CURRENT MISSION

Exploring the World

ABOUT ME
@kyleyudc

PHILOSOPHY

Carpe Diem

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Go to CS meet-ups and meet with CSers for a meal or drinks. Make new friends when Couchsurfing.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I Couchsurfed for the first time in India from September 2009 - February 2010.

Interests

Traveling, CrossFit, Olympic Weightlifting, hiking, sports (participating not watching), movies, books, meeting new people, culinary arts, learning new languages

• arts
• books
• crossfit
• movies
• traveling
• hiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Shantaram, A Fine Balance, Power of Now, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Fight Club, Scarface, The Godfather, Angela's Ashes, The Kite Runner, The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Conversations with God, Earth, Earthlings, The Namesake, Perfect Blue, Waltz with Bashir, Princess Mononoke, My Dinner with Andre, Slumdog Millionaire, Into the Wild, The Lost Continent, Donnie Darko, Idiocracy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Summer of 2006 in China: Being a volunteer English teacher in a remote village in southern Anhui (China), 3 hours via a bumpy bus ride from Shanghai. Teaching next to a reeking latrine with no A/C but still loving every minute of it. Playing basketball, fishing, swimming in ponds during the day all amidst a backdrop of lush, green rice paddies and water buffaloes. At night, playing cards with my students and watching corny movies on TV. Bathing with a bucket of boiled water and a soap bar on the rooftop before tucking into a delicious feast cooked nightly by my host mother. Then, sleeping with two fans directed at my barely-clothed body beneath a mosquito net tent in a mosquito-infested room next to a pig sty, literally (big hogs covered in black hair slept in a den next to my bedroom).

After teaching in Anhui came to a close, I crashed in a pristine bio lab at Nanjing University. Then I traveled alone to Chengdu, Sichuan, where I had the spiciest hot pot that numbed my outer lips and made me sweat and cry. Then I went to one of the most beautiful places ever — Jiuzhaigou.

The trip showed me never to judge a place by its cover. China (and India) is truly a land of contradictions.

Teach, Learn, Share

Take night trains/buses so you can make the most of your days!

Many sights are gorgeous at dawn and well-worth getting up for (i.e., Angkor Wat, Taj Mahal, etc.)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My experiences, my time, positive energy, and friendship.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, China, France, India, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, China, India, Spain, Taiwan, United States

•