CURRENT MISSION

I want to make the opportunity available for myself to meet and connect with people all across the world. I simply want to see it all.

ABOUT ME

Well hello there! My name is Paul and I live in Orlando! After almost five years of living in LA and San Francisco, I’ve returned to my hometown of Orlando, Florida! I'm a photographer as well as painter, focusing on specific themes to that relate to my life and upbringing . I would say that I am a very athletic individual who loves to engage in all kinds of sports but my personal favorite would have to be Beach Volleyball! Orlando fortunately has beach courts but if that doesn’t work out, the beach is only a half hour away! I enjoy spending time with others and engaging in fun and miscellaneous activities while also learning about other cultures. For me I think it's very important to have an idea of what's out there and search for it yourself. Seeing it over a computer doesn't do justice so perhaps I'm more inclined to just go travel and see the world :)

PHILOSOPHY

I would like to consider myself a viewer. A viewer of the world, its surroundings and the very people that inhabit those surroundings. I would very much like to submerse myself in all of the cultures that this world has to offer. I don't want to settle on one thing ever. I want to have multiple options and utilize them right away. I feel that my attitude dictates my drive and that in essence helps the process of something like this to come by even faster. The quicker it comes the better I would be with exposing myself to something that I'm not accustomed to.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I want to do what I can to spread this idea, this way of thinking to even more people because it is a very generous, dynamic concept that will spark more communication and association between differing cultures. I will soon be on my way to living on my own on the west coast. That being said, you can totally be assured that I will be opening up my couch for people when that time comes trust me on that! It has to go both ways for me, but ultimately I want to help others in really embracing the culture in this country and hopefully vice versa in the person's country also.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have had the fortunate pleasure of being hosted by some amazing individuals in places such as Vancouver, Bilbao, Oviedo, Vigo, Porto, Lisbon, Bologna, Munich, Frankfurt and it keeps going! Stay tuned!

Interests

-Basketball
-Baseball
-Football
-Soccer
-Ultimate Frisbee
-Volleyball (Sand or indoor)
-Running
-Dodgeball
-Tennis

I love to go with friends to new places to dine and see a fresh new perspective on things, cause just as in fashion, trends apply to all things.

Music, Movies, and Books

Since I would like to get into the movie industry as a director one day, I will put in MY top 10 movies of all time. They are as follows:
1.Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
2.The Godfather
3.Gladiator
4.Halloween
5.North By Northwest
5.Vertigo
6.Citizen Kane
7.Star Wars
8.Black Swan
9.The Graduate
10. A Clockwork Orange

I have a deep appreciation for sounds so I enjoy all genres of music. Like a dish in front of you, they tell so much of a story that normally most people would never do or undertake.

I do have a nice list of favorite bands/artists for those who would like to delve deeper into my psyche. BOOM! Hey they are:

1.Led Zeppelin
2.A Tribe Called Quest
3.Queen
4.Bloc Party
5.Coldplay
6.The Roots
7.Kanye West (Don't judge me, his lyrical mind is genius)
8.Iron Maiden
9.Explosions In The Sky
10.Every single video game musical track (I'm a video game nerd for life)

I wasn't one to have such a great affinity for books in the past, but recently I've felt more and more in touch with what I can enjoy from great literary works. Here are a few books I like to read in particular:

-The Great Gatsby
-Of Mice and Men
-The Grapes of Wrath
-To Kill a Mockingbird
-Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs
-Einstein
-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Other than that, I enjoy getting lots of photography books since I love photography and is a big passion of mine, it is essentially my life. Seeing great pictures of people, places and things...that gives me ample inspiration to see the world and CouchSurfing is doing that for people.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I attended a local Relay for Life event and I decided I was going to run. But I then decided I would run for a friend, who's grandmother had recently passed away at the time. So in her memory I ran 10 miles on a quarter-mile track, with a card on me for people to check off the laps. Although a painful run, the pain is worth it when seeing others happy. That's what matters most to me.

Teach, Learn, Share

I will utilize whatever means to help others and provide a great place for resources and advice to help others get acclimated to the intense situations that arise through here often.

My personality allows me to communicate and get along with just about anyone. I want to know that everyone can each some common ground despite political differences and other things like that. We all have something in common and its just up to us to identify exactly what that is and utilize that to the best of our abilities.

Wherever I would go and travel, I want to share the experiences, the beauty, the humility of the people I come across whether if it was me surfing at someone's couch or me being a host for a fellow surfer. There is just SO much we can learn from one another but we just need to open ourselves up to that very idea and just go with it, just go with the flow.

What I Can Share with Hosts

As I have spent the last seven years focusing on learning languages, it has brought me closer to different people and communities, showing them a great deal of respect for speaking to them in their native language. The over-reliance on English is something I have learned to avoid since I have become a part of Couchsurfing and I hope I can impart my wisdom and knowledge of learning into others so that they too may be able to experience the world from a new perspective.

I look to be an expanse of knowledge and culture for whomever I have the opportunity to meet. There's a big world out there and everyone's experience is different from another, great to learn and know something you would otherwise miss from someone else's perspective!!

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Northern Ireland, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russian Federation, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen

Countries I’ve Lived In

Puerto Rico, Spain, United States

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