Marissa

Travel information

I am currently

Description

Hi!
I'm a sociable, flexible and independent person, who loves working and spending time with new people but also appreciates personal space. I'm open to work outside the house (animal care, gardening) and inside (teaching languages and childminding). I eat vegetarian, but apart from that I enjoy all cuisines and types of food.

I love learning and teaching languages, because I think it enables you to understand different cultures at a deeper level (currently I speak fluent English, Dutch, Spanish, and good German and Italian). I am passionate about sustainability and living in harmony with nature, and I'm looking to spend the winter in the Dolomites where I can ski/snowboard in my free time. I'm educated as an environmental engineer (just finished my masters, looking for work from Feb 2026 onwards) and have experience in programming, branding and software, as well as teaching English as a private tutor to young adults.

In my free time, I love to cycle, bake, hike, ski, snowboard (just started) or just stay in and read a good book. I've grown up in a very hands-on environment and have experience painting a house, building fences and chicken coops, gardening and looking after a multitude of pets (dogs, chickens, fish, guinea pigs, goats). I've loved horses from a young age, had riding lessons and have been to summer horse camps during my youth in New Zealand.

My past workaways included gardening in Cataluña, Belluno, and Bologna, and looking after horses and other farm animals (chickens, sheep, goats) at working stables and farms in Canada. I am looking for stays of around 1 month near Bolzano from November 2026 onwards, but am flexible. Ideally, I'll be able to bring my own car.

I hope that you see a potential match and that I could experience your own unique lifestyle while sharing my skills and languages with you and your family.

Looking forward to hear from you!
Marissa

Interests

Yoga / Wellness

Cooking & food

Hiking

Sustainability

Pets

Gardening

Languages

Vegetarian or vegan

Animals

Nature

Farming

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Italian: Intermediate

More details about my language interests
I have experience teaching english, spanish and dutch and would love to improve my italian or learn another language such as french. I believe in full immersion as much as possible in order to be successful in learning a language, and because i've learnt both spanish and dutch i'm well aware of the struggles of learning a language, i believe this makes me more empathetic and attentive to the needs of a learner.

Find a language partner

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Light maintenance

Life at a Farmstay

Eco Projects

Hospitality/Tourism

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Some knowledge of:  

Light gardening

Helping around the house

Animal Care

Teaching

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Able to teach about:  

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Languages

Helping with Computers/ Internet

More details about your skills

As described earlier, my experience and abilities include:
- looking after animals like goats, chickens, horses, dogs, cats etc.
- gardening in raised beds, weeding and mulching.
- teaching languages (english, dutch, spanish)
- indoor and outdoor painting (every new room i move into i paint the wall in a mountain range mural :)).
- chores around the house like cooking and cleaning (i really enjoy this!)
- i'm a handy person in general, not unfamiliar with tools but i don't have extensive building experience. I'm always open and willing to learn however!

Age

25

What else ...

I have lots of board games which i would bring with me! I do get a bit competitve though... :D

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements
  I don't eat meat or fish (vegetarian)