CURRENT MISSION

Taking advantage of everything life has to offer, making great friends and memories, and learning and growing at the same time.

ABOUT ME

I find it difficult to pigeonhole myself! I’m interested in a lot of things, love meeting people from all walks of life, and like to think of myself as fairly open-minded. I am a passionate person who tends to have strong opinions, but I am willing to change my viewpoint given a new and convincing perspective. I grew up in the countryside but have lived in London for the last 6 years - I love both.

I'm not hosting right now unfortunately as I lodge in a friend's flat and she's not crazy about the idea - I'd like to one day.

PHILOSOPHY

This is a tricky one. I suppose that one would be: Everyone has something to teach you. I try to learn from the admirable qualities of others.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm off travelling around North America by myself and it would be great to meet new friends on the way!

Interests

I love a varied and active life as well as trying interesting things - recently I learnt to paraglide and am thinking of taking it up properly. I enjoy scuba diving, sailing and skiing and wish I had the time/money to do them more! I've taken up running although I'm not that good at it. Long walks come more naturally.

I work in pensions/finance which is great as it challenges me intellectually and I work for a pretty nice firm. It's a topic I tell people about tentatively since they're either really interested or their eyes glaze over. I'm pretty unusual for an actuary since I have an arts degree rather than maths/finance so I get a lot of questions about that at work.

I go to the theatre a lot and London is great for that - I also enjoy reading and am part of a book club. I like both staying in and going out. I love board games, film, and chilling with friends at the pub. Good food and wine is always a great way to pass the time! I also play the piano and guitar.

Basically I work hard, play hard and relax hard :)

• arts
• writing
• dining
• running
• sauna
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• billiards
• socializing
• painting
• guitar
• piano
• fishing
• camping
• scuba diving
• sailing
• skiing
• rock climbing
• paragliding
• squash
• travelling

Music, Movies, and Books

All sorts of books! Austen, Bronte, Dahl, Wodehouse, Pullman, Rowling, Shakespeare, even Old Norse literature. I don't have an all-time favourite author. I'm currently reading a contemporary novel by a young Irish author and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is next on my list. Or maybe a Discworld novel.

My musical taste is shallow and wide-ranging, and I tend to like music across a lot of genres. Quite a bit of folk but also electro-swing, gypsy swing, the odd bit of electronica, jazz, etc. I never grow out of music really so am still really fond of the punk rock I got into as a teenager!

With films, plot and characterisation are key for me. I’m not generally bothered about special effects or big budgets, so action and horror films don't normally top my list although I do love a good fantasy epic. Off the top of my head, some films I've enjoyed have been:

Withnail & I
The Big Short
Submarine
Amelie
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Lobster
Goodfellas
Back to the Future
The Lives of Others
Mary and Max
The Grand Budapest Hotel
American Psycho
LOTR Trilogy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm really glad I moved to Sweden to study. It was a fantastic experience and I made some lifelong friends from all over the world! A pretty tame move compared to some of the folks you see on here, but it was a blast :) I'd love to live abroad again at some point.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Sweden, United Kingdom

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