ABOUT ME

Hi, my name is Brennan, I'm 24, I'm from outside of New Orleans originally, where I grew up. I love the outdoors, especially hiking and cycling, but I love people even more and try always to be open to meeting new friends. Travel is one of my biggest passions, and I have spent a fair amount of time in Latin America (but not enough!) and I want to spend a lot more time outside of North America. I used to couchsurf a good bit a few years ago, but my profile got deleted by some glitch on the website. I'm open-minded, trustworthy, clean, and always try to listen to the stories of people I meet. I'm also working on my sense of humor, which probably sounds pretty dry but I promise I'm funnier in person! But people have told me that my jokes are so subtle and dry that they often just sound like statements, so hence the need to work on that some more! However, I'm always glad to laugh at myself or with old and new friends.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe in personal empowerment for the fulfillment of each of us as individuals and in the collective empowerment of people in their communities. Devotee of Freire's The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and I definitely believe that many of us living our lives are oppressed by things we don't even realize, whether personal demons from our past or socioeconomic inequities that keep us from realizing our full potential. But I have hope that every person can become aware of the forces that keep them from being happy, and that every community can coordinate efforts to improve their quality of life. No matter what, we must all also respect the duty not to harm any human or non-human coinhabitants of our planet while we pursue our ends. That's me in a nutshell!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've surfed in a couple of places in New York, NY a couple of years ago, with wonderful hosts. About six months later I surfed with some great people in San Francisco, CA and San Jose. While in Memphis, I hosted a little bit and went to a couple of Couchsurfing parties, and met a lot of great surfers staying at a friend's house. Recently I spent a night in Seattle surfing, and spent an amazing time in Russia surfing in several cities with truly wonderful people. I wish I could host more but my roommates usually aren't very keen on it (though I try to convince them). In the future I'm definitely planning on being a die-hard host when I can decide that.

Interests

I have a lot of passions in life, mostly connected to a love for many cultures and a deep connection to the natural environment. In my everyday life, I'm usually working on research that I try to make relevant to those passions, but I try as often as possible to break out of the ivory tower and get to know people and this beautiful planet on a more intimate level. I love the outdoors, especially hiking and cycling, but I love people even more and try always to be open to meeting new friends. Food is a big passion, which I really try to embrace by never saying no to an interesting bite of something (unless it's too unhealthy), and it is so fascinating especially as a vessel of culture and the reality of the people who eat it. I am also in love with languages, and always want to be learning some new language or maintaining a decent level at my current ones. Cooking is also something I'm trying to get better at, especially from scratch.

• culture
• education
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• partying
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• surfing
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies are a huge passion, especially ones with themes of disfunctional families like Wes Anderson's movies, cult classics like Brazil or Blade Runner, and I confess to enjoying romantic comedies too. I love a lot of music, especially classic rock and indie like Arcade Fire, Of Men and Monsters, and the Killers (my favorite). I don't read for fun as much as I'd like.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My interest in international development has brought me to places such as the dusty altiplano of Bolivia, face to face with indigenous Aymara women who struggled so hard to survive but showed a dignity and pride for their culture that I will never forget and that pushed me to evaluate my own sense of identity and place. Speaking of which, one experience that changed my sense of place forever was Hurricane Katrina, which my family and I sat through in my hometown. The impacts of that experience, both of the three days of natural disaster followed by weeks or even months of social and political disasters, changed me forever.

Teach, Learn, Share

Not sure if I'm qualified to teach anything, but I love social learning and informal education, sounds like CS could be a great channel for learning of all kinds of great things!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Russian Federation, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, United States

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