CURRENT MISSION

MFA Creative Writing

ABOUT ME

I love to travel. Its my favorite way to learn about the world we live in, other cultures and myself. I like to stay off the beaten path and try to avoid tourism hubs. I'm attending a residency for my MFA this summer in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before that I'll spend a week in Portugal and a week in Spain and France. After my MFA I'll be heading east toward the Balkans; Montenegro or Latvia.

PHILOSOPHY

"Be ashamed to die until you've won a victory for humanity." Horace Mann-Antioch College Founder.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm brand new to this but I studied abroad in Eastern Europe in 2004 and enjoyed two home stays with locals in Krakow, Poland and Berlin, Germany. Both experiences gave me life-long friends to visit in Europe! I'm currently just surfing. I look forward to learning more about this unique program.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'm brand new to this experience. I hope to couch surf in the South of France and possibly Scotland this summer.

Interests

I'm a fiction writer in a graduate MFA program in Creative Writing at Eastern Kentucky University. I will pursue a doctorate in literature once my MFA is completed. I currently work as a senior staff member (waitress with too many responsibilities) at a Bohemian eatery and performance space called Natasha's. Natasha's has a sister, nonprofit theater company (Balagula) that I'm involved with from time to time. I've been acting, singing and writing for most of my life.

I have a Labrador named Myrtle that I love more than anything, and a cat named Iche that is a lion in a cat's body. She attacks Myrtle and Myrtle has 60+ pounds on the cat!

My favorite authors are Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Nabokov, John Irving, Hemingway, Herman Hesse, Foucault, Eduardo Galeano, Toni Morrison,Franz Kafka, Barbara Kingsolver, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Atwood and Flannery O'Connor-to name a few. I have strong ties to poetry (Rumi, Khahil Gibran, E.E. Cummings, Slyvia Plath, Ruth Stone, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Witkiewicz, There's a draw to the theater; Antonin Artaud, Beckett, Shakespeare, Ionesco, Adamov, Buchner, Pirandello and Virgina Woolf.

I like to consider myself a World Citizen, but its been a while since I've left the US & I'm looking forward to going abroad. I speak many languages (badly) and I love to learn new languages and see historic and culturally rich places.

I adore animals; dogs (are my favorite), cats, birds, cows, pigs, giraffes, all animals, even snakes, but they scare me. I'm not a vegetarian but I try to be aware of my habits.

Basically I like all things honest and kind. We will get along if you are a seasoned traveler with a penchant for doing the right thing. I tend to be friends with fellow altruists who employ passionate logic and thoughtfulness to their daily routines.

• animals
• cats
• dogs
• birds
• writing
• literature
• poetry
• singing
• theater
• performing arts
• acting
• education
• vegetarian
• traveling
• drawing
• surfing
• teaching
• languages
• logic
• tourism
• parks
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I like all types of film. My favorites are the ones my friends make. I studied Media Arts and Political Science during my undergraduate studies and feel very comfortable holding a camera. Part of my reason (beside the MFA residency) to go to Europe is to take as many pictures as possible.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've driven across the United States three times alone. While it was stressful and logistically complicated, the trips gave me a cultural identity that I lacked beforehand. There's lots of great things about the USA, but the best part is the landscape. The Rocky mountains and the national parks in Utah (Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands) are so pretty it's surreal.

Teach, Learn, Share

Traveling to another country offers an education that nothing else can. The ability to listen to people speak foreign languages and remain in a quiet state of listening and speaking another language clumsily and purposefully can endear you to locals like nothing else. I find that the willingness to adopt a country's cultural skills opens a person from a tourist to a traveler, and you find you're right where you were supposed to be.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States