ATTENTION SURFERS: If you look me up on other websites and contact me via WeChat, WhatsApp, Phone, or E-Mail before you contact me on Couchsurfing, it is automatic grounds for being rejected. This is non-negotiable.

I know reading my whole profile is hard but if you don't read my whole profile and comply with things that I clearly mention in the profile, your chances aren't very good.

My mental image of myself and the real world person are not one and the same.
The inner me is jealous of the person living my life and wishes I could be just like her. She's so cool.

I talk (a lot). Okay, so I basically never shut up. It is a really bad habit of mine but I have been this way since I learned to speak and I do not think I am going to change any time soon. I have tried and failed. My solution is to try to be INTERESTING when I talk. I like to think that I succeed. Maybe sometimes I fail. But you can always tell me to shut up or talk over me. It will not hurt my feelings at all. I really want to listen to the experiences and opinions and whatnot of other people so don't worry about interrupting the motormouth.

I am an avid touring cyclist with about 20,000 km under my belt. You can find me on warmshowers and cycleblaze under the username brucianna. (If you want to surf with me, this does not give you the right to contact me via these websites.)

I love reading and writing and reading and history and art and things like sociology, anthropology, cultural relativism. These days I'm very into linguistics. I do not know so much about pop culture or music or movies but I welcome you to tell me why I should listen to something cause I will take your suggestions (including going to a New Year's Eve rave... ... once). I am a creative food snob and coffee lover but I cannot actually drink very much caffeinated anything without going full on mile-a-minute SQUIRREL(!). You have been warned. Give me Diet Coke or coffee at your own risk.

Life is too short to be unhappy or to surround yourself with unhappy people.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To find somewhere more interesting than a hotel.

If I am traveling in your country, I can afford a hotel in your country (this includes first world developed countries). I just don't want to.

Hotels are lonely. Hotels cannot go out to dinner with you or tell you about seeing bears in Siberia. Hotels never wake you up to the smell of breakfast.

When I am hosting, I am doing my best to give back for what I have gotten.

I am very willing to host couchsurfers when I'm not traveling. Provided I'm not especially busy and you don't want to go someplace hideously boring like Sanya I will gladly play (free) tour guide for my new 'home city' and 'home province'.

I have been couchsurfing since before it was called couchsurfing. My very first experience of staying with someone I didn't know came on the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou in 2004. I was low on sleep and generally pathetic when another foreigner offered me use of one of the bedrooms in his house in the suburbs. Long story but even though I am rarely in contact with Chris I'm forever grateful to him as people who I eventually grew to knew from that chance meeting have become lifelong friends.

I registered for this site in 2008 and even though I did not stay with many people from this site, I stayed with a lot of awesome random people on my summer 2008 bike trip across China. Each of them has a weird and wonderful story associated with it: ,the bike shop, the tollbooth, the police station parking lot, the gas station, the basketball court, the long distance truck drivers who didn't think a girl should sleep in a tent, various random foreigners along the way, villagers, and much more.

In 2012, I do not think any of my couchsurfing experiences came from this site. There were also a lot less of them as I actually planned things well enough to rarely be completely without accommodation. The noodle shop owners, the Public Security Bureau officer, the random American, the National Tax Bureau Training Center Guesthouse, and the mining company offices were about it.

I've also surfed while traveling in Australia, Thailand, and France with my best beloved.

Interests

foreign languages, bikes and bicycling, medieval european history, philosophy, chocolate, cooking, lots of stuff

• arts
• culture
• writing
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• chocolate
• coffee
• dieting
• drinking
• shopping
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• basketball
• anthropology
• emergency services
• history
• languages
• sociology
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm very fond of books that have words in them. I prefer English or Chinese words. Pretty pictures are also okay.

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My musical tastes are very broad and encompass just about anything. If you have some favorites, I'd love to know.

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My tastes in movies is non-existent. I really don't care what I'm watching and I generally won't watch movies by myself. If you find it interesting, especially if you want to watch it with me (and discuss it afterwards) I'll watch it - whatever "it" is.

(And "it" has included everything from art films to bad porno.)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

learning to walk ...

... at the age of 19

learning to walk (again)...

... at the age of 28.

Teach, Learn, Share

I believe in the communicative approach when it comes to language. So be warned my Chinese tones are atrocious and my utter disregard for the rules of grammar absolutely shocking in a professional translator.

I'll also tell you more than you ever knew you wanted to know about bikes, biking, international cycling events, the minutae of the Chinese General Administration of Sport, and the etymology of this really interesting word I just learned.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories! Stories! More stories!

As mentioned above, I'm a motormouth whose had an interesting life. I've been a motormouth since around the time I learned to talk. My nickname in preschool was Princess Babbling Brook. I never did learn to do a good job at shutting up but I did learn to become a good story teller and to (generally) be interesting when I'm in the process of not shutting up. I like to think that I succeed more often than not.

Since I'm not coming by car and probably don't have a lot of luggage space to bring gifts, I'm also in the habit of treating hosts to dinner at the local restaurant of their choice.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Cayman Islands, China, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States

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