Currently living in DC for work. I'm an epidemiologist and policy fellow working in international food security. As you might guess, that makes me someone who is very interested in global health and in addressing social, economic, and health inequities.

I'm also someone who is always interested in meeting new people from places and cultures known and unknown to me. Like everyone else on this site, I love traveling, but I like to travel slow, having the opportunity to really dive in and experience the people, culture, and if I'm lucky, the language of a country.

I also love tacos and beer, so let's go grab some :)

Some core philosophies/values:
I believe in constant growth and dread stagnation. I think too many people confuse comfort with happiness. I believe that 'you' isn't something you find, but rather 'you' is something you make. Same for love and happiness. I value empathy, intellectual discourse, and critical thinking. I believe very few things in life are inherently good or bad, but rather we can have healthy or unhealthy relationships with things. I believe 'nice' and 'good' are very different things, and that most of us confuse the two at the expense of making the world a better place. I believe in being open-minded, but I also believe in evidence-based decision making and the scientific process.

In sum, I am a 'Scientific Hippie'.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love traveling because it exemplifies to me how beautifully unpredictable life is. I've almost always set off to a country on my own, but have always returned with friendships and experiences I never could have anticipated having. I am someone who embraces uncertainty rather than shy away from it. I love not knowing who is going to enter my life next just as much as I love not knowing what new experiences are waiting for me tomorrow, next week, and beyond.

I'm on Couchsurfing for the same reasons :)

Interests

epidemiologist, former Peace Corps Volunteer, vagabond, wellness, nutrition, psychology, feminism, stoicism, social justice, meditation, calisthenics, minimalism, empathy, voluntary simplicity, reading, self-development, skill acquisition, science of success, ambition, public health, detachment, self-experimentation, greedy to experience

• womens rights
• meditation
• reading
• minimalism
• backpacking
• psychology
• science
• hitchhiking
• volunteering
• stoicism

Music, Movies, and Books

I typically try to read non-fiction but occasionally I like to spoil myself by re-reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Good Calories, Bad Calories, Sex at Dawn, and The 4-Hour Workweek are some other favorites.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Some of my most treasured experiences:
*Hitchhiking by myself from California to New York City, Couchsurfing in the cities and camping out in nature along the way. To me, it was much more than just an adventure. It was an opportunity to take a trust-fall onto life and to be totally and completely dependent on the kindness of strangers.
*Spending 2 weeks trekking the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas.
*Learning 3 foreign languages as an adult--I know being multilingual is common for most of the world and so probably isn't too impressive, but as an American I had to work for it haha.
*Reading 150 books over 2 years while in Nepal and India.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'll teach you how to speak some Nepali! I did my Peace Corps service over in Nepal so I'm fluent.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, stories, stories...from doing Peace Corps in Nepal, to backpacking around India, or hitchhiking solo across the United State's, I have a few good stories to share :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nepal, Peru

Countries I’ve Lived In

Guatemala, India, Nepal, United States