ABOUT ME

I recently finished my Fulbright teaching grant in the Russian Federation and am working at a non-profit and living in NYC. I am always looking to travel to places I haven't been and am known to take spontaneous trips!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love the idea of building an international community where people can host and visit each other so that they can learn more about other cultures. You can learn at least one thing from every person in the world!

Interests

I can carry a conversation in virtually all topics, but I particularly love:
-music (just see section below)
-food: I love to explore new cuisines and great restaurants and cafe everywhere I go
-languages: I like learning new languages
-sports: I used to play football (soccer), and I watch every World Cup! I also like winter sports like skiing and skating, though I'm not very good at skating myself.
-photography: I wish I had a better camera, but I do have an eye for beauty :)
-politics: I love hearing about politics in other countries.

• photography
• beauty
• dining
• politics
• traveling
• music
• skiing
• sports
• soccer
• world cup
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

I love all kinds of music, though it depends on the mood. I used to be a radio DJ in college! My favorite bands as a young adult were Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, and I still listen to them from time to time. I also like ska punk, punk, 80s pop rock, experimental rock, rap, hip-hop, dancehall, reggaeton, jazz, acid jazz, progressive and deep house. Some recent concerts I've been to are The Subways, Madeon, Matisse & Sadko, and Vicetone. I also have a decent collection of international music... French, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Korean...

For movies, I tend to go for action and fantasy movies, but I also like romantic and feel-good movies like The Diary of Bridget Jones or Sixteen Candles. No horror films, though! I love the Lord of the Rings (The Hobbit is okay...), Bourne series, James Bond movies, Marvel movies, Star Trek, Star Wars, generally any movie about space (Interstellar). That reminds me, I like films directed by Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight series, Inception, etc) and by Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

For shows, I watch(ed) the following: Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Broadchurch, House of Cards, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jessica Jones (yes, I love Marvel...), Firefly, The Inbetweeners, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Downton Abbey, Portlandia, Friends

I'm trying to read classic literature, and I have this habit of reading a bunch of books at the same time, so books that I am currently enjoying at the moment: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I'm a sucker for satire, and Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorites in that genre.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation, United States