Hi! I grew up in Iowa and moved to New York City in 2006. I've been lucky to call it home ever since.

I'm a filmmaker (first assistant director, in case that means something to you); I work on commercials and feature films, and I make my own movies when I get the chance. I love live music and books and food and adventuring, like pretty much all of you on here :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I was pretty active in the CS scene from 2009-2011; sadly, my roommates aren't into having guests, so I haven't been able to host much. I'm looking to travel again soon and am excited to get back into CouchSurfing!

What a wonderful community. What a great way to travel and meet new friends.

Right now I'm studying Arabic (Levantine), and I'd like to test my skills anywhere that language is spoken.

Interests

Live music. I'm partial to opera, classical and jazz, but I love being in any audience. I love cinema when it's a community experience; TVs are useful, but there's nothing like seeing a movie with a crowd.

When I travel I like walking the streets, eating the local food, and hearing the local music. For me the main point is to do things that you absolutely can't do anywhere else.

I'm passionate about languages. If I wasn't working in film I'd probably want to do linguistics or something. There's a feedback loop in my travel interests and my language study: doing more of one makes me want to do more of the other.

• books
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• walking
• movies
• traveling
• drawing
• music
• live music
• jazz
• opera
• languages
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Jazz (especially 1950-75)
Classical/ Opera (especially 1850-1950)
Classic rock, blues, Johnny Cash

Books: Persistent favorites are Salman Rushdie, David Foster Wallace, Etgar Keret, Haruki Murakami. Just read some Neil Gaiman for the first time and loved it.

Movies: The weird and funny, the genre-bending, the slap-stick happy, and good ol' well-built dramas. Right now my favorite movie is "Eyes Wide Shut."

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

With no previous hitchhiking experience, I detoured from a traditional Trans-Siberian journey and hitchhiked for five days in Siberia. If you ever want reassurance that there are good people in the world, I recommend hitchhiking.

Teach, Learn, Share

I dabble in many things: several languages, photography, cooking, drawing. I'm not a prodigy at any of them but I'd love to share anything I can!

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Canada, China, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Spain, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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