Hello whoever is out there reading this!
I'm Yari and "where are you from?" might be the hardest question you can ask me. I grew up in anglophone Canada in a Franco-German household for most of my childhood, lived in Spain for two years, lived on a boat with my family and went to UWC Robert Bosch College. an international boarding school in the Black Forest Germany for the past two years.

I'm now on a gap year which I started by travelling to 12 countries with Semester at Sea over 4 months. I'm now somewhat based in France as my parents live there. Now, looking towards a more land-based second half of my gap year, I plan to work in local projects in Europe volunteering or earning money. Simply doing something down to earth and real before plunging into academia next fall. I hope to start studies in linguistics in the fall of 2020 in the Netherlands. Learning Dutch is high-priority at the moment :)

I think the most valuable aspect about travelling (especially solo) are the connections that arise that would never otherwise happen. Bridging gaps between people who experience completely different realities is just fascinating and enriching. I'm always open to share and learn.

Yes I'm a big time language nerd, I love hearing, speaking, learning, deconstructing language(s).

I like to discuss many things ranging from anthropology to environmentalism

You can contact me in the following languages and I should understand: English, French, German, Spanish
If you want to challenge me: Portuguese, Mandarin, Dutch

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Meeting people on my travels always gives a place a new dimension and has always allowed me to get a deeper understanding of a place. Being in a place can mean little without the human dimension.

Aside from the obvious "finding a place to sleep", it's a way for me to connect with people who share interests with me and can broaden my horizon. Also, I just like meeting new people :))

I also hope that I can give back people's generosity in the future once I have a place of my own and actually host travellers :)

Interests

• photography
• education
• cartography
• geography
• geology
• history
• languages
• food
• travelling
• linguistics
• biking
• sustainable living
• lgbtq
• uwc

Music, Movies, and Books

Finished reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, 10/10 would recommend.
Currently reading "Too many people?Population, Immigration and the Environmental Crisis", provides good counter-arguments to populationist theories ;)
Haven't read many in the past years but anything sci-fi/ futuristic
I'm currently trying to make more time for reading.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In the summer of 2019 I spent a month and a half cycling 2,700km across Europe from the Atlantic Coast to Belgrade in Serbia sleeping in anything from a tent in a stranger's backyard to a rundown shed.

Teach, Learn, Share

Personally, one of the most valuable aspects of travelling is to practice and speak languages as I'm keen to learn (almost) every language there is to learn. I'm also happy to teach the languages I speak.

As I'm still in a phase where I'm deciding the direction I want to take my life in, I'm all ears for life advice and experiences

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, maybe food? I consider myself not a terrible cook!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, France, Germany, Spain