CURRENT MISSION

Seguir adelante, con mi pasado en la mente, pero no intermitente

ABOUT ME

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mexicanwanderwoman/ (Siganme los buenos!) 😊😊
Personal website: https://amacas.wordpress.com/

Hello, everyone!
Before you start reading this, I guess it is also important to remind you to read the impression that others have gotten from spending time with me. I can assure you nothing unpleasant is to be found in my references! Nevertheless, I will do my best to give you an idea of who I am and what entails my world:

My name is Amaris Castanon. I was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Please write the word 'violin' somewhere in your message so I've know you've read my description! :) Hence, I spent a large portion of my life living in the border of US/Mexico and am very grateful to have this life experience. I am a very easygoing person. I enjoy long, entertaining talks about interesting topics and believe that meeting new people is synonymous to the experience of learning. Along the lines, I think it is important to mention that the speech by Carl Sagan entitled "Pale Blue Dot" blows my mind-quite a large influence upon my opinion towards the importance of this site. If you are interested in watching it , YouTube has the whole video! Please take a look, I hope it strikes you in a positive manner, as it did me.

In terms of my academic career, I am a graduate from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) with a BSc. in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry and from The University of Sheffield with a Master of Science in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (cool, right?). My next step is to complete a PhD as a Marie-Curie Student in Stem Cell Biology applied toward Neuroscience (yeah, I guess I'm a bit of a nerd, but a cool nerd ;). I took a gap year after finishing my MSc. in England in which I learned to play the violin, performed a solo two times at Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, enrolled in a German IV class, returned to my Chemistry Peer leading job at UTEP for one semester (September to December), volunteered at Fab Lab El Paso in which I learned about laser cutting, 3D Printing, and built a Biohacking laboratory including a OT.One Opentrons robot together with Gustavo Arriaga (the director), worked in a bioinformatics laboratory in which I learned A LOT about programming, wrote two science articles for Labiotech (a company in Berlin), wrote three chapters for UTEP's General Chemistry 1305 workbook, traveled to Europe once more to visit friends in France, Germany, and Austria, spent time with my lovely pug, finished some experimental work from my undergraduate research project at UTEP, discovered more about taking an MD PhD path, traveled to mesmerizing Iceland, attended my MSc. graduation in England with my parents and sister prior to visiting my best friends and loving family in Yucatan, spent some valuable time with my family in both the North and South of Mexico, and reflected on my career goals.

I have an inquisitive spirit and a curious mind which sparks my interest in traveling and experiencing the world around me. I travel whenever I can, even if I can get the opportunity to do so while in school. I studied abroad in Graz, Austria for a semester and got to travel a good amount around Europe during my stay. I then moved to Sheffield, England and also had the opportunity to travel a significant amount during my year as a graduate student. I am more than grateful for all my traveling experiences and the knowledge & friends I have obtained in the process. I would like to describe myself as explicitly as possible in this page, so I came up with the idea of writing love statements and allowing my mind to speak for itself to give you a sense of what makes me 'me'.

Below, you will find love statements randomly written from my unorganized mind.

I love to meet new people and share different points of view--I believe it is a very important task for growing as an individual. I love to exercise. I love to draw and cook. I love brownies with ice cream. I love the smell of a rainy day. I love bright, sunny rooms. I love castles. I love Rumi. I love Mexico. I love violins and pianos. I love nutella. I love to travel. I love Disney. I love Jim Sturgess. I love stem cells. I love kebaps. I love soccer. I love ballet. I love gymnastics. I love Sudoku puzzles. I love fettuccini alfredo. I love Chicago Pizza. I love Gluhwein. I love astronomy.

HOSTING INFO:

PHILOSOPHY

Alimento de la vida es amor

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am a big advocate of meeting new people and exchange ideas. This site is an invaluable tool that contributes immensely to my philosophy in life whereby humanity sprouts by interacting and learning about other ways of living around the world.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I spent my first Couchsurfing experience in Florence and it was during New Year's Eve. I must say it was quite a unique experience, we had a great host and great food! Not to mention, we met very nice people and had a nice celebration even though we met the same day. It was definitely a lovely experience!

Stay tuned...

Interests

Meeting people from around the world is an important activity to engage in. It contributes to having global knowledge. It's amazing to me how small the world actually is compared to the universe we inhabit-having an intercultural experience and learning more and more things about what is going on in the planet we inhabit is really the minimum we should all do. I also believe this awakes a sentiment of a connection that is present within all humans in the world, and I believe that by learning about all the different norms and cultures we have, it brings us to sense the fact that even though we are different, we are in the end all united-and this to me, matters most.

Music, Movies, and Books

The Catcher in the Rye
STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
The Giving Tree
Persepolis

Music is a hard one, I like all types of music honestly, some more than others.

Movies! Hm, I'd say my favorite by far has been Cloud Atlas

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Stood on the edge of a cliff for an astonishing view in Dachstein, Austria

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to learn languages, it's very interesting to me and I would really love to learn German,French, and Italian--to the point where I can speak them fluently.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My culture, language, food, care, and knowledge.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United States, Vatican City State, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, England, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, United States

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