Karen Lee's Photo

Unverified Profile

  • Payment not verified
  • Phone not verified
  • Government ID not verified

Not Accepting Guests

  • Last login almost 5 years ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Karen’s full profile.

Overview

  • 40 references 22 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in Chinese, English, Spanish; learning German
  • 34, Female
  • Member since 2010
  • student
  • university
  • From San Diego, CA, USA
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

reduce my plastic bag consumption to a big, fat ZERO! (living in china is certainly a challenge)

ABOUT ME

I love learning about other cultures and exploring new places whether it's in another continent or 20 miles from my apartment! Since a very young age I was bitten by the travel bug and since then I've never stopped traveling. I've been to over 25 countries in 5 different continents, but for me what's important is definitely not the number of places I've seen but rather the friendships I make and the experiences I have.

I enjoy eating&cooking, exploring&chilling, spontaneity&planning, sunrises&sunsets.

PHILOSOPHY

This is something I'm currently working on: Waiting is living too.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've participated in many ways and I hope to continue doing so! I've surfed, hosted, showed people around in both Valencia and Los Angeles, been to some CS meetups, and spontaneously made CS friends while traveling.

Because I'm living in a shared flat with 4 others, my couch currently isn't available. However, I'd love to host others in the future when I have a bigger place :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

In Nicaragua, I was stranded in Balgue which is a small town in Isla Ometepe. A kind woman invited me to her home where I discussed life during and after Sandanista rule with her father, poked around the family garden with her brother, and relaxed under the spectacular night sky with only the stars and fireflies (ok, maybe some mosquitoes too). A truly unforgettable experience!

Lately I've been "officially" couchsurfing while traveling through Europe. I have not yet had a bad couchsurfing experience... all my hosts have been extremely welcoming and wonderful individuals. It's incredible when it feels like we've been life-long friends just after spending one day together! And I still keep in touch with quite a few of my past hosts and surfers:)

Interests

Traveling, exploring local cuisine (fancy-shmancy way of saying "eating"), running, watching foreign films, capoeira

  • capoeira
  • cooking
  • running
  • gardening
  • movies
  • traveling
  • camping
  • olympics

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Amelie
The Artist
Central Station
Flawless
Lemon Tree
Paradise Now
Persepolis
Waltz with Bashir

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

*Visiting Tibet (despite having altitude sickness 4 out of the 5 days that I was there)

*Seeing the sunrise in the Sahara desert in Morocco

*Building rainwater catchment systems in Guatemala & composting latrines in Nicaragua

*Hearing stories from Palestinians in the Sabra refugee camp in Lebanon

*Camping in London and visiting the 2012 Olympics

Teach, Learn, Share

I like to share and learn about how to live more sustainably.
I always enjoy trying new foods.
I try to reuse everyday objects in different ways and see how others do the same.
And of course, I love sharing travel stories!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Germany, Spain, United States

Old School Badges

  • 4 Vouches

Join Couchsurfing to see Karen’s full profile.

My Groups