***********
Okay, so I thought this would show up on my page as a response to a reference, but apparently not, so unfortunately I have to put it here, because it's important- this is my response to a reference I got in 2013:

Jennifer Hillson
New York, NY, USA

Dec 2016
Does Not Recommend Ryan
I stayed with Ryan in 2011, two years before he left this reference. In fact, I didn't even remember seeing that he wrote this, but it was recently brought to my attention that I have a negative reference, so I looked at it. And it's hard to know what to say; I'm kind of dumbfounded. For the whole time I was staying with Ryan (and it was on the longer side, although I'm not sure about 20 days), we were watching movies, he and his friends/roommates were taking me out to a bunch of places- I can think of at least five- and we were just generally having fun. We became Facebook friends, and I have Facebook messages of us talking and joking in a definite friend way in 2011, AFTER I had left his place... at some point after that, he unfriended me on Facebook, which I was always genuinely confused about, since as I said, we hadn't had any altercations- at most, a couple instances of awkwardness? I'm still tagged in pictures with him and his friends, hanging out and smiling. It's a shame that you can couchsurf with someone and have a good stay and even feel like you made a friend, and then the host can leave an unfounded reference that refers to you as someone to be wary of. I still sincerely have no idea what caused this turnaround, and his decisions to unfriend me and to write this, but it definitely doesn't accurately reflect the nature of my stay with him, or our continued correspondence afterwards. (and it bears repeating that he wrote this reference two years after I stayed with him.)
**

Additionally, I just want to reiterate that this person and I were friends, way after I had stopped staying with him. The loafing on the couch thing isn't true, the idea that my stay with him was an unpleasant experience isn't true. I don't know what caused him one day to unfriend me on Facebook and bizarrely write a really mean (and untrue) reference for me on Couchsurfing; it's as if something bad happened to him one day and he felt like taking it out on me for some unknown reason. It seems that the site won't remove it from my references, so all I can say is I hope it won't affect what anyone thinks when looking at my page. I'm a really nice and considerate guest, just as I was when I was staying with that host. :-)
*******

Hey! I am basically in love with anything that is comedic, and both watching and performing comedy are huge passions of mine (although I'm not actively performing at this point in time). Another big love of mine is linguistics. I am fascinated by just the study of language in general, but I also want very badly to be fluent in at least 20 languages. Hasn't happened yet, but I have attempted to teach myself about that many, and I have studied German extensively in school.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

There are many, many, many places I have to go- Poland and Lithuania are way ahead of anywhere else, because that's my heritage! I happen to know the exact town in Lithuania that all my ancestors are from, and I want to go there so incredibly badly. I want to go to South Africa because I'm in love with the Afrikaans language- really all Germanic languages, but that's a big one.

Interests

Comedy, linguistics, history of the English language, Germanic languages

Music, Movies, and Books

The State, Reno 911!, Stella, Wet Hot American Summer, The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, horror novels like It and The Shining

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

It doesn't have to do with traveling, but I have to mention it. Every year on the anniversary of John Lennon's death, Dec. 8, probably hundreds of people show up at Strawberry Fields in New York City (a part of Central Park) and just sing Beatles songs the entire night. Literally the entire night. People bring guitars, keyboards, posters, flowers... and it is one of the most incredible amazing things I've ever been a part of.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States