CURRENT MISSION

I love traveling and several friends are a part of the Couchsurfing community so I wanted to check it out!

ABOUT ME

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, then went to North Carolina State University where I studied pre-veterinary medicine. I have always loved animals (I'm also a vegetarian) and really wanted a career working with them. After working on and off for almost a decade as a vet tech, I decided it wasn't the right career for me. I tried working in wildlife rehabilitation (with dolphins, whales, and turtles), but it was too depressing as most of the animals didn't make it. Then I got a job as a keeper at a carnivore sanctuary and cared for tigers, jaguars, caracals, kinkajoos, and binturongs (look them up if you've never heard of them- they're adorable). I eventually became interested in the field of conservation after an internship at the National Zoo in Washington DC working with a pair of endangered monkeys from Brazil. This internship led me to apply to graduate school at the University of Maryland to get my degree in Conservation Biology. After school I landed a job at an NGO in Washington DC running and managing a national academic competition for high school students- it wasn't conservation, but it was a good job! If you haven't noticed by now, I get bored easily so after about 5 years in DC, I decided it was time for a big change (plus I really wanted to learn Spanish) so I applied for the Peace Corps and was accepted to serve in Guatemala. Guatemala is where I've been from 2011-2013 and I am looking forward to an awesome Central/South America trip before I head back to the States.

Interests

Traveling, running, singing, reading, journaling, and listening to podcasts

• animals
• wildlife
• singing
• vegetarian
• running
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• podcasts
• biology
• medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Cidade de Deus (City of God), All things Tarantino, Godfather I & II, Usual Suspects, Wasteland, Forrest Gump, There's Something About Mary, Mystic River, A Beautiful Mind, Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Series, Slumdog Millionaire, Shawshank Redemption, Silence of the Lambs, American History X, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful, No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood

Shows:
Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Wire, Sopranos, Dexter, Homeland, Modern Family

Music:
All of it!

Books:
I Know This Much is True- Wally Lamb, Born to Run- Christopher McDougall, A Long Way Gone- Ishmael Beah, One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel García Márquez, The Alchemist- Paulo Coehlo, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle- Barbara Kingsolver, A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Ok I can't pick just one- mine all have to do with wildlife:
1) Feed and care for a baby sperm whale
2) Watch a lion kill in Kenya
3) Hand feed an epileptic tiger her meds
4) See a humpback whale breach off the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Guatemala, United States