CURRENT MISSION

Visit new places and eat delicious foods. Meet new people, learn from them, cook for/with them, and also find time to curl up with a good book.

ABOUT ME

I'm a shy bookworm who blossomed upon discovering dance and academia. Now I'm splitting my time between working on my PhD in folklore & gender studies, teaching and performing dance, and enjoying every food experience I can possibly cram in.

I discovered Couchsurfing while enjoying a scholarship that let me live in Estonia while I wrote my dissertation. Now I'm back in Indiana since that's where my husband works, while I try to figure out what's next for me in terms of my career. I love seeing new places and meet new people. I adore museums, especially art museums. Farmers markets and dance festivals fill me with delight. Tea is another of my favorite things.

I also write for a blog on sexuality published by a researcher from the Kinsey Institute. I'm particularly interested in how sexual conventions and subcultures vary in different places. Feel free to check out my writing, or suggest a topic: http://www.mysexprofessor.com

PHILOSOPHY

I search out new experiences in order to enjoy and learn from them. I'd rather regret something I did than something I missed out on, but I tend not to waste much time with regrets when I could be learning from my mistakes rather than wading through remorse.

I think the pursuit of knowledge and art is one of the most important things humans are capable of doing. I think the West falsely divides mind and body, thought and emotion (not to mention the sexist implications of such dualism), and I try to bring them back together in my dancing, my cooking, and my relationships with others.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm new-ish to this, but I'm excited to participate.

While at Berkeley, I lived in student cooperative housing, so I'm actually quite a big supporter of accessible, communal projects like CS.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

While visiting the Netherlands, the friend I was traveling with found us accommodations through CS, and everyone was really wonderful! We made friends with our hosts and cooked with them, bought them wine and tea as a "thank you" for letting us stay with them, and had an all-around great time!

I've now hosted 3 couch-surfers, and they've all been really great guests! I was especially pleased at how friendly and considerate everyone was; like, if I said I had to work on my thesis, they gave me space and time. I look forward to hosting more guests in the future, plus I'm hoping to couch-surf with people in other countries once I get a chance to travel some more.

Interests

food, cooking, tea, wine, belly dancing, hooping, running, rock climbing, hiking, reading, writing, feminism, gender studies, body art

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Ethno in Transit (just discovered them at the Viljandi Folk Music Festival!), Watcha Clan, Funkadesi, Natacha Atlas, Bjork, Garbage, Florence + the Machine, Imogen Heap, Abney Park... genres like "world" music, alternative rock, steampunk, dubstep, etc.

Movies/TV: Dangerous Beauty, The Court Jester, Shrek 2, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Buffy, Firefly/Serenity, Community

Books: Palimpsest by Cat Valente, cunt by inga muscio, anything by Charles de Lint, Octavia Butler, Ursula K. Le Guin... I tend to like "thinky" speculative fiction/fantasy, but I also enjoy reading poetry, nonfiction, and research on sexuality/gender

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I ran away and joined the circus for a day. Since then, I've learned how to eat fire and dance with fire fans and fire palms.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach the basics of belly dance, primarily tribal fusion style and American Tribal Style®. I'm a self-trained distance runner and weight-lifter, so I can teach the basics of fitness and how to start running and stay in shape.

I can teach you how to bake bread, and make other assorted things like risotto, a balsamic vinaigrette, various soups and pastas. My cooking tends to have a Mediterranean flavor to it, infused with a California insistence on freshness and healthiness. I cook plenty of vegan and vegetarian dishes, though I'm currently an omnivore.

Since I did a PhD in folklore and gender studies, I can tell you almost anything about fairy tales, legends, and why sexuality works the way it does in different cultures. I can help people develop basic communication tools to express what their want in relationships and their sex lives.

I would love to learn different languages, or practice my Russian and Spanish. If you can teach me something I don't know in the kitchen, that would thrill me. I like learning new games. Learning local history and folklore's also a plus.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Estonia, United States

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