CURRENT MISSION

I'm currently working in Leoben, Austria as an English teaching assistant or "native speaker." I absolutely love my job and will continue it in Graz next year.

ABOUT ME

Hey there! My name'€™s Amanda and I'm a 22 year-old journalism and international studies student from the good ol' state of Iowa.

I can sometimes be a little quiet when you first meet me, but I've gotten WAY better about it and I'm actually not sure if that's an accurate description anymore.

I'm really good at standardized tests.

I wish I could speak fluent Italian, but I can'€™t, and I wish I was an environmentally-conscious vegan, but I'm not. I am, however, a darling princess peach who is totally interesting and fun and stuff so you should probably let me crash on your couch some time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We don't have too many visitors passing through Leoben and I don't actually have a couch, but I'd be happy to lend my futon to anyone passing through :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have yet to actually stay with a couchsurfing host, but I have met up with people that I met through here. It's always been a lot of fun!

Interests

Gender/LGBT/Labor rights advocacy is kind of my shit. Back home I'm involved with several different advocacy/human rights organizations on campus. I spend my free time dismantling the establishment, fighting the power, what have you.

Other interests include writing, reading, photography/videography, cooking/baking, instagramming my food, defending my love for FC Bayern, accidentally spending way too much money on fancy cookies, late-night river picnics, 24-hour diners, small bars, churros, impersonating Holden Caulfield, drunkenly waxing poetic about La Catedral de Sevilla at 5 am, etc.

• writing
• photography
• acting
• human rights
• dining
• cooking
• baking
• vegan
• reading
• soccer
• journalism
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

A very large portion of the music that I listen to would fall under the category of "indie," although I would say a dabble in a little bit of everything.

My list of favorite shows includes far more cartoon programming than is probably normal for someone my age.

I am super into comics and their corresponding TV shows and movies, with a slight preference for Marvel over DC. I am a shameless Robin fangirl (Tim Drake is a perfect angel prince what can you do) and really want to make pretty lady babies with Miss Martian and/or beautiful teenage alien lesbian Karolina Dean.

LIST FORM (for the lazies):
Indie folk
Indie pop
Indie rock
I might like indie music idk
50's music of various genres
Themed Playlists
Comics (and their corresponding movies and tv shows)
TIM DRAKE THE THIRD ROBIN
Smallville
The Runaways
Young Avengers
Harry Potter
South Park
Game of Thrones
American Horror Story
The Flash

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Exploring sea caves off the coast of Portugal was a pretty unforgettable experience! And I briefly babysat the child of a Spanish actor once.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm good at a ton of stuff! Like convincing people that I am the ultimate authority on things that I know literally nothing about. And forgetting to reply to texts. And not tweeting. And having the slang library of a soccer mom because I'm super cool. And sending error-free text messages (not true).

Haha but really, if you're learning Spanish, I'm an excellent conversation partner! I'm not a native speaker, but I can definitely help you practice and maybe give some pointers.

And I just really love languages in general so I'd love to learn a few phrases in your native tongue :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Spain, United States