CURRENT MISSION

My 7th grade band teacher had a wall hanging that read: "If you can walk, you can dance; if you can talk, you can sing."

ABOUT ME

I'm an educator and artist from the San Francisco Bay Area, by way of Rhode Island and New York City. For the past two years I taught special ed and can still talk about it endlessly. I'm currently working as a teacher in Madrid and am enjoying the opportunity to live in this beautiful, vibrant place!

PHILOSOPHY

"You've got to make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music,
Even if nobody else sings along."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Always interested in meeting new friends wherever I am in the world! I think Couchsurfing is a pretty great way to do that :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've met up with Couchsurfers in my various places of residence, and I've stayed with Couchsurfers in Spain, France, Germany, and Northern Ireland. It's always been a true educational experience and a true blast!

Interests

Teaching, learning, music, writing, reading, theater, painting, drawing, nature, architecture, cooking, taking walks and observing, listening to other people's stories, feeling rooted.

• writing
• singing
• theater
• architecture
• dancing
• cooking
• reading
• painting
• drawing
• music
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Amy Winehouse, Andrew Bird, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Chet Baker, Chopin, Debussy, Donny Hathaway, Ella Fitzgerald, Fleet Foxes, Florence + The Machine, Frank Ocean, The Innocence Mission, Iron & Wine, James Blake, Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell, Journey, Judy Garland, The Mamas & The Papas, Milo & Otis, Nina Simone, of Montreal, Ray LaMontagne, The Shins, Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Sufjan Stevens, Whitney Houston, the xx. Musical theater was a big part of my life for many years and will always have a special place in my heart.

It's taken me my whole life to feel like a reader. I feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up, but here are some things and authors that I love: Edward Albee; The Handmaid's Tale; Songs of Innocence & of Experience; Quiet; classical Japanese poetry; The Hours; The Year of Magical Thinking; The Waste Land; Howl; "Meditation at Lagunitas"; Barbara Kingsolver; She's Come Undone; Interpreter of Maladies; To Kill a Mockingbird; Toni Morrison; Bluets; Mary Oliver; the Harry Potter series, always; Rumi; Fires in the Mirror; Equus; Shakespeare; Dracula; Breakfast of Champions; Tennessee Williams; To the Lighthouse. I could read children's books all day and am particularly attached to Kevin Henkes, Jon Sciezka, Mo Willems, and David Wiesner.

I feel even more behind on movies and TV than I am on books. Some things that have had an impact on me: Airplane; Annie Hall; Away We Go; Better Off Dead; But I'm a Cheerleader!; Cabaret; Camp; Cry-Baby; The Crying Game, documentariss in general; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Full Metal Jacket; Her; Harold and Maude; Juno; The Lion in Winter; Manhattan; Memento; Moulin Rouge!; Once; Pan's Labyrinth; Paris is Burning; all the Pixar films; Rear Window; Rocky; Saved!; Seinfeld; The Shawshank Redemption; The Silence of the Lambs; Sliding Doors; Sophie's Choice; Sunset Boulevard; Superbad; Titanic (yes, really); Tootsie; Vertigo; Waiting for Guffman; When Harry Met Sally...; The Wizard of Oz.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've been bitter and then chosen to be otherwise.

Teach, Learn, Share

You can expect a cheerful, sensitive conversationalist. I love to hear other people's stories and tell my own. If you want to contemplate life's deep mysteries, I'm down. If you just want to take a walk and enjoy the scenery that's good too :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States