"A ship is safe in the harbour, but that's not what ships are for."

***EDIT: Yahoooooo - another update, I am now based in Cairo, Egypt. I am going on year 4! Somehow I’ve managed to fall in love and settle down. I’m spending the summer in Lebanon and hope to see what this beautiful little country has to offer.

I’m a Canadian based in Berlin, Germany. I've just returned to Europe after living for 14 months in Hanoi, Vietnam. As far as places lived goes, it's quite a list - Berlin, Hanoi, Barcelona, Istanbul, Damascus, Athens, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Victoria. Some for a year, some for a few months. Places travelled, is a bigger list. I think out of the last ten years, I've maybe spent cumulatively one in Canada. The rest has been overseas.

While I was in Vietnam, the plan was to spend the 6 months post, travelling the Maghreb. Algeria evidentially only issues visas from your home country and Libya wants 600 euro for a business visa, so I've decided to head south instead. February to August of this year will see me in Morocco, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Egypt. I'll be travelling with a friend for one month in Morocco but after that it's me, myself and I :)

I am a freelance photographer, specializing mostly in protest and combat photography. I also have some medical training from working as an EMT and have helped out with a few NGO's. I worked for Doctors without Borders for some time in the Middle East and Africa. As of right now the end goal for me is working in international relations and diplomacy in the Middle East but I still have a couple degrees and a long road before that happens. To supplement things and keep myself on the move, I have become quite creative - I've bounced between photography, writing, teaching english, nanny'ing - all work I really enjoy but I especially like working with kids. I've been a vegetarian for more than ten years now. I move around a lot so I’m pretty good at making quick but strong connections with people. I love learning new languages and am currently finding out that learning Arabic is not for the faint of heart.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

While the landscape of a country can be breathtaking, I believe that the heart of a culture lies within the people. That's why I travel, I want to learn the heart and soul of a place and multiple Russians have told me that the best place to get to know someone is at the kitchen table. Couchsurfing has really taken me all around the world and now that I finally have a place of my own, I’m happy to host.

I love the idea of this project and have had amazing experiences in so far, but like with all things, there are going to be kinks to work out and people who abuse the system. I will take this opportunity to touch on how important references are: If you have a good experience (and this goes for hosts too) write about it! It's shit when you write a reference for a great host and it goes unreciprocated, it kind of makes you feel like you weren't a great guest; spread the love guys! If you have a bad experience, you were made to feel uncomfortable or your safety has been compromised PLEASE PLEASE write a negative reference. This site is about helping people and if you don't write a negative reference out of fear of these people writing you a bad one in response (which, they're 9 times out of 10 going to do anyway) you're not helping anyone. The person after you might be put in the same situation and the negativity will keep spreading downwards. Stand up for yourself if you feel uncomfortable - sleeping outside is better than sleeping with someone that you don't want to. Do your fellow travellers and yourself a favour and use your voice. Anyone who has any experience in CS can see right through bullshit references left by these assholes anyway, just include something about the situation in your couch request.

Interests

Music, reading, writing, photography, travel.

I'm usually always traveling and the only negative point about that is because it means I spend a lot of time away from the people I love but whenever I'm in the mountains or have my toes in the sea, it feels like they're right beside me - so having one of the two nearby is imperative for the wellness of my heart.

Miscellaneous:
Eating organic is pretty important to me but I also have advil in a bowl in my kitchen that I eat like candy so idk. I love dogs, hate birds. Could absolutely live off of avocados, chickpeas, fresh cracked pepper and sriracha. I'm not one of these fools that can't finish the ginger they buy and I drown everything I eat in fresh lemon. I love good quality olive oil. The volume of my hair directly correlates with my emotions. I have a genuine fear of the people staffing Russian trains and so should you tbh. Brought up on West Coast hip hop. Listening to Chopin in the snow might be my favourite thing and I exposed a roll of film once. Give me all the crunchy leaves in October. Living in Berlin, I've gotten pretty into cycling and carbonated Yerba maté. I question people who don't drink coffee because I never managed to get into tea. Fresh Moroccan mint tea is different. Windowsill herb gardens are my specialty.

• culture
• writing
• photography
• education
• vegetarian
• organic food
• motorcycles
• gardening
• reading
• music
• cycling
• bungee jumping
• teaching
• freelancing
• languages
• philosophy
• solo travel
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: I've never been a movie buff, but I really enjoy Miyazaki's stuff. Tarantino scares me a bit but in a good way and if I had to spend the rest of my life growing old in a film it would be "A Mood for Love" by Wong Kar-Wai.

Authors/ Books:
My reading tastes have evolved over the years and I found that I can get behind almost any genre. I used to be quite a stickler for classics but have fallen in love with some contemporary authors in recent days. Russian literature for the grey months, Miller, Bukowski and Cohen when you're feeling like shit, DH Lawrence when you've got a good view and almost any sort of poetry to keep the edges soft.

HOWEVER, Paulo Coelho and anyone who falls for his shit can fuck right off.

Music: This is a big one. I love acoustic and folk music like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkle, The Tallest Man on Earth, Shakey Graves, Gregory Alan Isakov, Leif Vollebekk, Johnny Flynn, Deer Tick, Neil Young, Joe Purdy - this list is infinite. I'm also really into the chiller areas of electronic like Nicolas Jaar, John Talabot, Glass Animals, ODESZA, Onra, Kaytranada, and Blue Hawaii. With electro I tend to be more track based than artist or dj based. I'm very into hip hop of all forms - old school, r&b, underground, but west coast best coast for pumping out rappers. That being said, even though wutang takes up the largest part of my heart, I always melt for Biggie.

Shout outs to Ottoman techno, early 2000's Polish disco, Balkan beats, swing electro and Sean Paul. If there's one musical genre I hold très cher à mon coeur, it's 90's female power pop (La Bouche, TLC, Salt 'N' Peppa)

Misc. pop culture of interest:
Putin's holiday photos

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Definitely bungee jumping naked.

Also, I'm impossible to kidnap.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you all the words to "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A. and I make fantastic smoothies.
I can also chop your firewood and tend to your livestock.

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Egypt, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Niger, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Western Sahara

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Viet Nam