CURRENT MISSION

To meet people with different ideas than mine

ABOUT ME

Recently graduated from college on the East Coast, I'm now exploring the Western one. I try to be mindful and open-minded person and am always up to trying new things and adventuring. Meeting someone new always makes my day.

PHILOSOPHY

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how"

My "why" is to make the world, in whatever small way, a more just and sustainable place to spend our time in. I believe that people are experts about themselves and their communities, and that empowering these people can lead to insightful and much-needed change.

I trust in idealism; what hope can we have if we dare not dream. And I seek pragmatism, for a dream is nothing if not fought for.

Ideology is close-mindedness and exclusionary; it can only be harmful.

We must seek to improve ourselves as we improve our environments.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Just surfing and sharing experiences, but hoping to soon host.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've surfed in Italy with some fantastic folks. I have some great stories from staying with folks in Florence and Rome.

Interests

People, Cities, Food, Environmental Policy, Art House and Foreign Cinema, Literature, Urban Design, Spoken Word Poetry, Sustainable Contemporary Design, Urban Agriculture, Snowboarding, Biking.

• arts
• literature
• poetry
• design
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• gardening
• movies
• socializing
• spoken word
• cycling
• surfing
• skiing
• snowboarding
• rock climbing
• agriculture

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Rusko, Animal Collective, Architecture in Helsinki, Arctic Monkeys, Battles, Bjork, Bloody Beetroots, Burial, Citizen Cope, Counting Crows, Crystal Castles, Michael Franti and Spearhead, The Decemberists, The Felice Brothers, Flaming Lips, Benga, WordSmith, Saul Williams, Gnarls Barkley, Islands, Llove, LCD Soundsystem, Radiohead, Reverend Peyton and the Big Damn Band, Santiogold, The Sugarcubes, 3, The Toxic Avenger, Vampire Weekend, Triangle Forest,

Books: 100 Years of Solitude, Dave Eggers (Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Zeitoun, You Will Know Our Velocity, What is the What) Kerouac (On the Road, Dharma Bums), Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Catch-22, The Stranger, The Master and Margarita, The Kite Runner, The Pearl, Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Film: P.T. Anderson, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Coen Brothers, Chris Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, David Fincher, Hitchcock (what an innovator), Martin Scorsese, Terry Gilliam, Charlie Kaufman, Tarantino, The 400 Blows, Children of Paradise, After the Wedding, Run Lola Run, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Magnolia, Barton Fink,Memento, Insomnia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Synecdoche, New York, The Usual Suspects, Amores perros, Chinatown, 3:10 to Yuma, Pan's Labyrinth, Into the Wild and so many more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Been accepted into the household of nearly complete strangers on the edge of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and had a mattress, breakfast and shower all provided. I couldn't verbally communicate with everyone in the house, but that didn't prove to be a problem.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: Spanish, English, improvisation, critical thinking, gardening, biking, rock climbing, skiing, cooking.

Countries I’ve Visited

Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Denmark, United States