CURRENT MISSION

Open Mind ~ Open Heart

ABOUT ME

I was a Sociology student at the University of Scranton with a minor in Psychology. I lived with 12 crazy housemates, graduated in 2012 and moved back to Rochester for the Summer. That same year I moved to Hong Kong to teach English for 10 months. After that I traveled around the Gulf, India region or western Asia for 5 months before moving back home for another year. The year flew by and I was ready to make moves again, so I went in Seoul, South Korea for another fun year of teaching! I had amazing time there and topped it off with an unforgettable 5 months of traveling through South East Asia. After that, rather than going home, I decided to jump over to Taiwan directly, for yet another semester of teaching. I traveled for 6 more weeks around Indonesia and Malaysia before I finally returned home to New York after an unforgettable two years abroad. Now it's time to give back, I had such an unbelievable time in Taiwan thanks to the CS Community so now I want to host and provide the same feeling. I can't wait to host and meet new people again, it is such an exhilarating and rewarding feeling. I can't wait to meet you!
UPDATE:
Once again, I spent another year at home and it FLEW by! I am now on the road again, but this time, in South America! While going around South East Asia, I stayed in plenty of hostels, it was nice, because I met a lot of backpackers, but I am craving that local experience again, which brings me back here. At the moment, I would like to go to Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. I don't necessarily need to "surf" in every town I go to, but I would most definitely like to hang out with you, and get to know you and your culture a little bit more. Of course, if you're curious about mine, I would be more than happy to do the same, after all this is what traveling is all about :)

PHILOSOPHY

I try to live in the present as much as possible, I feel like that's really important. Dwelling on the past or feverishly planning for the future can take away from current moments, to the point where you may not even actually be living anymore.
If not now, when?! I'm down for spontaneity, the worst that can happen probably won't, and as crazy as it sounds, I live by that religiously. This is my incentive for joining this community and I have had nothing but great experiences thus far.
I'm a firm believer in projection, whatever you exude out into the world you will receive. I have found that the more optimistic I am, the more positivity I experience and I would love to share that with the new friends I make throughout my travels:)

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I began couch surfing around Europe when I was studying abroad in Italy in 2011. Every country I went to, I couchsurfed in and when I had downtime, I attended couch gatherings around Florence. When I came back to Rochester, I hosted as much as I could over the past two Summers. Not too many people are dying to see Rochester unfortunately, so they were few in number, but large in heart! I also have met some couch surfing hosts in Buffalo and in Syracuse during my time home, who I have gotten together with on a pretty consistent basis.
I was previously bopping around the states with several marketing companies and doing different promotions. I'm wasn't home often, but when I was, I would love to give back. Since I am not home anymore, and back on the road, I was hoping to be hosted at some point during this journey so that I could get a different feel for the city/country. Not to mention, it would be great because I love the community!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Couchsurfing has always been a delight and unique experience for me. People are so kind hearted and always seem to go out of their way for the mere purpose of showing others a good time. I try to do the same when I am home, though people aren't flocking to Rochester, when they do- I try to host as much as I can! As a surfer, I noticed that my hosts have gone above and beyond, so I try to do the same as a guest.

Interessen

My hobbies include drumming, writing, reading, biking, HIKING, playing Frisbee, listening to music, watching movies, seeing musicals/plays, a bit of shopping occasionally and now traveling as much as possible!

• culture
• writing
• shopping
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• languages
• psychology
• sociology

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Movies: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglorious Bastards, Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, Star Wars, Good Fellas, A Bronx Tale, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Butterfly Effect, Natural Born Killers, Mean Girls, Dazed and Confused, Inception.

Music: ABBA, Nirvana, The Cranberries, No Doubt, Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, M.I.A, Santogold, Jimi Hendrix, The Transplants, Dresdon Dolls, anything that is Electronic Dance music, but mostly Trap!

Books: Through the Looking Glass, The Dharma Bums, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, To Kill a Mockingbird, To Walk Two Moons, Wicked, and Holes.

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

One thing I saw:
Cambodia absolutely blew me away. They have such a devastating history and yet it is one of the first places I've been to in a while where I would smile randomly and the people wouldn't look at me as if I were crazy they would just smile back. Such warm, genuine, sincere people, they give me hope for the world
One thing I have done:
Hands down the best thing I've ever done in my life was buy a motorbike in Vietnam and went up from south to north for the month. The scenery was stunning and I miraculously, never came off my bike, which is a feat in itself. It was tiring, but given the opportunity, I'd do it over and over again.

Lehren, lernen, teilen

What I can teach:
Hmmm English? Poetry? How to have a good time, all the time?
I don't really have a specialty, other than writing stories.
What I would love to learn:
About different cultures, religions, history. Who better to teach me than people who live differently than me? I would love to hear about other people's experiences, values, opinions, thoughts, stories, lifestyle, languages etc. Learning about the perspectives of others is the best part of meeting someone new and the best way to grow.

Was ich mit Gastgebern teilen kann

~Expectations low, spirits High~

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Hong Kong, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, United States