CURRENT MISSION

To resist societal pressures to hurry up and find a career, while cultivating new experiences and having a blast doing so

ABOUT ME

I'm a fairly laid-back, low-stress person, although I can be a bit crazy/goofy at times. I'm very social, and socially observant, and have traditionally been the person to notice the people standing alone in the corner of the room, and then invite them in to be included into the group. I love learning new things about people and the world, and strive to learn as much as I can in life. I hate, however, moths. Moths must die.

PHILOSOPHY

To stay open-minded, resist generalizations, learn as much as I can, enjoy life, be and do my best in everything I do, and to drink excellent fruit juices.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I had been wanting something like this to exist for a long time.
I love cultural exchanges, meeting new people, making new connections, gaining new insights, etc.

Oregon isn't exactly a major tourist destination (although we do have Crater Lake) but anyone wanting to surf on by is more than welcome. I guess I'll update this section more when I get home and actually have a couch for people to crash on. For the moment, I'm living out of a suitcase. Here's a picture of Crater Lake:
www.flickr.com/photos/liyamu/270124272/in/set-72157594329093834/
http://www.nps.gov/crla/

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I spent a week in Ireland, which was fantastic. I stayed with my friend Cathy (who I met through couchsurfing) who is friggin' awesome. (see showering praise about her below) Thanks to couchsurfing, I was able to get past the stereotypical "tourist experience" and get glimpse of real Irish culture, and I managed to do the trip despite basically being broke. The whole experience was extremely positive.

Interests

I do fencing (with swords, not fences), play Badminton, Ultimate Frisbee, Soccer, and like sports in general. I also play ping-pong, and am good at bowling, having come from a small town without much to do. I also juggle, am fluent in French, and like video games (although I don't waste as much time on them as I used to). I also like martial arts, and used to do Aikido.

I love taking pictures, and if you're interested, you can check some out here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liyamu/collections

I also love to write, but since I don't have a site with stories, you'll just have to take my word for it.

I also read a lot. I'm constantly listening to music and love discovering/sharing new music (I have very eclectic taste). I'm also an amateur history buff. And Psychology. And science in general. Ooh and languages. Basically, I like learning stuff.

• arts
• culture
• theater
• photography
• dining
• drinking
• video games
• board games
• juggling
• music
• hiking
• sports
• fencing
• martial arts
• soccer
• paragliding
• bowling
• badminton
• history
• languages
• psychology
• science
• travel
• learning new things

Music, Movies, and Books

I like all three of those things. But at the moment, I'm too lazy to list out millions of things. I'll come back to this eventually. Or so I say now.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well, I was almost hit by lightning the other day. That was pretty interesting.

Teach, Learn, Share

While I'm sharing sites, I fully endorse and love This American Life, a semi-creative semi-journalistic radio show. It's basically just a bunch of stories, wrapped into a theme with some thought-provoking discussion. Sometimes it's serious, sometimes it's silly, and it's quite frequently hilarious. It's intellectual food. I love it.

http://www.thisamericanlife.com/About.aspx

Also, there's RadioLab. Radiolab is another podcast I love. It's about cutting-edge science and the human condition, with crazy editing that makes the whole experience closer to radio theater than a radio show. Check it out:

http://www.radiolab.org/

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Peru, Scotland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ecuador, France, Guatemala, United States

•