CURRENT MISSION

Discover, meet, enjoy

ABOUT ME

I love to meet new people, to share and learn, to open my mind to new cultures and experiences. I love the unexpected and unplanned in life, the pleasant surprises... and sometimes less pleasant ones but that will eventually turn into good memories - "Les expériences les plus ratées sont celles qu'on raconte le plus par la suite". Staying with "locals" makes me feel less like a foreigner abroad. I'll be happy to make you feel less like a foreigner in Brussels.

I'm in love with the Spanish language and, by extension, with everything that has to do with Spain and Latin America. I lived in Spain for one year - in Valencia - and have been going back between one and three times a year over the last 10 years. I also went on a 7 months trip through South America in 2014. And intend to go back that side of the Atlantic Ocean too.

If you want to know more about me and my travel stories, you can have a look at my blog : http://sarahdheedene.wordpress.com

PHILOSOPHY

I am convinced that the world would be much more peaceful if people across borders did a greater effort to know and understand each other. So that's what I am trying to do myself :-)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As a host, I can offer a wonderful couch, some "lazy cooking", a guided tour around the more secret and hidden places in Brussels, company for a chat/dinner/drinks. I am eager to show you my city... and to hear about yours!
If I come and visit you, I can bring you some chocolate, see how far my cooking skills reach with the ingredients of your country, teach you some photography basics or take some nice pictures of you!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

By now I can say I am pretty experienced using the platform, both as a host and a guest. And all - but one - have been positive. 90% of them were beyond that. I have met amazing people, shared incredible moments. Everything from a glass of wine - or several glasses of whiskey - to great family time in small Colombian villages over a tango class improvised in my own apartment. All these are and probably will remain amongst my greatest memories in life. Feeling connected, that is what couchsurfing is all about.

Interests

Books, photography, languages, traveling, history,... Everything related with art & culture.

• arts
• culture
• books
• photography
• tango
• cooking
• chocolate
• wine
• beer
• drinking
• traveling
• blogging
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

The best way to understand another culture is to speak the language it is linked to... And to master that language, it is necessary to understand the culture. So I try to read books, see movies and listen to music as much as I can in the languages I master or I am trying to master.

Books: Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Eduardo Mendoza, Antonio Munos Molina, Rosa Montero, Juan José Millas, Alessandro Barrico, Günter Grass, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Böll, Amin Maalouf, Ian Mc Ewan, David Lodge,... and many more

Movies: those from Pedro Almodovar, Guillermo Del Toro, Inarritu, Stanley Kubrick, and Lars von Trier, Lucia y el sexo, La meglio gioventu, Le cose che restano, Das Leben der Anderen, Lola rennt, Le Pianiste, Requiem for a Dream...

Music: Goldfrapp, Madredeus, deUS, Balkan Beat Box, Nouvelle Vague, Gotan Project, Eddie Vedder, Brassens, Brel, Piaf, Vivaldi, Massive Attack, Amaral, Chambao, Mano Solo, Lhasa, Vinico Capossela, Florence + The Machine, Nirvana, Mana,...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveling during 7 months through South America, discovering amazing landscapes - too many to name them all -, living unforgettable experiences and, last but not least, meeting wonderful people.

One of my first "improvised" couchsurfing experience... By offering a place to sleep to somebody that had no way of getting home one night in Valencia... I discovered about 15 or 20 other Spaniards, who have become close friends.

I also regularly bump into old and long distance friends at the most unexpected place and time. Always makes me realize what a small world we live in, in the end.

Being in a dinner of four, where four different languages were spoken because there was none common to us all... and yet understanding each other perfectly :-)

And then there's my Japanese story. When arriving at Tokyo airport, I was told that my passport was not valid. So, instead of meeting with my friend in Osaka, I ended up having a beer with... two drag queens :-) Unexpected and funny experience.

That's more than one... but all deserve to be named :-)

Teach, Learn, Share

Giving without thinking what you might get in return is the best way to make sure you WILL get something in return. Sooner or later. Probably in the most unexpected way.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, France, Gambia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Slovenia, Spain, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain

•