CURRENT MISSION

Most of the time I'm just trying to get by, but right now I want to see the USA. As much of it as I can for the next three years that I am here, and I want to do it properly. None of this tourist stuff, I want to meet people and see how they live.

ABOUT ME

Well, I'm 5 foot 11 and a half inches tall, I have grey eyes, brown hair and I enjoy walking on the beach outside my house with my dog and my little sister. I don't get to do that all too much these days, because home is New Zealand and right now I am in the US. I have three more years of undergraduate studies left, and my scholarship sends me traveling and learning during my summers. I just finished an internship in Eastern Kentucky with a film maker at a place called Appalshop.
What I really enjoy is getting to know people and places. I don't think you can do that as a tourist, but I think that as travelers we have a unique ability to ask as many questions as we want and soak up all the experiences that chance our way. That is what I intend to keep doing for my time here.

PHILOSOPHY

Douglas Adams once said "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be". Using a quote as your philosophy feels like cheating, but that is really the foundation of it. I haven't ended up anywhere yet though, so I make plans and hold my dreams, but when things crash and burn or take an unexpected turn I just see it as another step to wherever I am going to end up. I'm not saying I don't fight for my dreams, I just don't cry about it when they walk away from me.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Right now I am a newbie member, without a home. I get a home in September, and once that happens people will be welcome to stay as often as they please. Until then I hope to be traveling and meeting the rest of the community!

Interests

Ah, impossible! I enjoy playing my ukulele, I'm working on my photography and photo editing skills, I enjoy reading (right now I am doing a fantasy binge, but I think Huck Finn is calling me) and watching films. I just noticed the "Movies, Music, Books" bit below. Ooops.
Ok, I play Field Hockey (trust me, dudes DO play it in New Zealand and it is ruthless. Men here are missing out) and work at a place called The Coffeehouse that has small shows and milkshakes and hookah and couches. I volunteer with the Duke Center for Race Relations as a member of the exec. board, and I co-direct a group called Students to Unite Duke (or STUD O_o).
Other than that I am struggling to think.

• dogs
• books
• photography
• walking
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• hockey
• field hockey
• history
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Rawraara. Too much excitement. Right now though...
Movies - Fight Club, Garden State, 12 Monkeys, 500 Days of Summer, Love Actually, Wit, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Forrest Gump, the first twelve minutes of Up, Pans Labyrinth, Horton Hears a Who, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy... more, but this is getting silly.
Music - I'll try to be more brief. Right now, The Naked and Famous, Modest Mouse, Metric, some Opeth, Neutral Milk Hotel, Pepper Rabbit, XX, The Pogues, The Mountain Goats, Edward Sharp an the Magnetic Zeroes, Dr. Dog...
Books - On the Road, Goodbye to Berlin, 1984, Brave New World, Slender is the Thread, Disgrace (Coetzee), Cats Cradle, Watchmen, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, The Picture of Dorian Gray...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well, I did spend a summer in Nepal working at a small school for kids from the border with Tibet. I know people do stuff like that all the time, and I don't know how beneficial it was for the kids, but for me it was life changing. I was 17 and traveling alone for the first time. To go to a place like Kathmandu and have to sort out all my troubles for myself was a pretty amazing experience on my end. I have been places since, and done a few more awesome things, but that one was formative.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have some small knowledge about photography, and am always looking for more! I love to hear about the history of places too.
What can I offer? I know a good deal about New Zealand history and politics, I am learning more about the US every day. I can do some small things as far as video editing goes... I'm sure I have other skills I am just not aware of. I like to think of myself as a pretty useful guy, but if I can't name any real skills then maybe I am wrong! =)