CURRENT MISSION

My mission is to learn as much about the world and myself as possible. I want to see any and all places, and really see a piece of life in places around the world, not just be a tourist. Find people who can share a little piece of their world with me

ABOUT ME

I am an American student studying in Paris for the year. I am majoring in Post-Colonial African studies and French, and minoring in Creative Writing and Studio Art. I love reading and learning about the world, currently am obsessed with spanish painters from the late 1890s and early 1900s (Bastida, Sunyer, Vazquez, etc). I really want to start playing the violin again, I used to play a lot when I was younger. I love to read; Pablo Neruda is my favorite poet. I am currently just in the business of living new experiences and learning as much as possible.

PHILOSOPHY

Everyone has their own path to follow, and everyone's path will look differently. Usually there is no such thing as a black and white situation. Shit happens, but good friends and chai tea always make the worst seem more manageable. The world may not get any better, but every good act has ten times the power of a bad one and there are good people everywhere doing amazing things. I don't know if fate exists in an absolute way but I do believe things happen in the universe for reasons, or at least there is a learning opportunity in everything that comes our way. I didn't believe in love for a long time but know I think it is one of the main points of life. In the end, we all die, so the point of it all is to have as much fun and find as much meaning in all of this craziness as possible in whatever way works at the moment.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I don't have any CS experiences as of yet, but I am looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of people, both surfing and hosting. I am always hosting friends traveling through however and I love visiting people. I am so excited to start participating in the couch surfing community.

Interests

Watercolor Painting, Classic Rock and the 60s, International Politics, Green development, Chilean Poetry and South American literature in general, Francophone West Africa and grassroot movements such as the greenbelt movement led by Wangari Maathai, good coffee and green tea, political satire, sunflowers, cheap wine, hiking, badminton, canoeing, beachcombing and whale watching, raising chickens,

• chickens
• arts
• writing
• literature
• poetry
• wine
• coffee
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• knitting
• painting
• violin
• hiking
• canoeing
• surfing
• badminton
• business

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Amelie, Almost Famous, Hero, 2 Days in Paris, Love Actually, The Motorcycle Diaries, Skylab, Before Sunrise, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Whatever Works (anything with Woody Allen I am usually a fan of)Old classics like Breakfast at Tiffany's, etc.
Music: Old rock including but not limited to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Band, Neil young, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Who, The Clash...
As far as newer music goes I love Modest Mouse, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Andrew Bird, Beirut, Fleet Foxes, Devil Makes Three, Flaming Lips,Elliot Smith, Arcade Fire. I also like some newgrass and folky music such as Joy Kills Sorrow. Jazz will always be a love of mine. Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk etc.
Books: All of Isabel Allende's books,(House of the Spirits is my favorite novel ever), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Irving, Annie Dillard (I loved the Maytress and A Writing Life)Alice Walker (The Temple of My Familiar was amazing !) and Barbara Kingsolver are some of my favorite authors.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Most amazing thing I have ever seen: the ruins at Ephesus. waking up to the call of worship.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know a lot about international and third world politics. Conspiracy theories, knitting, I have watercolors if you want to paint, I am great at getting lost and exploring the city

Countries I’ve Visited

Greece, Russian Federation, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Benin, France