CURRENT MISSION

Trying to adjust to America once again.

ABOUT ME

I grew up in South Dakota. I studied Electrical Engineering and International Business at UofM-Twin Cities. I went off to Europe solely to partake in an internship but instead I hitchhiked and lived all over the place for two years. I am now semi-settled in Boston and am working on starting a non-profit business. Hopefully some fun people will come visit me here in Boston.

ARE YOU NEW TO COUCHSURFING?! Here are a few tips for success and safety:
1) If you are female you should BE WARY OF MALE HOSTS WHO HAVE ONLY HOSTING REFERENCES FROM FEMALES. Some hosts prey on their surfers, it’s terrible but it happens. I personally know several people this has happened to. (And also cases of older men preying on younger men.) Just because all the references are positive does not mean that person won’t expect intimacy. Many new/young couchsurfers feel pressured to not leave a negative reference for fear that nobody will believe them and/or the only reference on their profile will be a negative one. The result is a predator with 100+ positive references who then proceeds to victimize more people.

2) READ YOUR POTENTIAL HOSTS PROFILE. Hosts will often tell you what their expectations are. If you don’t read the profile before sending your request, at least read it after. This can save you from an awkward situation or from being stranded outside.

3) WRITE A PERSONALIZED REQUEST. Yes, it takes a little more time and yes, you don’t have any time to spare. But high quality hosts receive a lot of requests and they can spot a copy/paste request from a km away. In my personal experience; I can send out 30-40 copy/paste requests, receive only 20 responses, and only 1 will be a yes. Whereas; if I send out 5-7 well written requests, I often receive multiple yeses, it takes the same amount of time, AND THE HOSTS I END UP STAYING WITH ARE AWESOME!!

4) LEAVE A REFERENCE. It doesn’t matter that you do not know what to write, just write about how your host made you feel/how your host made your stay (un)enjoyable/a memory of your trip and thank them. IF YOUR HOST MADE YOU FEEL UNSAFE, write all the same things but I’d assume leave out the thank you. CS NEVER DISABLES ACCOUNTS, if you do not leave a negative reference your experience WILL happen to someone else.
That said, many surfers do not appreciate how intrusive they are on their hosts daily lives. Your host often goes out of their way to ensure that you don’t feel like you are a burden. You have no idea how smelly, messy, and resource consuming(time, extra expenses, breaking/staining things, laundry, etc, etc) a surfer can be until you start hosting yourself, haha. Not to mention, your host is probably saving you, personally, hundreds of dollars in various ways. I THINK THE BEST APPROACH IS TO TREAT YOUR HOST LIKE A VERY GOOD FRIEND THAT YOU ARE SEEING FOR THE LAST TIME, treat them with appreciation and, if you can, give them a thank you gift. LEAVE A REFERENCE THAT WILL; GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO REMEMBER YOU BY, THAT HELPS THEM FIND A COUCH WHEN THEY NEED IT, AND THAT MAKES THEM FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES FOR HELPING OUT A FELLOW HUMAN BEING ;)
I think the “praise” buttons are stupid and only serve to make people feel self-conscious, I always select all of them for everybody for all references regardless of anything else.

PHILOSOPHY

No expectations.

It can always be worse.

If you’re not getting positive feedback about who you are, you’re probably asking the wrong people.

I rarely regret anything I have done, only things that I have not done.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Since early 2008 I have been on couchsurfing. Throughout this time I have surfed quite a few times through CS, crashed many random couches outside of CS, became a flat mate a couple times, found a flat mate a couple of times, and have shared the idea of CS with I don't know how many people. During my short time while living in Amsterdam my roommate Rose and I hosted over 100 individual surfers in just a few months. (Our record was 12 at one time, not too bad if you've ever seen a flat in Amsterdam.) I have also hosted people in South Dakota and Boston since then. Because of CS I have met some very good friends and many more just plain amazing people whom I hope/can't wait to see again.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My experience has been almost nothing but good and I have met tons of really cool people from everywhere. I could list them all but I think that if you're really interested you can look at my references.

Interests

I love to eat, be outdoors, (or indoors if it involves some kind of sport ie. ice fishing, rugby, soccer, climbing) taking photos, hanging out with friends, and reaching states of pure inebriation. I like winter as long as there's snow, summer as long as I am not working sixty hours a week, and learning new things. I hate being lazy and wasting time, but that's not to say I don't mind chilling out and watching movies every once in a while ;)

• books
• mardi gras
• cooking
• marathon
• running
• movies
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• fishing
• scuba diving
• skydiving
• skiing
• sports
• rock climbing
• soccer
• rugby
• business
• engineering

Music, Movies, and Books

I like virtually every genre when it comes to movies and music as long as it is a good flick/tune I'm down.
As far as books, I basically only read the classics and non-fiction. I don't know why, I've been this way since elementary school. Maybe I find the unpredictability of real life to be much more interesting/relatable than most fiction novels.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Throughout life I have had many crazy/amazing experiences, too many to list here in detail but the shortlist is skydiving(not tandem), running 2 marathons, collegiate athlete, playing rugby in The Netherlands, St Patricks Week in Dublin, car ride through the Portuguese backcountry, conference crashing w/ a csurfer, helped clean a Bison, watched a Polish circus, sauna accompanied by ice diving, rock climbing in the Dolomites, riding bulls, running with the bulls(3 times), run over by a bull(unrelated to previous 2), oil wrestling in Vondelpark, kayaked the Alenuihāhā channel(roundtrip), 24 hour road trip to Mardi Gras in NOLA, climbing several mountains in the Alps (Matterhorn, Blanc, etc.), raucous behavior in a volcano crater, experimenting with Absinthe, Croatian Plum Brandy, brewing Danish Cider, and this list hardly touches on the harrowing stuff. So if you are interested in hearing some stories I would be glad to tell you in person.

Teach, Learn, Share

I grew up on a farm in rural America and have a broader perspective than most Americans. I know A LOT about the ag economy. People consider me very handy and also quite the cook. We can talk about anything, virtually nothing offends me ;)

I love learning, I always keep my head open to see what drops in. Sometimes the most mundane things can be very integral parts in a web of interconnected issues/perspectives. My personal favorite is learning about how people grew up.

I don't initiate flirtation with surfers/hosts because I would not want anyone to feel uncomfortable in my/their home, but you can flirt with me and I may flirt back!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I've never really been interested in money, which means I generally don't have that much, so I won't be able to able to shower my hosts in gifts or anything like that but I am interested in virtually everything else. I come in to a hosts home without expectations toward what our experience will be so what I share could be almost anything, crazy night out, simple conversation, fix a car, plant a tree, chop some wood, teach a skill, fix a computer, cook a meal, share a book, help remodel a house, or none of the above. (All real examples, haha)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Croatia, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United States

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