Hello, my name is Mack and I am a 21 year old, male from the north west coast of the United States. I live in Florence, a town of 10,000 people in the state of Oregon. I grew up here, and save a month in Spain and a year in San Francisco, have lived here the majority of my life. I love being outside and rather enjoy making things. I love sitting down at the end of the day to eat a meal with people (family, friends or strangers) and discuss our ideas and days. My goal is to one day start a business dealing with sustainable design, predominantly with an emphasis on designing home goods.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am Couchsurfing because I have been given an opportunity to travel and I am looking to experience as many things as I possibly can. Though the monetary benefit of Couchsurfing is great, I want to experience cities and cultures as the locals do. I lived in Spain for a month with the family of an exchange student my family hosted my first year of high school. This opportunity opened my eyes up to how life is lived in the day-to-day and I would like to live more experiences like this.

Interests

• arts
• design
• running
• reading
• music
• camping
• surfing

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite books are either The Grapes of Wrath or Once a Runner. As a child I was a voracious reader, but only recently have I begun to read again.

My favorite movies are Pulp Fiction, Ratatouille and I love the food documentary series Chef's Table.

My favorite music is a little bit of everything. I love Modest Mouse and Ben Howard, the album Blue Train by John Coltrane and a few live performances from various artists from YouTube. Good, live music tends to have more soul than what's in the studio.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My high school team won the state title for both cross country and track (athletics) in the same year. We set the best score in history for our classification in cross country and won the track title with predominantly distance runners, a feat not very common in athletics.

Though the medals won are not that exciting anymore, the commitment to a team and community sticks with me to this day. It look all of us doing things we maybe didn't want to in order to do something together and I think that really speaks to human nature.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am willing to help people practice their English and teach them any of the knowledge I already know. I am interested in sustainable design and living. These topics reach far out into the world so I like to think I know a little about many different things.

I want to learn more about culture, languages and, of course, design and ways people live.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I come from a small town in Oregon, but have been given some neat opportunities to experience culture in a few different ways. My personal culture is diverse and I love hearing new ideas and sharing mine.

I am fairly skilled with my ability to fix things around the house. I'm a fan of doing yard work and can clean pretty well. I'm more than willing to try my hand at cooking, but no promises that will turn out to be fantastic.

I'm also a fit runner and always down to be a running partner for someone!

Countries I’ve Visited

Germany, Spain, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States