle.

Interests

• writing
• cooking
• meditation
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• nature
• trekking
• storytelling
• relaxing
• national parks
• museums
• playing piano
• magic the gathering
• drumming

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm currently reading Catch 22 by Joseph Heller on the absurdity of war.
I have yet to watch a bad Tom Hanks movie, although my favourite genre are RomComs.
As long as I can sing / shout along, any music goes, from ABBA to System of a Down (going to reunion concert this summer!)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Followed the Silk Road only by land, and wrote a book about it. It's not published yet, this other one however is: https://www.le-impronte.com/A-Z/c/quetzal/p/la-sua-essenza-era-musica1
It's about an adventure I had on couchsurfing hosted by https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/woutervandijk89

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can give you a glimpse about the awesomeness of the Chinese, English, French, Italian, or Romanian languages.

I read a lot of self-help books - that stuff makes a lot of people feel miserable and always not good enough, but with the right approach some organizational methods and takeaways can be great for anybody, at any point in life.

Most people I know expect meditation to be different than what it actually is - harder, longer, useless, not scientific etc. Let's talk about it!

If you have drums and piano around, I'd love to play. And if you have a kitchen, French, Italian or Romanian recipes are waiting to be cooked :D

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, France, Italy, Romania