Last update: 2025/06

Hi, enthusiastic people!
I am Manuel, currently 26, I am from Paris, where I work as an IT engineer for dental imaging. After I graduated, I have been moving around for almost two years, before finding my job. I mostly travelled through Western and Central Europe, and a lot in France. Travelling without plane is my motto, I don't drive either and mostly move by train, bus, car-sharing or hitchhiking.

My excuse to travel is to register to events related to activities I like, mostly Japanese culture festivals and board game tournaments (mahjong, shogi, Magic). Every time I travel, I want to spend as much time as possible on the way, stopping in small cities, meeting the people, get an immersive experience within the short time I have.

Since 2024, I continued to move during weekend, about 40% of my weekends. I also started to hike on the Camino de Santiago by weekends, starting from Paris (our last stop was in Lusignan, near Poitiers).

During the summer 2025, I will be travelling to Japan for 3 weeks, between Osaka and Tokyo. This is a project I had for many years and it will be my first time in Asia. As always, my goal is to lose myself in small areas where people don't speak English, and where I can admire the landscape, the houses, the craft workers etc.

Besides two main hobbies, I am always willing to discover new interests, activities and to meet people. When I am travelling, I love to walk/hike, and any kind of outdoor activities is welcome! Inside activities are fine two, talking, having a drink, watching a movie, playing video games...

I am flexitarian which means I rarely eat meat and fish. Ecology is a strong value for me, my conception of travelling is to take time, I am against the idea of moving to an other continent for four days and coming back home right after.

In my house in Paris, I live with my parents. There is no problem hosting friends or people I already know. Hosting travellers may be possible but the second time we meet. If you come to Paris, befriending and visiting the city together is perfectly fine!

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

Before I had Couchsurfing, I was mostly using social networks to find a place to sleep, it was an adventure, something finding wonderful people, sometimes it was more difficult ^^
Since I use the app, I only had great experiences, I cherish all the time I was able to meet people and I sometimes feel sad about not having able to get to know each other more.
It is always a pleasure to meet again people I met once, I find a lot of value in the CS network, as a traveller, a host, and also as a member of the community, either to share information or when we meet each other during CS events.

兴趣

• anime
• video games
• board games
• hiking
• science
• volunteering
• food
• travelling
• linguistics
• manga
• it
• outdoor sports
• visiting

音乐、电影和书籍

I'd prefer to take the time discovering each other's taste, but if I had to choose only one song this one would fit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsj0mY13t9s ♥

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

45 000km (Earth's circumference) done in 2022 by either train, car-sharing, hitchhiking or bus.
Going to Przemysl (Polish-Ukranian border) on a whim to do some humanitarian volunteering for refugees during 3 weeks.
Being in charge of multiple traditional japanese board games booths in anime conventions along with my association.
I was a referee at the World Riichi Championship in Vienna!

Update:
An extra 19,000 km done in Jan-Aug 2023, totalising 7,5 months out of my place in 11 countries.
Hitch-hiking for a week, from Châlon-sur-Saône to Paris, through Montpellier, Perpignan, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
Qualified at the World Riichi Championship for Tokyo 2025!

教，学，和分享

I always have abstract games in my bag, I can teach you chess, go, shogi, mahjong, scrabble, hex... (+ some Magic the Gathering)
I love problem-solving and trying to find answers to meaningless problems :)
We can also practice French language together, or I can give a try at your language ^^
Call me if you need help with your AI homework, I love algorithmics, math, and anything related to image processing. I can share you how cavities are detected on panoramic X-rays.
I am "a bit" geeky so I am always glad to share some memes or a game controller.

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

I want to laugh so much that the first thing I will want to do is coming again in the exact same city the next time I'll be travelling (and it happened).
I like cooking and share food with friends :0
Walking absolutely anywhere, looking for the simplest and the craziest places!

我游览过的国家

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

我居住过的国家

Canada, France