The Cinemaist Nomad

He looked at me, smiling, he had French eyes and almost white hair then he said “Here is my apartment’s key. You can find all the food you need in the fridge. If you’d like to have a shower you’ll find hot water. I don’t know when you usually sleep but take this bed anytime. I have to leave now because I have tons of work.” After saying goodbye I froze, hearing my preconceptions shatter. This man whose name I barely knew was telling me that his apartment is almost mine. I opened the window, looked out and shouted “Bonjour Paris”.

That was my first experience with Couchsurfing, a community of people who host travelers for free. The experience would be a turning point in my life.

Before October 2010, I dreamed of going around the world but had never left my country. So, all my thoughts about Europe were what I had built through books, movies, songs and other people’s stories, so I had dozens of stereotype. Throughout my Euro trip I smashed all of those preconceptions, and learnt how Europe really was.

After Paris, I searched for a new destination. This time I chose Granada, where I stayed with three friendly couchsurfers, an Italian, a Belgian and a French guy. When I arrived they told me that there was another girl from Brazil would join us. That night, we all sat around a small table, eating avocado, sharing our thoughts, our food and the beds. I realised how we, humans, are similar in our dreams and concerns even though we came from all over the world. David, the Italian couchsurfer, invited us to a walk through “Albayzin” alleys. We sat together on the green grass of the amazing hills. I finally found myself asking that question “David, why do you do this?”. He didn't seem to understand so I went on “Why do you host us, show us around and make our trip perfect without expecting anything in return?”. He smiled and answered “Because I love doing this”. I heard the same answer from my hosts in Madrid, Cordoba, Amsterdam, Rome and Brussels.

On my return flight, I was killing time by reading a book about “Individualism”. I felt myself smiling when I read stuff about “how the western societies is submerging in individualism, selfishness, loneliness and etc”. The announcement declared “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cairo airport..”. I took off my seat belt in addition to tons of stereotypes. From then on, traveling became an addiction I built my life around.