I'm a student from Boston, Massachusetts. I'm spending this semester (August-December 2017) studying abroad in Madrid where I'm eating lots of tapas, living with a host family, and immersing myself in Spanish. I'm an adventurous, positive, and considerate traveler always looking to try something new, whether that's eating a local food, visiting a cultural festival, or trying to learn the traditional dance of whatever land I'm in (I'm currently taking a flamenco class). I know that being able to take this time to travel is a privilege, and I'm trying to take advantage of it as intentionally as possible!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think that traveling is all about the people that you meet along the way and the conversations and memories you make with those people! That's the main reason I'm on couch surfing; I want to meet the people that call the cities I'm traveling to their home (it also helps that couch surfing is cheap and I'm a university student on a budget).

Interests

I'm studying to be a writer in my university in the US. I like writing both poetry and prose and plan on spending this summer trying to write as much as I possibly can. I have a love and passion for the outdoors which my parents developed in me from a young age when we'd go hiking in the White Mountains of New England. In more recent years, I've connected to nature by spending summers as a camp counselor in more rural locations basically out of cell phone range. I'm spending this fall trying to get as close to fluent as I can in Spanish while living with a host family in Madrid (I'm on the lower end of advanced foreign speakers at the moment). And playing ultimate frisbee, a sport with a lot of the movement of soccer but with a flying disc instead of a soccer ball, has become one of my favorite activities over the past few years.

• writing
• beer
• running
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• camping
• skiing
• soccer
• meeting people
• outdoors
• ultimate frisbee
• bike touring
• philosphy
• speaking spanish
• carpentry
• summer camp

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Jack Johnson, John Mayer, country music, EDM, (but I like pretty much everything, and am always down to hear something new).

TV: Game of Thrones, Friends, Friday Night Lights, Lost, Homeland, Vikings, the Office, Stranger Things,

Books and literature: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, City of Thieves by David Benioff, the Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz, the classic fantasy and sci-fi books I loved growing up (Ender's Game, Harry Potter, the Hunger Games), the poetry of Mary Oliver, Ross Gay, and Walt Whitman

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I biked across the United States when I was 16. I biked from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Charleston, South Carolina to Los Angeles, California.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good, positive energy and lots of stories. I also can do English and/or Spanish language exchange for hosts that have interest. Lastly, I have some basic training as a handy man--I spent this past summer as one of two maintenance workers at my camp, so if your house or apartment has any problems I can take a look.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Italy, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bahamas, Spain, United States