Hi! I'm Emily, born in the American Midwest and currently residing in Cambridge, MA. At various times in my life I've lived on the East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and China (Beijing). I'm new to Couchsurfing, and very excited to use it in my travels! I'm an optimist, who finds that things have a way of working out because it's up to you to interpret what happens to you.

Other things about me:
I'm a sucker for live performances of any kind and love theater, live music, and dance. I've loved to draw ever since I was little, and my favorite mediums are watercolor, ink, and acrylic. I play the violin, and started to play the guitar about a year ago (just chords, no fingerstyle), and love to sing, though I'm not very good at it. I also love exploring new places and the great outdoors, and hate staying inside for too long, which is probably why I like travelling so much.

During high school I worked as a street artist doing portraits, a street canvasser for the city, a research assistant in a biology lab, a manufacturing and hardware intern at a 3-D printing company, and a computer science intern at a research institute. I'm thinking about majoring in computer science in college, but hope to find time for pursuing the other things I love as well.

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

I really love meeting and talking to people from different places, and I'm currently on a gap year before college, travelling on a budget. Since my favorite thing about travelling is building connections with the people and learning their stories, Couchsurfing seemed like a great way to merge the two. It makes life so much easier to know someone where you're travelling, and I also think meeting people outside of your regular circle of friends is really important for expanding your horizons.

Interessen

• performing arts
• cooking
• crafts
• reading
• painting
• drawing
• hiking
• languages
• activism

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

Convinced my parents to let me travel alone.

Just kidding. I'm not too sure about this section, as I've never climbed to the top of Mt. Everest or anything, but I love adventure, and I still have plenty of time to accumulate great stories. I'm planning to bike around the island of Taiwan in Jan/Feb, and want to hike the Appalachians at some point. I can lick my elbow, which some people find amazing, and I also rowed for 7 seasons in high school despite being 5'3 (160 cm) tall, which is also sort of amazing.

Lehren, lernen, teilen

I'm not a teacher or a professional, but I can teach drawing, painting, and sketching to beginners, particularly portraits. I can also teach basic conversational Mandarin.

I want to learn about other people's experiences, and hear their stories.
I also want to learn speak/understand Cantonese, but it's a very difficult language, so that might be a goal for the distant future.

Länder, die ich besucht habe

China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Italy, Taiwan, United States

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

China, Taiwan, United States