CURRENT MISSION

Do a pull-up.

ABOUT ME

I'm a Spanish Teacher at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh. I've spent my free time traveling around the world. I grew up in Alaska, spent two years of high school in Costa Rica, and most recently spent 11 months studying literature in Florence, Italy. I've backpacked through southern Europe with my sister, hitchhiked through Costa Rica while I lived there, and my next international stop is Brazil. I'm fluent in English, Spanish and Italian and am proficient in French. I often travel with my closest childhood friend and former Alaskan neighbor Jean. She's a triplet. Pretty cool, right?

PHILOSOPHY

Read a lot and talk to people.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm in Alaska every summer, and I have a spacious house with a great and constantly stocked kitchen. I believe that the place I grew up in is such a fantastic part of the Earth, that everyone should go before they die. I'm so excited when somebody makes the effort to get up to Alaska that I am always glad to house them.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have spent a lot of time on other people's couches. My best couch surfing experience was in France. I had been living off of bread and pretzel sticks for two weeks with my sister as we traveled through the country, until an old french lady my sister knew picked us up and took us to her place. It was such a blast to be taken around by a person from the area as well as be treated to a lamb dinner.

Interests

Bluegrass, Theater, Marxism, Jazz, Biking, Foreign Language, Cheese, Thrift Stores

• literature
• theater
• cooking
• recipes
• cheese
• thrifting
• trivia
• traveling
• juggling
• jazz
• cycling
• cave diving
• surfing
• scuba diving
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Nabakov, Calvino, Dave Eggers, James Joyce

Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett, Beatles, Charles Mingus, Beck, Cake, Sam Cooke, Daft Punk, Timbaland is a good producer, Beyonce is a great popstar, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, The Fugees...

Italian Neo-realism, films by Billy Wilder, Mike Nichols, Wes Anderson, The Cohen brothers...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've gone cave diving.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can start a fire, I can juggle, I can teach people to whistle really loud, I can teach people harmonies to every Beatles song, I have lots of Alaska trivia (ex. the most common cause of eagle death is drowning), I teach kids Spanish, along with anyone else who's willing, and I love to cook for people.

I want to learn people's recipes, their favorite places and why, and whatever interesting stories and things they want to impart to me.