I have moved to Portugal in 2016 and intend to settle for good around here! This is definitely the best country I have ever lived on!
I have a personal life policy of NO FRILLS!!! Do what you want as long as you don't hurt others! I love meeting new people and having new experiences... I know this might sound a bit cheesy but it's true. Clubbing is not really my thing but if it's done with a nice group of friends I might enjoy it... but I have to be honest: I'd rather go to a bar and chat instead! I love the Arts!!! Music, movies, theater plays, paintings and architecture are my favorite ones and I'm really into them. I was a singer in a band and we used to perform regularly at some local venues in my hometown. We played a very nice mix of contemporary and classic hit songs from USA, UK, France, Spain, Italy and Latin America.
Everything in life is a matter of choice! If you think you CAN do anything, you're right. And if you think you CAN'T do something, you're also right!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

This community has - in so many ways - changed my perception of the world and the people who live in it. It has profoundly changed my life and I'll be forever grateful to how it made me realize how small the world really is.

I'm here - and I won't leave anytime soon - for the most fundamental concepts of this community: to interact with other human beings from all over the globe... share stories, emotions and experiences... reduce/eliminate the idea of distance and differentiation between us... change and impact the ones around us. See?! Making the world a better place is not such a hard job after all and I love the feeling of doing just that, one couch at a time!

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COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE (as a guest):

1st: BELO HORIZONTE (MG-Brazil) in May 2008, during the CS National Meeting. My host was absolutely amazing, her family made me feel at home at all times. Thank you very much Paola for giving me a memorable first experience!

2nd: PARIS (France) in February 2009 by Mathieu Chalifoux. He is a very respectful host... nice and easygoing guy!!!

3rd: CAMPINAS (SP-Brazil) in September 2009 by Alexandre Poseddon. He is a great host that goes to far ends to make you feel confortable! A very outgoing, respectful and helpful guy!

4th: BOGOTA (Colombia) in October 2009 by Omar & Monica. An amazing couple with a great kid and a very funny dog!!! They were very kind and helpful at all times!!!

5th: CAEN (France) in August 2010 by Stef! An open-hearted CSer who's also a great cook!!! I hope more people in CS were as involved with this community as Stef is. Keep up the good work, man!

6th: PARIS (France) in August 2010 by Elodieee! A good friend who I had the pleasure of hosting in Rio de Janeiro and Cuiabá (my hometown). It's great when you have the chance to be hosted by someone that you had hosted before... Everything is so familiar and cool!

7th: AIX-EN-PROVENCE (France) in August 2010 by Melanie for a day and Simon for the other (my actual host was supposed to be Laurent, but he had a heart-related emergency! hehehe). They were extremely helpful and welcoming!!! I even ended up in a house party-barbecue-kind-of-thing because of them and it was sooo much fun!

8th: NICE (France) in August 2010 by Quentin! What a nice and easygoing experience... My amazing host made me feel at home at all times...

9th: AIX-EN-PROVENCE in August 2010 by Laurent (finaly! hehehe). This guy is so great! Always making his best to help his CSers... I'm glad I went back to Aix and finally met him.

10th: BORDEAUX (France) in August 2010 by Mathieu and his girlfriend Emy. One of the most giving people I've met... A delightful experience!

11th: STRASBOURG (France) in September 2010 by Thibaud. He was very helpful during my first week when I was all crazy looking for an apartment to rent in Strasbourg... Thanks man!

12th: VIENNA (Austria) in November 2010 by my dear friends Andre and Sonja. I had hosted them before in Rio and had the pleasure of being hosted for the first time by people who I had already met through Couchsurfing.

13th: LUZERN (Switzerland) in November 2010 by the amazing Fondue-and-Rostie-maker Markus! hehehe

14th: ZURICH (Switzerland) in November 2010 by Lukas who made me and my friends feel at home at all times!

15th: ISTANBUL (Turkey) in December 2010 by Zeki... a great CSer who will make you maps and guides himself!

16th: BRUSSELS (Belgium) in January 2011 by Niko and Isabella, a great couple that I also had the pleasure to host in Strasbourg!

17th: LISBON (Portugal) in January 2012 by Samuel Gartner, a messy but true-hearted couchsurfer! Hehe

18th: PORTO (Portugal) in January 2012 by Rodrigo Camacho and his girlfriend Milena, who were wonderful guests and made me feel very welcome and confortable.

19th: MANAUS (Brazil) in October 2015 by Ney Nascimento, who is literally one of the most giving and true-hearted CSers I've ever met.

20th: PRAGUE (Czech Republic) in August 2016 by Jirka Dolezal, an amazing caipirinha maker and very bright and traveled guy.

21st: LEIPZIG (Germany) in August 2016 by Betty Serban, one of the most passionate and giving CSer I have ever met.

22nd: PRAGUE (Czech Republic) in August 2016 by Jakub Rak, an inspiring CSer who builds trust in a very dynamic way.

23rd: LEIDEN (The Netherlands) in August 2016 by Petra Zaagman, a brilliant and knowledgeable girl who blew my mind with her pitch-perfect English.

24th: BREMEN (Germany) in August 2016 by Monika Meuset, a very warm-hearted woman who prepared the best breakfasts ever!

25th: LÜBECK (Germany) in August 2016 by Tarek Badr, the friendliest CSer ever!

26th: HAMBURG (Germany) in August 2016 by Tina von Sonnenbrandt, a dynamic and awesomely intense person.

27th: DÜSSELDORF (Germany) in September by Christian Schinitzler, an attentive and dedicated CSer with a great heart!

28th: SALZBURG (Austria) in September by Peter, Sabine, Daniela, Erik and Raphael... an amazing group of Germans and Austrians that opened their house and hearts to me and I ended up living an amazing semester with them!

29th: SAN MARINO (San Marino) in January 2017 by Guido Di Bisceglie, an amazing and caring CSer who takes great care of everyone he hosts!

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Experiences / Country:

France: 8
Brazil: 3
Germany: 3
Austria: 2
Czech Republic: 2
Portugal: 2
Switzerland: 2
Belgium: 1
Colombia: 1
Netherlands: 1
San Marino: 1
Turkey: 1

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COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE (as a host):

RIO DE JANEIRO / CUIABÁ:

1*NICK from USA on 03/2008
2*MOLOTE from South Africa on 04/2008
3*YOTAM from Israel on 04/2008
4*GAAL from Israel on 04/2008
5*NOAM from Israel on 04/2008
6*SERGIO from Spain on 04/2008
7*DANIEL from Germany on 04/2008
8*LUCY from France on 05/2008
9*MIKAELA from France on 05/2008
10*SARIKA from South Africa on 05/2008
11*HENRIETTE from Denmark on 05/2008
12*CATALIN from Romenia on 05/2008
13*JEFF from USA on 05/2008
14*MARKUS from Finland on 05/2008
15*JOSÉ from Mexico on 05/2008
16*ULISSES from Mexico on 05/2008
17*FREDERICK from France on 05/2008
18*CECILIA from USA on 05/2008
19*CRYSTAL from USA on 05/2008
20*CECÍLIA from Brazil on 05/2008
21*VIBHA from USA on 06/2008
22*THOMAS from France on 06/2008
23*SHIRA from Canada on 06/2008
24*RUNE from Denmark on 06/2008
25*KRISTA from Denmark on 06/2008
26*AMIR from Egypt on 06/2008
27*TAREK from Egypt on 06/2008
28*BURÇIN from Turkey on 06/2008
29*DONA from Canada on 06/2008
30*ERIN from Canada on 06/2008
31*EMILY from USA on 06/2008
32*JUAN from Colombia on 07/2008
33*ISABEL from Colombia on 07/2008
34*CARMEM from the UK on 07/2008
35*LUCIE from the UK on 07/2008
36*TAHA from Canada on 07/2008
37*SHAZEEN from Canada on 07/2008
38*KEIRA from Canada on 07/2008
39*ELODIE (in Rio, Cuiaba and Chapada) from France on 07/2008
40*TROY (in Rio, Cuiaba and Chapada) from Australia on 07/2008
41*MAX from France on 09/2008
42*TARA from France on 09/2008
43*SIMONE from Australia on 03/2009
44*CLÁUDIO from Chile on 03/2009
45*AUDREY from France {Basque Country} on 03/2009
46*MATTIN from France {Basque Country} on 03/2009
47*ARIEL from Australia on 03/2009
48*ANDRE from Austria on 03/2009
49*SONJA from Austria on 03/2009
50*STEPHANE from France on 03/2009
51*EMMA from USA on 03/2009
52*SAM from USA on 05/2009
53*BOLETTE from Denmark on 05/2009
54*CHRIS from USA on 05/2009
55*DELILAH from the UK on 07/2009
56*DAN from the UK on 07/2009
57*PIERRE from France on 07/2009
58*ANNA from Italy on 11/2009
59*ANDREA from Italy on 11/2009
60*LEE from the UK on 01/2010
61*MARINE from France on 01/2010
62*OMAR from Colombia on 01/2010
63*MONICA from Colombia on 01/2010
64*DAVID (in Chapada) from Germany on 07/2010

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STRASBOURG:

65*JULIEN from Belgium on 12/2010
66*EERO from Finland on 12/2010
67*NIKOLAUS from Austria on 12/2010
68*ISABELLA from Austria on 12/2010
69*QI ZHANG from China on 01/2011
70*QI CHEN from China on 01/2011
71*ANTONIA from Germany on 01/2011
72*ALYSSA from USA on 02/2011
73*FREDDY from USA on 02/2011

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RIO DE JANEIRO:

74*DESIREE from Germany on 10/2011
75*MELANIE from France on 10/2011
76*STEPHANE from France on 10/2011
77*DEVIN from USA on 10/2011
78*NOAH from USA on 10/2011
79*ARITE from Germany on 10/2011
80*DANIEL from Germany on 10/2011
81*JOSH from Canada on 03/2012
82*DARIA from Poland on 09/2012
83*ALBA from Spain on 09/2012
84*JANIRE from Spain on 09/2012
85*CAROLINA from Peru on 10/2012
86*GREGOR from Germany on 10/2012
87*LUIS from Colombia on 10/2012
88*JULIA from Estonia on 10/2012
89*SERGEI from Estonia on 10/2012
90*TANYA from Russia on 10/2012
91*EVGENIY from Russia on 10/2012
92*VARVARA from Russia on 10/2012
93*DIANA from Russia on 10/2012
94*ANGELINA from Russia on 10/2012
95*MARSO from France on 11/2012
96*OLIVER from France on 11/2012
97*ALYNE from USA on 11/2012
98*CAMERON from USA 11/2012

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CHAPADA DOS GUIMARÃES:

99*OLIVER from Australia on 06/2014
100*JENNA from Australia on 06/2014
101*MELODY from Argentina on 01/2015
102*DAVID from Argentina on 01/2015
103*SALVATORE from Italy on 03/2015
104*GIOVANNA from Italy on 03/2015
105*HENRIQUE from Brazil on 04/2015
106*CHRISTINE from Germany on 04/2015
107*PABLO from Argentina on 05/2015
108*MARCELA from Brazil on 05/2015
109*MARTA from Spain on 06/201
110*ANNA from Germany on 06/2015
111*BEATRIZ from Chile on 07/2015
112*CECILE from France on 08/2015
113*PAOLA from Brazil on 09/2015
114*LEOMAR from Brazil on 09/2015
115*TIMOTHY from Belgium on 09/2015
116*AMY from the UK on 11/2015
117*CRISTIAN from Italy on 11/2015
118*ALEX from Mexico on 11/2015
119*EDGART from Mexico on 11/2015
120*ANGELINA from Brazil on 01/2016
121*NATHALIA from Brazil on 01/2016
122*EGOR from Russia on 02/2016
123*ALINA from Russia on 02/2016
124*DAVID from Spain on 02/2016
125*KARLA from Brazil on 02/2016
126*LARISSE from Brazil on 02/2016
127*LAYANA from Brazil on 02/2016
128*DENISE from Switzerland on 04/2016
129*SAADIA from France on 05/2016
130*JULIE from France on 05/2016
131*RODOLPHO from Brazil on 05/2016
132*MARCELO from Uruguay on 05/2016
133*BARBARA from Chile on 05/2016
134*AMIRAH from USA on 05/2016
135*JULIANA from Brazil on 06/2016
136*FELIPE from Brazil on 06/2016
137*MARIANA from Brazil on 06/2016
138*INNA from Ukraine on 06/2016
139*MAX from Ukraine on 06/2016
140*EDUARDO from Brazil on 06/2016

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CSers / Country:

*France: 19
*USA: 16
*Brazil: 15
*Germany: 9
*Canada: 7
*Russia: 7
*UK: 6
*Australia: 5
*Colombia: 5
*Italy: 5
*Spain: 5
*Austria: 4
*Denmark: 4
*Mexico: 4
*Argentina: 3
*Chile: 3
*Israel: 3
*Belgium: 2
*China: 2
*Egypt: 2
*Estonia: 2
*Finland: 2
*South Africa: 2
*Ukraine: 2
*Peru: 1
*Poland: 1
*Romenia: 1
*Switzerland: 1
*Turkey: 1
*Uruguay: 1

Interests

My core interests are - generally - in the field of humanities: history, geography, politics, psychology, travel, languages, cuisine, arts, etc. But I'm getting more and more interested in Astrophysics, Math, Neuroscience and Biology thanks to an intense exposure to some brilliant people like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens and my all-time favorite: Neil deGrasse Tyson! I also have a profound interest in meeting people... getting to know their backgrounds, culture and ways of thinking is one of the most enriching and pleasant ways to grow as a person.

• cats
• arts
• culture
• humanities
• theater
• performing arts
• architecture
• dancing
• cooking
• bbq
• walking
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• geography
• history
• languages
• science
• sociology
• tourism
• mountains
• cinema
• bars
• hospitality

Music, Movies, and Books

TV SERIES: Friends; Seinfeld; The Sopranos; Modern Family; How I Met Your Mother; The Simpsons; Dexter; Prison Break; Black Mirror; Utopia; World at War, etc... MOVIES: The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy; Scarface; Amelie Poulain (FRA); City of God (BRA); Life is Beautiful (ITA); Inside Out; Caramel (LEB); La La Land; Elite Squad (BRA); Thank You for Smoking; The Hunt (DEN); Arrival; Brokeback Mountain; Whiplash; The Silence of the Lambs; 21 Grams; Oldboy (KOR); The Godfather; Intouchables (FRA); Pulp Fiction; Interstellar; Incendies (CAN); Lost in Translation; Up; Wild Tales (ARG); The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; Goodbye Lenin (GER); A Separation (IRAN); Inside Out; What's Eating Gilbert Grape; The Room; The White Ribbon (AUS); The Lives of Others (GER) The Dark Knight Rises; The Secret in Your Eyes (ARG); Inglorious Basterds; Departures (JAP); Interstellar; Se7en; Usual Suspects; etc... MUSIC: Damien Rice; Jason Mraz; John Mayer; Ray Lamontagne; Sam Smith; Coldplay; The Beatles; Ray Charles; Michael Jackson; Frank Sinatra; Lucio Dalla; Charles Aznavour; Édith Piaf; Ben l'Oncle Soul; ZAZ; Mercedes Sosa; Carlos Gardel; Jorge Drexler; Jeff Buckley; Xavier Rudd; Radiohead; Joss Stone; Marisa Monte; Seu Jorge; Zeca Baleiro; Chico Buarque; Tom Jobim; Caetano Veloso; etc... BOOKS: Conversations with God (Neale Donald Waslch); 12 Rules for Life (Jordan B. Peterson); The Lord Of The Rings (JRR Tolkien); The Chronicles Of Arthur (Bernard Cornwell); The Prophet (Kalil Gibran); The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho); Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling); Post-War (Tony Judt); De la Démocratie en Amérique (Alexis de Tocqueville); The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Max Weber); etc...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

PETRA BY NIGHT

It was really an amazing experience... I'll try to describe it, but nothing I can write here will get close to what I actually experienced!!!

On the way to the lost city of Petra (Jordan), there is a very narrow passage through the mountains of the Wadi Desert called Siik by the natives. It is more than 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) long and in some points the passage can get to less than 2 meters (6 feet) wide and 200 meters (650 feet) high! It is quite impressive during the day time... but at night it gets even better: the people who work at this site (which was chosen as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World) light all the Siik with candles. Yeah, that's right... they light candle by candle and there are thousands of them on both sides of the Siik!!!

So you walk silently beside some 40 people that are all gazing at an unbelievable desert sky, so clear and brilliant it makes you feel you are somewhere in outer space! After some precious time walking along the Siik you face the famous facade that Petra is known for. And there, in this more opened area, they lit one more thousand candles only to gently light the facade with their pale yellow light dancing before a cool breeze. So you sit down at an Arabian carpet in front of this beautiful facade that looks like a portal to the past and they serve you tea while from somewhere you start to hear some musical notes... the music gets louder and louder until you realize it's coming from somewhere inside the facade and from a genuine Bedouin flute!!!

And there I stayed... for the fastest - but most rewarding - 40 minutes of my life, laying down on a carpet with a diamond sky over me... with music that seemed to come from within the mountains... facing one of the most beautiful landmarks I have ever seen... surrounded by people that, like me, were so dazzled and inebriated by it all, that there was no way to behave other than being completely silent in order to let the whole experience just sink in.

I stayed there until it was time to go back to the dimension that - unfortunately - I belong to. So I stood up, thanked God for that amazing experience and started making my way back through the Siik. It was hard - almost painful - to keep looking back while that magic scenario started to disappear in the distance... I didn't want to let go of it. There was no such thing as enough of that.

I felt connected... I felt home.

I want to live that all over again!

See you soon, Petra.

Teach, Learn, Share

As a Sociologist/Political Scientist, I can say I have a somewhat profound understanding about Brazil and the world (mainly Europe, USA and the Middle East. I will be more than glad to share it with anyone who's into these things.

I'm also very interested in all the million things people can teach me! Recipes, languages, accents, perspectives, etc... I'm always very open to new ways of thinking and to learning new things!

What I Can Share with Hosts

-A couple of songs... I can sing, but I play the guitar like a 12 year-old boy who just started having lessons, so be patient! hehehe

-A nice 'Caipirinha' recipe (Brazil's most traditional drink) and some Brigadeiro (Brazil's most traditional dessert);

-Hours of devoted conversation about any interesting topic.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Portugal, United States

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