CURRENT MISSION

Travel India!!

ABOUT ME

I've traveled a bit in Asia and Europe, and love to talk about world news, international relations, etc. I love traveling and trying new foods- recently I knocked off "blowfish" and "Scorpion" from my list!

I've done work in the following ways:

-Backpacking camp counselor in the Rocky Mountains

-Environmental non-profit Field Manager

-Obama campaign field staff in Ohio, 2008

-English teacher in Japan until March 2011

-Financial Services, CT, USA (present)

I know I'll meet some awesome people while I'm traveling, so I'm looking forward to my upcoming trips quite a bit!

PHILOSOPHY

If you treat people well, they'll always return the favor. And if they don't, you should just laugh it off!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted several people while living in Osaka, Japan, and had a lot of fun showing them the city!

I think it's cool that you can spend so little time traveling or hanging out with someone, and yet stay in touch through this web site for years. CS is the best global networking tool I've seen yet.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

On a vacation several years ago in Japan, some friends and I were taking a ferry from Osaka to Kyushu, and we made a friend in the ferry terminal in Osaka. We exchanged info, and he invited us to stay at his place in Miyazaki if we were headed out that way. We took him up on the offer, and had a great night partying in Miyazaki and relaxing and hanging out the next day on the tennis courts. His and his family's hospitality left a really good impression on me and we had a lot of fun... I expect couchsurfing to be like that!

Interests

New experiences, frisbee, soccer, good coffee and beer, new languages, different cultures, and being outdoors.

I really love politics and international relations, and I keep up to date with current events.

I love watching the World Cup when it comes around, and am contemplating picking up a new hobby: a private pilot's license!

• beer
• coffee
• partying
• politics
• news
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• backpacking
• camping
• soccer
• tennis
• world cup
• teaching
• international relations
• languages
• law
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Haruki Murakami, Under the Care of the Fatherly Leader (North Korea), Mao: The Untold Story (China), etc. I've read Obama's books, and am currently reading books about Japanese economic and social history.

I do also read lighter things like junk political-fiction thrillers!

As for music, I don't have a genre.. but I like Prodigy, Digitalism, David Guetta, DJ Tiesto, etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I worked on Obama's campaign for president. Among the highlights was blitzing downtown Cleveland in the last 90 minutes before the voting registration deadline, and shouting out the window of our moving car to ask young adults if they were registered to vote and signing up 12 people at the last minute, then racing to the only post office open til midnight, at the airport, to stamp the mailing envelope at 11:59pm.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, I worked on Obama's presidential election campaign... so I suppose I can tell you a little bit about working for him and organizing an entire community! I've had other jobs that involved me going door-to-door and raising money for an environmental non-profit organization, and my people skills and ability to "read" people and learn how to control a conversation have proven very helpful for me. I also spent 30 hours a week teaching Japanese people English, and I think I've also learned a fair bit about Japanese mannerisms from that and also my daily life while living in Osaka.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, United Arab Emirates

Countries I’ve Lived In

Denmark, Japan, United States