Ooh, okay. So, I'm a 22-year-old goofball who loves coffee, sleep, socializing, sarcasm, and stupid puns. I'm a shopaholic, and a travel-junkie, who is somehow also a cheapster. Money does make the world go round, and I like to keep spinning for as long as possible.

All my life I've lived in a pretty small, uninteresting town within Florida that no one has ever heard of. It's not like the small towns seen in movies, where everyone knows each other and there's that one cute diner everyone goes to. It's just a small town where no one knows anyone and no one, and I repeat no one, knows how to drive. Naturally, I've had an itch to leave. And any time I can, I scratch that itch.

Every summer, spring break, or winter break my mother and I would go somewhere, anywhere, if we could afford it (as a teacher in the USA, her salary was pretty dismal). Thanks to her constant saving, and my willingness to get the heck out of dodge, I've been to a few different countries (all of which I've loved). I will forever be thankful to her for showing me parts of the world, and telling me to keep going until I've seen it all.

With that being said, after doing what the script said: go to school, graduate University, get a job, I've snagged a gig teaching English in Spain. I work in a school within Caldes de Montbui, which is about an hour from Barcelona, Spain, while I live with a host family. Naturally, since I'm with a host family, I can't host anyone... yet! Hoping one day to move to Europe permanently, rather than the one year I have in Spain.

I only have a year to devour as much of Europe as I can, and I'm hoping to make as many friends as I can along the way.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

While I like to do a mix of hotels and hostels when I travel, I feel like I want something a little more personal. With hotels, there's no one to bond with. With hostels, it can be a little overwhelming just how many people are in one spot. Plus, it can be a game of Russian Roulette. I'm hoping that couchsurfing will provide me a chance to find people who I can talk to, explore with, and know just enough about them beforehand to get a feel for who they are. As well, as a female, it can be a bit scary to go somewhere new alone. Independence is fantastic, but a little safety makes me sleep better at night.

On top of that, teaching English, especially in the program I'm currently in (which only pays about 300 euros a month) makes traveling a bit constricting. I'm trying my darn'dest to see as many places as possible without going completely broke.

Interests

I obviously love traveling, but part of that is the thrill of seeing historic, architecturally glorious buildings, going on hikes, and exploring different nooks where stores and hole-in-the-wall restaurants hide.

I'm a bookworm, too. Well, a literature worm in general. I read, a lot, and dabble in writing (though procrastination always gets the best of me). Another big part of my life is music and animals. I'm constantly with my headphones on, and I'm always looking for an excuse to play with someone's pet.

• animals
• pets
• arts
• writing
• literature
• seafood
• cooking
• coffee
• crafts
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• hiking
• teaching
• history
• sign language

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite music... Oi. I don't even know. It changes! I guess a consistent love of mine would be Florence and the Machine, Mumford and Sons, Ben Howard, Halsey (though she's a bit new...), and Explosions in the Sky (instrumental). I dabble in all kinds of music, and have recently gotten a bit more invested in Jazz and the Blues due to a few classes I took in college.

Favorite movies include Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Torro, basically his stuff in general), Artificial Intelligence (makes me cry like a baby every time), the Harry Potter series, Zombieland, and some others I always forget until two minutes after the fact.

Books... There are too many, but to give you a gist of who I am book-wise: anything Toni Morrison, anything Zora Neale Hurston, anything Jane Austen, anything Oscar Wilde, Jane Eyre, Harry Potter, The Skin I'm In, East, The Hunger Games, Wicked, and on, and on, and on.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

So, one amazing thing I've done was touch a pyramid. I'll forever remember poking a piece of history, and the craziness that ensued after. Egypt was something else, I'll tell ya.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach a bit of sign language, or do some silly arts & crafts!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Depending on whether the ingredients are available in the designated country, I can cook a few dishes from my mom's home country, Peru! They have some delicious meat and seafood dishes, which are pretty much the only things I can cook and cook pretty darn well. If you ask me to cook chicken, it probably will be inedible.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Egypt, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Peru, Spain, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States