CURRENT MISSION

To seek the holy grail. Or to see lots the world and be happy. Mostly that second part though.

ABOUT ME

At the time of writing this (may '13) I've just turned 22 and have just graduated from college. I'm from Austin, Texas, but went to school in Providence, Rhode Island. It's weird to think that college is already over.

I've got a job lined up for next year doing management consulting (aka a really business-y job-- powerpoints, board meetings, suit and tie, etc.). I think it will be a great gig and am excited for it, but before starting I wanted some time to do some traveling. Luckily I've been able to push my start date back til January (six months after graduation)!

I'm hoping to spend that time on some big trips (around Europe in the summer and South America in the fall). I've usually...actually, always... gone on trips with friends or family, but few of them have the kind of time off that I do, which is why I found CouchSurfing! Seems like a great way to meet people while traveling.

I'll be living in Washington D.C. starting in January and look forward to 'paying it forward' to D.C. visitors then!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I haven't really yet. Hope to meet lots of cool people, practice languages, and learn things... you know, the usual

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Once I was with two friends in Costa Rica. We were staying on the pacific side near Liberia (city pretty far north). We wanted to go surfing one day, but the good surfing beaches were farther south. So we hoped on a bus and headed to the beach. About 2 hours into the trip our bus got in a head on crash going around 20-30 mph. Luckily no one on the bus was hurt, but the driver of the truck we crashed into was in bad shape (found out in the newspaper later that he lived, but was in critical condition after the crash).

We walked about a mile to the nearest town and got on the next bus that came through, even though it wasn't going to the beach we planned on going to. That bus broke down by the side of the road an hour later. Bad bus luck.

Luckily we were only a mile or two from Playa Conchal, a beach that my guide book really recommended, so we walk to the beach, but on the way there find out that the bus we need to get on to get back home would leave in 45 minutes. We were so bummed out since it had been over 5 hours of traveling and we'd have to leave so soon, but we went to the beach anyways, determined to enjoy the short time we had there.

On the beach, we set up near a nice ex pat american couple, maybe 50 years old. We talked with them about our day and how crazy it was and the man (Peter) gave us each a beer, which we gladly accepted. We talked until it was time to get going to the bus stopped so we thanked them for the beers and started to leave when they offered to drive us to the stop since they were leaving anyways. Sure, why not.

Once we got to the bus stop, Peter said that we could either:
-get on our bus and go home
-keep riding with them to their town, get dinner, and then call a cab to take us back (way more expensive, but then we'd spend way less time traveling)

We decide to go for the second option. Once in town, Peter took us to a bar, introduced us to all sorts of people, took us into his house and made us some drinks, and then told us that he actually had a second house in the town that had just finished being built and we could stay there for the night if we wanted to. And he offered to give us a golf cart to drive around in.

It was great to get to stay there. The next day we hitched with one of Peter's friends back to the bus stop and went back to where we were staying (no crashes/break downs this time). Every time Peter offered us something I was a little suspicious. What's his motive? Will my kidneys still be there when I wake up? Turns out he didn't have any motives beyond helping out a couple of kids who were having a rough time. He helped make one of the best experiences of our trip.

Interests

Soccer- played competitively for a long time. Up through high school. Played left wing mostly, swinging in those crosses

Track/Cross Country- Ran in college. In track did the 3000 meter steeplechase. Really fun race. Here's my teammate falling on a water jump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAFhFrqo1cQ

Traveling- I love to travel and meet new people. That's why I'm here!

Languages- I'm pretty good at Spanish, alright with French, and have picked up bits and pieces of several other languages. Whenever I'm traveling I love to pick up some of the local lingo.

• writing
• books
• beer
• drinking
• traveling
• socializing
• juggling
• surfing
• soccer
• track and field
• golf
• business
• engineering
• languages
• tourism
• beaches

Teach, Learn, Share

Juggling.

^maybe not so useful... I majored in Mechanical Engineering and International Relation though. So if you want to learn some engineering concepts, or IR theories, I could help with that

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Belize, Botswana, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Honduras, Italy, Laos, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, United States