hey soon-to-be friends :)

24 yrs old😊
united states born and raised🇺🇸
chicagoland🌆
english teacher in paris🇫🇷
former film student🎬
alumni of the university of alabama🐘
catholic☧
intj🤘
wanderlust ! 20 countries and counting... 🌍

here are a few of my philosophies -

be awake for the now.... "for the present is the point where time touches eternity." cliché but, something i have to recommit to every day, every hour, every minute.

live with rather than among... i'm a 95% introvert at heart. but one of the most beautiful things we have as humans is our ability to connect and share and hold each other up. we don't have to be extroverts to empathize and find joy in doing life together

let yourself change and be changed...don't let fear in any of its forms keep you from growing!

go beyond what you think you can do.... challenges, challenges, challenges, making yourself uncomfortable to become a person people want to know

what i'm super into:

reading/literature - i'm addicted to my kindle and currently working my way through my insanely long reading list i didn't have time for while in university

writing- i'm a published poet !! ✏ only one very unknown book but still .. im proud 🤗 anyway i don't make enough time to write but i try to keep up with it.. so maybe if we really get along you can read some :) love sharing my poetry as well

other stuff...i play volleyball, i find language super interesting and i love studying it (learning french right now...slowly haha), i'm a fan of american football🏈, playing the piano is my stress reliever, please recommend me books or music !!!!, music festivals in summer is one of my favorite places to be, love traveling by train the most, i love listening to soundtracks, i can drive for a really long time by myself (america is big 🗺), once i met chance the rapper's entire family 😂, i believe in personality types🙃, i used to have pet snakes, i long board but i'm pretty bad at it🤷, can't think of anything else...gotta meet me for more :)

Ps; Please don't add me as a friend unless we have met - it makes it easier for me to remember all the friends I make while I travel. Feel free to send messages anytime though!

Pss; I can't really host right now because i just graduated school and when i'm not an au pair i guess i live with my parents ! otherwise you are welcome whenever i am stable 😊

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm here because I've been traveling for a while now and there's been times that I feel like I've missed something, and those are always times that I never got to make a personal connection wherever I went. There's more to travel than checking off things on your itinerary and I don't want to miss the culture because I don't know where to find it.

I also love meeting new people and hearing their stories and opinions, and being able to share my own. We all become so interesting to each other during travel, when we get to share our different experiences and culture. I usually travel by myself, so Couchsurfing is a great way to find good company wherever I am.

I've spent a year of my life now living abroad and I've found that you can't learn anything about culture until you've opened yourself up to its people. I've been absolutely and completely transformed by all that I've learned about French culture up close and personal during my time here. I hope that Couchsurfing can offer me a mini-taste of that kind of experience.

Interests

• animals
• poetry
• photography
• film making
• music festivals
• reading
• traveling
• music
• piano
• catholic
• volleyball
• philosophy
• solo travel
• food
• learning languages
• film
• learning new things
• discussion
• france
• paris
• new cultures
• playing piano
• creative writing
• big cities

Music, Movies, and Books

music: depends on my mood and the situation. i like a lot of indie folk/rock. vague but: i tend to like stuff that's really lyrically introspective or poetic, stuff that's slow and sad, or stuff that i would describe as "driving with the windows down" songs.... some favorites - arctic monkeys/ mumford+sons/alt-j/sleeping at last/gregory alan isakov/bon iver/city+colour....

A tale of 2 cities!
currently reading: les misérables

Movies are a little more difficult - i actually studied film at university but i don't find a lot of time to watch them. i love animated movies and documentaries. one of my very random favorites was this Polish film I saw at a film festival in north carolina called "All these Sleepless Nights."

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

one? :)

☆ couchsurfing of course 😊
☆graduated magna cum laude from university !!!!!! 🎓
☆ moved to europe for 2 1/2 years and counting.... 🇪🇺
☆ many many USA roadtrips 😎
☆ took a ferry from croatia to italy
☆ spent mardi gras in new orleans two years in a row sleeping in my car
☆ saw the northern lights in iceland while swimming in the blue lagoon hot springs
☆ cliff jumping in croatia
☆ got a media pass to lollapalooza ♩
☆ went to the top of mt vesuvius in italy
☆ bathed in the springs at lourdes
☆ WWOOFing in western ireland 🌿
☆ workaway with dogs in scottish highlands 🐶
☆ 5 weeks backpacking trip in europe 🚅 4 month backpacking trip (summer 2018)
etc etc etc...

its so hard to remember... but the bucket list continues to grow 🤙

What I Can Share with Hosts

hopefully a fun & interesting experience and a new friend!

you can practice your english with me😊

i'll talk with you about anything because i'm a sponge.. that is, i'm always trying to learn. i want to have an informed worldview and that means hearing your stories, seeing through your eyes, and just swapping thoughts and musings and opinions. i'm a huge fan of lively discussion - i don't shy away from strong opinions🙊my own included🤓

i'm easy going so i'll be open to any kind of experience. basically - i'll take life as it comes. at the end of the day i'm here for experiences, and i'm here for life in all its forms. that means i'll let the people i meet and the places i visit take over and show me a world i could never have created on my own. discussions, exploring, going out, staying in, having coffee or a drink, biking, going to concerts, seeing museums, hiking, reading - you name it, i'm in.

unfortunately... i'm a super terrible cook. so you probably wouldn't want me to try to prepare you an authentic USA meal.... even though my profile is supposed to convince you that i'm awesome i gotta be honest lol. although if we can find the ingredients i can make you some american pancakes for breakfast😊

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States