CURRENT MISSION

The Amazing Race didn't want me, so I'll make my own adventure!

ABOUT ME

I love international exchange and I'm thrilled with trying out this project! I'm a goofy girl, always looking out for new experiences and meeting new and different people....and I love traveling. Sure, our world these days might just be a global village, but isn't fun to stop by and chat with all your neighbors? My best traveling experiences have always come from the people that I meet and I'm looking forward to meeting other couch surfers...either at my place or yours!

PHILOSOPHY

I'm an idealist...there are so many things wrong with the world right now, but I believe that we can make them all right.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a new member, so I haven't hosted anyone yet and conveniently I'm going on a trip now. I will promise that if I'm hosted I'll do all I can to "pay it forward" -- host others (or hopefully my new friends/hosts) either at my home in the US or wherever I'm residing at the time. For what it's worth, I've often had couchsurfing guests, though not necessarily through this website.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've both couchsurfed and provided couches in the past. My experiences are pretty international -- I've lived in Japan, Switzerland, the Philippines, and Palau, so I'm always so happy when I get the chance to show my friends around my home. I also participated in the Japanese version of couch-surfing -- "tatami timeshare." As for interesting adventures, a friend of a friend introduced me to someone working at the UN in Geneva when I was a college student. He invited us to drinks in the delegates dining room and it was so exciting to see all the diplomats in the 50s style UN bar.

Interests

I'm a new scuba diving enthusiast, having lived in Palau for the past year. Strangely, I've never done it anywhere else so I'm anxious to do more diving in different locales. I am also a huge fan of theater of all sorts -- from fringe to cultural dances. And karaoke...I'm a sucker for standing up in front of people and making a fool of myself.

• theater
• dining
• running
• drinking
• traveling
• karaoke
• surfing
• scuba diving
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Apropos to this website, Umberto Eco's Travels in Hyperreality is my favorite essay in his collection right now. This one essay changed the way I looked at my travels. I loved Stranger than Fiction, too, and I love silly, goofy comedies.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm not sure how one becomes an international woman of mystery, but I'm trying...I've been para-gliding in the foothills of Mount Fuji, running with the cows coming down from the mountains in Guyere, Switzerland (not quite the bulls, but hey, I don't have a deathwish!), and go diving every weekend in the underwater wonder of the world that is Palau.