CURRENT MISSION

I am here to explore the world: food, natural beauty, natural ugly, cities, prairies, coffee, public health.

ABOUT ME

Gosh. I am currently an English teaching assistant in Angers, France, having just graduated from a small liberal arts school in rural Minnesota, USA. There I studied sociology/anthropology while taking pre-med classes. Rumor has it I'm interested in public health, and I guess that's pretty true, but I'm having a hard time pinning down exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've also thought about teaching in some form or going back to school to be a Physian's Assistant. I love: traveling (especially road trips!), eating, jogging, canoeing (especially in Minnesota's Boundary Waters!), walking, public transportation, dark chocolate, spreading my arms wide open in pictures, working at the Voyageurs camp of Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota, emailing, and reading British literature.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm only 22, so am still figuring this out. But I believe in the power of a friendly face, the importance of access to education and health, and being able to spend time by yourself and for yourself.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I can't currently offer a couch for others to surf on, but I look forward to the day when I can! And though I'm in Switzerland right now, when I get back to Northfield, MN, USA, in January, I know a great place for coffee.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Exactly zero! But I'm excited to fill this void in my life.

Interests

I'm really pretty interested in everything, which I guess is broad, and probably not completely true (I'm pretty happy not knowing everything about the physics of outer space), but I love learning about new stuff. So here's the short list, as of today: canoeing, Impressionist art, improvising new ways to cook chicken, cereal and chocolate and bananas all at once, good movies, going sledding then drinking hot chocolate, autumn, the Discovery Health channel, Garrison Keiller and public radio in general, everything about the Christmas season, especially the lights, northern Minnesota, laughing with my best friends, the Philadelphia Phillies, used books.

• arts
• books
• literature
• singing
• beauty
• education
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• coffee
• walking
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• canoeing
• camping
• anthropology
• teaching
• physics
• sociology
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

SO MANY.
Movies: Love Actually, About a Boy, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Bend it Like Beckham, The Incredibles, to name a few.
Music: Fountains of Wayne, The Head and the Heart, the Shins, Belle and Sebastian, Le Vent du Nord, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews, Camera Obscura, the Beatles.
Books: Bloomability; Betsy-Tacy; Jane Austen; Mountains Beyond Mountains; Three Cups of Tea; Eats, Shoots and Leaves; A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My favorite memory is definitely waking up at 3:30 am in Voyageurs National Park to canoe out to the middle of the lake to watch the sunrise. There's nothing like sitting in an aluminum canoe in the middle of a lake that's absolutely still except for your paddle strokes, watching the first bursts of red and orange and pink creep up behind the pine trees.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to canoe while singing songs in French! And how to make some pretty awesome double chocolate truffle cookies. I would love to learn how you figured out what you want to do with your life.

Countries I’ve Visited

Norway, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Switzerland, United States