My background is in Water Planning and Policy, Civil Engineering and Hydrogeology, and Water Journalism. In 2012, I founded an online water media and education nonprofit (WaterCitizen), which includes a Media outlet. We are expanding into virtual transformational mastermind programs for Women of Water and other underrepresented and undersupported Water Professionals; Water Startup Matching events (with a commitment to diverse founders and programs that support them); and the Water Workforce Crisis. I work from home or wherever I can get work done on my laptop or phone. If I am traveling to your city, chances are it is for some sort of water-related conference, although I do try to schedule in time to visit with my hosts when I can and if they are available!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

PLEASE READ: BEFORE CHECKING REFERENCES: Why am I on Couchsurfing? Two reasons mainly:

* First, because I used to love to travel and experience new cultures, and found that my most memorable experiences where those where I had the opportunity to connect with people who lived in the placed I was visiting and to see their cities through their eyes;

* Second, because I spent 15 years playing rugby, as well as many years volunteering to support production of personal development events. In both cases, it part of the culture for local hosts to provide "billeting" (free housing) for out-of-town guests - often not fancy guest accomodations, sometimes just a couch or an air mattress, but it was part of the "home team" responsibility to offer accomodations to those who were traveling from afar.

Coming from this background, I was very excited to join the Couchsurfing.Com Community in 2011, to get to know local hosts while traveling, happy to travel on a budget while starting a new nonprofit. I LOVED THE COUCHSURFING CULTURE. Since I was living in a large house on Capitol Hill with subletters, I could rarely host other than at Christmas when the fall renters had already left and the Winter renters had not yet arrived, but I had some wonderful experiences with hosts all over the continent, several of whom were kind enough to leave references (which wasn't as big of a thing at the time).

Having been both a host and a guest in such arrangements so often prior to joining Couchsurfing, I always made it a point of communicating with my hosts (or guests) to ensure we were both clear on whether they wanted time to hang out and get to know each other (which some hosts wanted to do, benefitting from the cultural exchange aspects of Couchsurfing), or whether they were too busy to hang out but just wanted to support travelers with a place to stay. I did my best to check ahead of time whether the space was likely to work out (e.g. if it was accessible by public transportation, what the bedding was like, whether wifi was available), and then to communicate when I arrived about expectations for neatness, use of common spaces (use of kitchen and bathroom), etc. - just generally being open and mature in communications.

Since the last several years have been spent developing my nonprofit, and most of my travels have been for related meetings and conferences (which I can attend free as media), I also communciated my schedule - often offering to arrive early or stay late before or after the conference if I'm staying with a host who wanted to hang out.

Since I recognize that this is a cultural exchange and an opportunity to be a guest in someone's home, if things are a little off - e.g. if we don't quite click, or if the place was messy or the host was a little late or if things aren't quite as described (e.g. the time I came to a home where they guy assued me he had a comfortable air mattress but when I got there he said he couldn't find the air mattress and only had a love seat - not even a full couch to sleep on) - then I typically don't post negative reviews because I wouldn't want to damage someone else's profile. People are different and that's part of the travel experience.

In those first few years with Couchsurfing (2011-2015) I had many positive experiences, as reflected in my references. More recently, however, I've had experienced with younger hosts who seem to either:
1) be looking for guests who would drop everything to party with them and get mad if you didn't entertain them OR
2) be fine during the stay - not communicating if there was something they were unhappy about - and then seemed to feel some moral obligation to WARN people about some transgression or otherwise felt the need to leave negative reviews - including reviews containing gross inaccuracies or just flat out lies (this has happened to me twice).

Unfortunately, Couchsurfing only allows 260 characters to "clarify" reviews left by others . So, since it appears that my chances of ever getting a Couchsurfing host again (unless you're still reading and also miss the old Couchsurfing culture, as I do), I thought it was about time I addressed these negative reviews on my profile, in chronological order:

1) MELISSA G., Milwaukee, WI, July 2016 - after 5 years on Couchsurfing, I received my FIRST EVER negative review, and I was shocked. This was actually a challenging situation in that the woman was staying in a house that had been owned by her mother, who had recently died, and she and her boyfriend were just staying there while setting up an estate sale. I had arrived a day before my conference to prepare for an important meeting so, before I accepted the offer to stay, I had asked her whether she had internet, which she assured me she had. When I got there, however, she had already cancelled the internet. In addition, the city was doing some work on the water lines so the water was out part of the time. So I ended up having to find other places to work - resulting in her complaint in my review that I "didn't communicate with her about when I was coming back." There was also a morning when her boyfriend made coffee and offered me a cup, which I accepted - in the review, Melissa then accused me of making myself her coffee "without asking" and treating her place like an AirBnB (NOT TRUE.). I posted a short response to clarify but assumed she was stressed about losing her Mom - again, this was my FIRST EVER negative review.

2) CALEB COX, Royal Oaks, CA, Aug 2016. With this one, I accept the responsibility for having to ask to extend my stay another night when the person I was supposed to stay with next backed out. He said he was ok with that, and also had no complaints while I was there - I was staying on the couch in his living room and did my best to keep my belongings together and tidy. He told me this was his first time ever hosting and that he was just about to leave the Navy (he had an impeccably clean home). I was surprised that he chose to give me a negative review because he was "midly annoyed."

3) GRACE STETSON: Chicago, USA (her profile now says NY although she apparently has moved to CA since the pandemic). Oct. 2017. THIS HOST WAS AWFUL AND HER "REVIEW" IS A TOTAL FABRICATION. I had stayed at an AirBnB during a conference, although I had considered the possibility of staying at an AirBNB. I noticed that this Host was a Journalism student and, as the head of a Media Outlet who was attending the conference on a Press Pass, I reached out to her and we began exchanging messages. She expressed interest in learning more about what I was doing and I offered to arrange my trip to stay an extra day after the conference SOLELY for the purpose of meeting with her and her students and to give a presentation to the Journalism students.

At the end of the conference, I checked out of my AirBnB to meet Grace at her school. At the Water Conference, one of the Water Utilities had produced beer with potable reuse water. I brought a 4-pack of this collectors item beer and offered Grace ONE BEER. She snatched the entire 4-pack out of my hands and she and her classmate chugged all four beers. She then raced off to the train while I struggled to keep up while dragging my roller bag behind me. I don't know where she got the idea that I "expected her to pay for my train" but by the time we got off the train to her stop, she was practically running down the street as if she were trying to lose me - I could barely find her place while she raced a half block ahead of me!

Grace drank more when we got to the house while I tried to sleep on the air mattress on the floor. I woke up early the next day and worked on my presentation for the students while waiting for Grace to wake up. She ended up waking up late and was upset that she was going to be late for class - SO I OFFERED TO GET US AN UBER SO SHE WOULDN'T BE LATE FOR CLASS. The Uber driver couldn't find her address, so we had to walk a block to find the Uber. Grace was angry and surley as I tried to work with the Uber Driver to open the trunk to get my roller bag in the back (but accused me of being rude in her "review).

We got to campus, and I continued working on my presentation for the Medill students while Grace was in class. Finally, she and a few of her classmates showed up for my presentation, where I shared with them some of the cutting edge approaches we were using on our Media sites, and discussed some of the realities of working in Journalism - which they apparently didn't want to hear (she complained in her review that I had "belittled" her and her classmates). When we finished, she began yelling at me to leave and told me I couldn't stay in the building. I went to the airport, and came home to find this horrible, LIBELOUS review - for a one-night stay with a couchsurfing host I only stayed with because she and her classmates wanted me to make a special presentation for them!

After staying off Couchsurfing for the next 5 years, I thoguht it would be safe to return after COVID when Couchsurfing became a paid service. Unfortunately, I ran into a two more problem Hosts - including one (Cristina & Ghosty, San Antonio, TX, USA June 2022) who left me a negative review when I had to cancel my trip and didn't even stay with her, and a second (Aventures2012, Louisville, KY, USA, July 2023) who left me a postive review and then, after leaving me multiple messages DEMANDING a positive review (which I hadn't had a chance to do while I was still traveling and catching up on follow-up when I got back, although I did, in fact, leave her a positive review, although she was a little bit of a nut and told me I had to get out early in the morning before her boyfriend found out I was there, which I was doing anyway for an early flight), she sent me a friend request solely for the purpose of writing a second, negative review just on the basis of her having read prior negative reviews AFTER she left me a positive review!

Here's her original positive review:
"Glad to have the opportunity to host, Cat. She was a great Couchsurfer. I hosted her for one evening. We also went to the Scottish Shakespeare play at Central Park - which was fun. Cat communicated her plans; was clean; was adaptable and was friendly. I loved to learn about her passion for all things water including learning about her water related non profit. Glad our paths connected and I hope we will meet again somewhere - in Kentucky- in the USA or somewhere in the World,"

I do still want to believe that there are good people in the world - and if I send you a couchsurfing request, it means I think you'd be an interesting person to get to know, someone who understands what CS is - or was. If you have any questions or concerns about hosting me based on these unfortunate past hosts' reviews, PLEASE take the time to respond or set up a call - I am happy to talk before finalizing arrangement!

Interests

I used to play and coach rugby and other team sports (soccer, hockey) but mostly just do yoga or workout. I used to sing with bands, choirs, and a cappella groups but my voice is very out of shape. I love movies and live music.

• photography
• education
• coach
• traveling
• music
• live music
• sports
• business
• communications
• teaching
• journalism
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

OMG so many!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The Galapagos, China, Eastern Europe. Launching a nonprofit from scratch!

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach about water for a living so would rather not stay up all night to talk about water BUT am happy to talk for a while about cool stuff going on in water and ESPECIALLY how to capture stories about water and the amazing people who work in water - if you're in entertainment, journalism, photography or film, water recreation, sports, online education, I'm fascinated!

What I Can Share with Hosts

If you want to get better at virtual engagement, or start an online business based on your expertise, I can help!

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Switzerland, Taiwan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, England, United States