Hey everyone! I'm Derek and I'm excited about the chance to get to know new people when I travel/host. Currently I work in insurance in West Michigan. I grew up in the area, swam in college at Grand Valley State University and started coaching/teaching high school students. After getting my masters degree at Wisconsin, Go Badgers! For the last year I've been working in insurance.

Hobbies including photography, scuba diving, exercising, traveling, hanging out with friends and in general being goofy.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been lucky enough to travel to a lot of great places around the world. Most of the time I've been able to stay with family (lots of family in Western Europe and a missionary who has gone from Africa to the Philippines) but I'm excited to start couchsurfing and begin hosting surfers (West Michigan is cooler than you think, come check it out!).

Interests

• photography
• swimming
• scubadiving
• exercising

Music, Movies, and Books

I love every type of music, literally. My main listens are country, house/electronic, and rock/pop. Kenny Chesney, John Mayer, Avicii, Dave Matthews, 3LAU...

I'm a big book fan and enjoy series like Dirk Pitt, Sean Dillon, and Jack Reacher

Similar to music I like a wide range of movies. Comedy classics like Heavyweights, the Wedding Singer, Meet the Parents, or action like the Patriot, James Bond

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A fun story related to travel is when I was in St. Kitts for a scuba diving liveaboard. The island is basically just a large volcano that I wanted to climb. I took a local bus around the island and found a guy who did some "growing" up the crater, whatever that means haha. We made a deal for him to guide me up, but we had the do the first half through solid jungle while we went around the gated off resort. Once we were on the path it was relatively easy hiking, but in total the round trip took just over 6 hours and we did it all splitting 1 bottle of water and a bag of skittles. My feast once I got back into town was epic!

Teach, Learn, Share

No shortage of random, useless facts. I love listening to podcasts like Stuff You Should Know and I'm always looking to learn and excited to share. I'm big into photography and would love to go shoot with locals or share any of my photos. Also always looking for insight into how I can get better and improve.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Positivity! I have a great energy and will be a pleasant guest for anyone to host. I love to learn and share about all walks of life.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin (French part), Sweden, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Philippines