CURRENT MISSION

To avoid monotony.

ABOUT ME

I spent the past academic year in Cambridge, doing my Masters. Cambridge is a small but beautiful town and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to have lived there. I'll be moving to London in January to start a PhD in French Literature, but right now I'm in the middle of a five month backpacking trip. I've been visiting various friends and travelling in the north east of the US (Massachusetts and New York), but that leg of my journey is almost up. At the end of August I'll be heading to Montreal and October and November I'll be spending in Argentina.

PHILOSOPHY

Look, listen, take time. If you rush you miss the good bits.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfing - and hosting one day, I hope, when I settle in one place for a little while!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My introduction to Couschsurfing was in Paris in August 2011. I didn't surf but I went to a lot of meet-ups, where I met some wonderful people who I hope very much to see again one day. In 2012 I had my first proper surfing experience in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence, and loved it. I haven't hosted before as I've been living in student halls, but I have every intention of doing so when I live somewhere more appropriate. The values and philosophy behind Couchsurfing are the ones I try my best to live by.

Interests

Wandering, urban exploring (with or without a map), people watching, London, sitting by rivers on hot days, reading, (attempting) writing, photography, blogging, cooking, avoiding the 9-5 and settling for too long in one place.

• writing
• literature
• photography
• cooking
• recipes
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• backpacking
• surfing
• language exchange
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

Films: The Motorcycle Diaries and The English Patient, Annie Hall, Amelie, Inglourious Basterds, Rear Window, The Artist, Goodbye Lenin, The Lives Of Others, O Brother Where Art Thou, Masculin Feminin, The History Boys, Slumdog Millionaire...and plenty more. Particular fan of Woody Allen and Mike Leigh.

Music: singer-songwriters with good lyrics! Inc. Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Thompson, Florence and the Machine, Joanna Newsom, Kate Bush et al. Classical, jazz, latin, world fusion, Irish folk, and always open to new recommendations.

Books: Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Alain de Botton, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Blaise Cendrars and my dearly beloved friend/thorn in my side, Marcel Proust, to name but a few.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Making 'Snap', a twenty-five minute silent film/photo story...hybrid...thing (see http://quarterlifequarterly.org/snap-a-short-film/) - a labour of love, undertaken with two friends when we were at a loose end in Paris. It took a whole month of planning, prop-buying,editing, arguing, and best of all, dressing up and posing for photos in iconic parts of Paris. Highlights included trying to shoot an epic chase scene in Versailles and getting up before dawn for a scene at the Eiffel Tower.

Teach, Learn, Share

Language exchange - always looking to practise my French and would love to learn the basics of Italian, Spanish and German.

I love cooking, especially with other people, and have a few recipes I could share.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom

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