I grew up on my parent's dairy farm near Grand Valley, a small rural south-western Ontario community. I enjoy camping, hiking, geocaching, travelling and (hesitantly) new activities, but mostly, I enjoy being around other people.

I completed my undergrad in Kinesiology and started working as a health and safety advisor. Presently, I am using my parent's address as my 'couch surfing' address.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think I have always been an unofficial couch surfer as part of a large extended family.

Although I am a single child, both of my parents are from large families so I have many cousins. When we were younger, during summer breaks this group of cousins would travel in a 'pack', landing on one home, staying until we had exhausted both the parents and their food supply, and then descending on the next home. We are older, but my extended family still gets together for farm-related work, celebrations, maple syrup season, and many other occasions. We still descend on homes, sleep in all available beds, couches and floors, but (hopefully) we are less exhausting on both the parents and the food supply.

The other reason I think I have always been an unofficial couch surfer is because my family has always been welcoming. We were a 'foster family' for many years, and some of the kids come back for extended visits.

Even still, when I return from university for a weekend visit at home, I am greeted with an 'assortment' of people. They could be younger cousins, or a group of young girls out for 'farm camp', etc. It is not unusual to realize that my bedroom has been loaned to my cousin with four young children, and I get to couch surf in my own home.

My family is welcoming to people they know, and people they don't know. During one occasion, a man was trying to pedal a bike with a flat tire. Dad, fixed the tire, and invited him in for supper, bed and breakfast.

I think one of the reasons I like the idea of staying with people local to the area is that they know some of activities not advertised in the guide books. For example, when coming to Waterloo, the 'do not miss' activities are: Oktoberfest, the St. Jacob's stock yards, hiking in the Elora gorge park, and biking the Cataract trail.

As well, I can recommend great restaurants and bars/ clubs on a student budget.

Interests

Mostly, I think I like to connect with people - so my interests vary with what people are doing.

• books
• oktoberfest
• dining
• breakfast
• clubbing
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Anything I can sing or dance to.

Movies: Yes.

Books: Not so much

What I Can Share with Hosts

Laughter

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, France, Italy, Netherlands, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada