I'm a 30 year old PhD student in cognitive science, hoping to pursue a career in research eventually. I'm originally from Atlanta (USA), but have since lived in Vermont, Ferrara (Italy), Boston, Belo Horizonte (Brazil), and now I'm in California. I play the cello and surf (very badly) for fun. I'm a friendly, open-minded person. I'm gay, and am always curious to meet queer people from other places and learn about other queer cultures. Would love to be shown some cool neighborhoods and/or bars!

A little bit about my research: I'm fascinated by language, and study cognitive reasons for common grammatical patterns in languages. (For example, if a language has adjectives before nouns ('red ball'), then 90% of the time it will also have objects before nouns ('The dog me bit'). English and other Germanic languages are a weird exception to this pattern.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm going to a conference in Bilbao in September 2016 and will be travelling before and after:

Barcelona August 29-31
Berlin September 4-11

Would love to meet up with other travelers to explore or find a local to show me around. Would also appreciate suggestions for where to go. Got any recommendations for fun gay/gay-friendly bars?

Interests

Language, physics, music, politics, economic development, social justice, lots of other stuff...

Music, Movies, and Books

This is a little embarrassing, but I'm really into Bieber recently. :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I went to President Obama's first inauguaration in Washington, DC. Freezing cold, but really awesome.

Teach, Learn, Share

Would love to teach English or cello or Portuguese or anything else I know. Always down to learn about a new language, musical style, or culture.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Scotland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Italy, United States