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One of the first questions that is asked
when two people meet for the first time is Where do you come from? . In the situation
I am going to tell you about, this question has no meaning...we prefer to ask each other
Where are you going to be? . This is the world of couchsurfing travellers.
Surely all you know couchsurfing: it is a way to travel and be hosted from unknown people, and sometimes
it involves sharing a part of your trip with them. The word unknown is the key here, because
you get to know your host only when you sleep on his couch...and it s the key because you
are going to learn an unpredictable live lesson. Once you can meet a strange and extravagant
Scottish singer who wants to show you his repertoire all night long, talking about how
difficult it is, to be an artist and be accepted, because art is like an interior crazyness
, but you can t be crazy for it. A second time you meet two serious Parisian guys who
work for Moody s, a main rating agency, and while you are drinking a glass of red wine
you can find yourself arguing about how choosing correct ratings can be difficult and not so
mathematical (soft arguments, because you have to sleep in their house anyway!!!)...
...Another time you get to know two very kind Irish guys gratuated in philosophy, who have
the Dalai Lama Instructions for life sticked on the wall in the kitchen, and they explain
them to you while drinking an organic infusion... It can also happen that you don't find anybody,
and you have to run to find a hotel with a free bedroom at the very last moment.
Why do I think this activity may be important for my personal and professional development?
Because this is the best way to open your mind in many directions and in a fair mode,
because randomness is fair, and you randomlly meet new people with differrent cultures and
backgrounds, with various opinions about politics, economic, religion, with different philosophies about life.
Like my grandfather, who was worker in a field, used to say: You have to listen
all the bells of towns close to you, because only in this way, you can learn the others
farming-times, and realise if yours is good or needs to be modified.
This helps you to accept and tolerate different sights, sometimes very far from your own, sometimes that you
can't completely understand , but that you should always accept. We all remember one
the most famous sentences of Voltaire in the book Treatise on Tolerance: "I disapprove what
you say, but I will defend until the death, your right to say it".
People are various, and in everyone we can find something unique and special, something that most of the times it s difficult to explain with words.
It may be a bright light in the eyes, a trait of the personality,
a smile that makes you happy and relax, a thought against the tide, a instinctively
good sensation (if you know what I mean!). Our mission should be to find these positive
aspects, learn from them, and keep that lesson in our personal and social knowledge forever.
Ah, I almost forgot, the meaning of our first question Where are you going to be?
do you remeber? Places where we have been are important, they have taught us to be happy, sad and how
to overcome hard timess, they have helped us to build a part of our being , they are
intresting stories to tell, they will be in our memory forever. But they are the past...
Our new trip, our new dream, our new idea, these are the future, these are worth to be
asked and be told, because sharing your projects is the best way to find good partners, good
friends, for your next adventure and sometimes for all your life... Can I come with you?
is the second question that all the life-travellers want to hear, because in that moment, you have gained a new member in your team
...Nothing important is obtained alone!
Shhhh!!!... Now I have to sleep, because I am disturbing my travel mates...it s incredible, also this
time 2 couches for 3 travellers, and I am the person who sleep on the floor...
Good night and good travel through your life...