ABOUT ME

***I'm living in the city of Antigua Guatemala until April 2022! To study the volcanoes here. Interested in meeting other people and perhaps also in hosting. Drop me a message if you want to meet!***

Friendly Scottish lass without the accent! I usually live and work in Bristol, south-west England, in my opinion the coolest city in the world. It really has it all: live music, friendly people, art stuffed in every corner, and glorious countryside. I came here to start a PhD in volcanology: I study the eruptive activity of Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala. (Update: completed the PhD in July 2021 and still working with volcanoes - woohoo!). This career was inspired by a period of almost nine months spent travelling and working in Latin America, including Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico. I started with an internship in Ecuador monitoring Tungurahua and Cotopaxi (check out www.igepn.edu.ec), followed by travelling around Colombia for seven weeks. Finally I was in Colima, Mexico, where I spent almost four months working at the Centre of Interchange and Investigation in Volcanology (CIIV), before exploring the central highland states of Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi.

I feel tremendously lucky to have explored these three countries, each so diverse and different from my own. Now that I have returned to the UK, I would like to continue the interests I picked up there: speaking Spanish, enjoying Latin music and culture, and producing art, while hopefully repaying the favour, by sharing my culture and hobbies. I think travel has broadened my mind and I am really looking to connect with people following different pathways in life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm very curious about other people. I love to hear different views and understand life on the other side of the world. What better way to do this than by couchsurfing?

Interests

My main love is to do anything in the great outdoors. I love long hikes, road biking, alpine mountaineering, and other types of climbing - rock, tree and free! I am certified in Advanced SCUBA with PADI and I've recently learned how to free-dive. I'm into downhill ski and skitouring but I don't discriminate - I love going up hills, too. In winter 2022 I'm keen to climb as many volcanoes in Central America as I can reach!

I think I'm a creative person and love to express myself by writing and drawing. I run a blog, www.reasoningwithvolcanoes.com, that describes my work with volcanoes and my adventures while travelling. I love sketching and whenever bored can be found with a pencil in hand, drawing the surroundings or doodling cartoons.

I really love hobbies that I can share with others. So I enjoy learning languages, as I can connect with people around the world. Right now I am improving my Spanish - ¡escribeme en espanol! - I also enjoy live music, cooking imaginative feasts (I'm mostly vegetarian), and debating with friends.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• poetry
• sketching
• festivals
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• running
• politics
• cartoons
• traveling
• eating out
• socializing
• juggling
• blogging
• drawing
• music
• live music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• mountaineering
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• geology
• languages
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: The Dharma Bums, Bananas, Diary of a Teenage Girl, My Family and Other Animals, The Goldfinch, The Great Gatsby, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Old Man and The Sea, Flame Trees at Thika, Tropic of Cancer, The Crow Road, On The Road,

Music: Laura Barrett, The Smiths, Pink Floyd, Regina Spektor, The Cat Empire, Father John Misty, The Tallest Man on Earth, Disclosure, Matthew and the Atlas, Jamie XX, Jack Garratt, Funke and the Two-Tone Baby, Gypsies of Bohemia, Bombs, Tantz, Nina Simone, Bobby Womack, Flume, Natalia Lafourcade, Monsieur Perine, The Bats, Fat Freddy´s Drop, Young the Giant, Lukas Graham, Peggy Lee, Chet Faker ...

Movies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Spirited Away.

Comics: SMBC, Jim Benton, Zen Pencils, Three Word Phrase, XKCD, Octopus Pie, Buttercup Festival, Extra Fabulous Comics.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Poetry slam at Shambala Festival, 2015, on stage in front of 500 people!

Monitoring seahorse populations off the south coast of Cambodia for a three-month project with a conservation group in 2011.

Climbing the side of Tungurahua volcano in search of the source of mysterious lahars and ashfalls, December 2015; and another volcanology one in there: seeing incandescent bombs roll down the face of Volcán de Colima at midnight in February 2016.

Lighting a sky lantern and watching it drift over southern Iceland during summer solstice 2017.

Reaching the shoulder of Journeyman's Peak and skiing powder to the valley below.

Making friendships all around Volcán de Fuego.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm 29 and have so much to learn about the world around me. Many of my literary heroes talk about travel as a way to broaden the mind, and I thoroughly agree. For me, Couchsurfing is an excellent way to meet people from all walks of life who will share their views and influence our philosophy of life. Even more, it's a way of extending and receiving generosity that I think is so important, and it confirms my view that people are naturally generous and kind.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I hope I can share some stories from the road, and my philosophy on life! I think I'm a generous host and helpful guest, and I'm always interested in hearing other people's stories and in being good company.

If you want to learn something - I can teach you how to juggle, and I can cook; I can tell you why geology is the greatest science ever; plus I am a fountain of knowledge on Scottish customs and traditions!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom