CURRENT MISSION

Enjoying myself in Edmonton, finishing my degree, and gathering future travel plans.

ABOUT ME

I try to read a lot. At least, I like to look at books and talk about them or through them. I have a vague intention to read all of Tolstoy over the next while.

Otherwise, I've spent a good chunk of the past few years vagabonding around Europe, and will continue to do that in 2016.

PHILOSOPHY

I read once: "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." I was smitten with this sentiment.

Like many travelers, I have a firm commitment to open-mindedness. I don't find anything particularly ridiculous. Philosophies, conceptualizations, worldviews, recipes, hair-styles, ways of tying one's shoes, morning rituals, and the funny things people name their pets. It's all worth considering.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been lucky enough to meet some extraordinary people this way the first time I was moving around Europe. Now I'm back home, interested in continuing this adventure by hosting folks.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

All very positive! The people I've met through couchsurfing have been the most inspiring, fascinating, pleasant, and curious lot I believe I've ever met in my life.

Interests

I enjoy drawing, and arts, and crafts, even if I am no good at them. I play bass guitar and mandolin in a sort of folk rock band back home, and occasionally try my hand at song-writing, creative fiction, articles, blogging, and so forth.

I enjoy the nuances of words, and conceptual poetry, etc. Yes...

• pets
• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• poetry
• dancing
• cooking
• recipes
• vegan
• running
• crafts
• tv
• traveling
• blogging
• drawing
• guitar
• geography

Music, Movies, and Books

Catcher in the Rye, Wind in the Willows, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. I recently read a lot of Marquez.

I don't know...Walden?

But I try to read widely, but often become much too absorbed in what I'm reading and can obsess over certain lines or chapters or bits of poems. Please tell me if you've read something good lately, because I always try to follow recommendations.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm not sure how amazing these things are, but here goes.

I actually found a subject in school that interests me and keeps me sharp and questioning. English!

I lived in Sweden for 6 months getting to know students from all over the place, and learning more about world cultures and geography in half a year than I have ever in my life.

I Couchsurfed around Western Europe for a number of months, seeing the more personal and low key side of these cultures, filling brain with amazing travelers' tales, and fertilizing my own will to keep travelling.

I worked at a hostel in Budapest for one month, and another in Istanbul for another month.

I lived in a forest somewhere in Croatia for a month with a group of wonderful, hilarious, and kind people, enhancing my campfire cooking skills, among other things.

I hitchhiked around the Balkans for a month or so with some other freedom-loving people. Overall, an incredibly liberating experience that I would love to repeat.

I studied some Post-Conflict Culture in Kosovo, and lived with an incredibly charming host family there.

I volunteered on farms in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Teach, Learn, Share

If you talk, I will listen. I have always been a good listener, I suppose. And I almost always remember people's faces, names, attitudes, and ideas. Either close friends, couchsurfing hosts, people I run into in hostels or on the street or personalities I see in TV or in books.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can make vegan soups, talk about Shakespeare, clean things!

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Sweden