CURRENT MISSION

Spending the next couple of weeks in France trying to learn the language before starting my PhD.

ABOUT ME

Hi, my name is Ewan and I am about to start a PhD at Oxford University exploring innovative financial mechanisms for wildlife conservation. I'm due to be starting my research in October so plans are still at an early stage, but my work will focus on how we can use carbon trading mechanisms to protect Clouded Leopard habitat across South East Asia.

When I'm not working I can usually be found doing something sporty. I enjoy almost any kind of sport especially Golf and Squash. My main focus used to be rowing but more recently I've switched to triathlons (Swim-Bike-Run). As soon as I can motivate myself, I'm supposed to be getting back into training for the Vienna Marathon and Ironman Austria next year.

PHILOSOPHY

Generally a fairly laid back sort of person, I like to have fun but generally pretty happy to go with the flow.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Brand new to CS, but I'm spending the next couple of weeks in france hoping to learn a bit of the language. I figure CS will be a great way to meet people and practice my French!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None at all so far, I'm brand new but I've heard all about it from friends and am looking forward to getting involved.

Interests

Aside from work (Environmental issues and Wildlife Conservation) and sport (See above ^^). I'm interested in all sorts of fairly unrelated things - it's pretty hard to think of everything off the top of my head but here's a start:
Photography, surfing, music (though I have no musical talent), art (though again no talent myself), Bonsai trees, building things, cooking, reading... and the list goes on...

• wildlife
• arts
• photography
• beauty
• cooking
• marathon
• running
• pub crawls
• reading
• socializing
• music
• cycling
• surfing
• sports
• racquetball
• swimming
• golf
• rowing
• mountains
• squash

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Mostly I'm into sort of celtic indie folk rock... I'm pretty sure thats not a genre but think of Snow Patrol/The Frames/Damien Rice and you'd be about right - I enjoy searching out lesser known bands too.

Movies: I enjoy a good movie but none spring to mind above any others. Shooting Dogs was particularly moving.

Books: Best book I ever read was War and Peace, but I reckon the two authors who are consistently at the top of my to read list are Ian McEwan (Atonement, Chesil Beach, Saturday...) and Sebastien Faulks (Birdsong, Engleby, Human Traces). Rushdie's "Enchantress of Florence" is another of my favourites.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Things are 'Amazing' for different reasons... All sorts of things really:
Crossing the finish line at Ironman Switzerland- the culmination of 2 years training.
Being out in the open air with wildlife: such as the frozen beauty of watching polar bears in the arctic, seeing how "human" gorillas are up close in the steamy Virunga Mountains or even just watching a fox in the fields behind our house.
Or maybe just going to the pub and catching up with good friends.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Namibia, Norway, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, United States, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, United Kingdom