ABOUT ME

Traveling is my passion. I love the opportunity for discovery that it provides. I joke that most of the decisions I make in life are guided by the single desire to have good stories to tell over dinner. I am only half joking. After losing all I owned, I once hitchhiked from Costa Rica to Arizona. I've slept in the same room as a green mamba - which, upon discovery, I ate. After participating in a local ceremony for warriors in West Africa, the traditional healer assures me that I am bullet-proof. I also like warm milk with cinnamon before bed, laughing until I cry, dancing without inhibition (and better yet, in costume!), and picking scabs until they bleed.

PHILOSOPHY

embrace your vulnerabilities, avoid dogma and ideologues, have compassion, be smart yet open to experiences

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I think that couchsurfing provides the unique opportunity to have a more authentic experience of a place one visits

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I used couchsurfing for the first time this summer, staying with generous hosts in Athens, Rome, and Barcelona -- it was amazing!

Interests

anthropology, good food, biking, dancing, traveling, tetris, cross-word puzzles

• birds
• dancing
• dining
• beer
• drinking
• traveling
• puzzles
• cycling
• anthropology

Music, Movies, and Books

Reading:
Harper's Index
East of Eden (Steinbeck)
Midnight's Children (Rushdie)
anything McSweeney's

Music:
Afro-beat
folk (current musical obsessions: noah and the whale, johnny flynn, deer tick, tallest man on earth)
jazz

Movies:
anything Almodovar
indie films
and, (in the interest of full disclosure) the occasional rom-com...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sunset over the Sahara, when the harmattan winds are blowing and the sky is a thousand shades of orange, red, purple and pink - without a hint of blue.

Sunrise in the Amazon, when the trees teem with the busy life of birds.

Siesta in a West Africa village, when everyone retires under mango trees, swaps stories, and drinks sorghum beer

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Belize, Benin, Burkina Faso, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestine, Peru, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Niger, United States