Hey everyone, my name is Mark. Right now I am living in Charlottesville, VA since I am in graduate school at the University of Virginia, though I originally grew up in Pelham, NY and most of my relatives now live in St. Petersburg, FL. I have done some international travel, mostly linked to when I was studying abroad -- I have spent a significant amount of time in Almaty (Kazakhstan), St. Petersburg (Russia), and Irkutsk (Russia). Though I also have briefly been to some other Russian cities like Moscow, Sochi, and Ulan-Ude, as well as Tallinn (Estonia), Helsinki (Finland), and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia). My favorite city of all time, though, is Washington, DC, and I go there every few months to visit friends from undergraduate and other people I know. I really like meeting

Hello everyone! My name is Mark. I am from the United States and I am currently studying Russian in Irkutsk, Russia. I will be in Russia until June 2012, then I am going back to the U.S. I enjoy meeting people from all over the world!

PHILOSOPHY

In life I think the best thing to do is to make use of every moment and opportunity and be positive whenever possible.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I actually first found out about this site when I was studying/living in Irkutsk and a lot of my friends were on the site. I've only actually stayed with a couchsurfer one time -- I was with a group exploring some other nearby cities in Siberia, and one of the members of our group found someone on this site to host us! It was a lot of fun.

Since coming back to the United States in 2012 I haven't been as active on the site, and I am currently not able to host anyone at my place. But I still would like to use this site as more of a social site and meet more people in Charlottesville and DC who have interesting experiences to share! I am always down for grabbing coffee, beer, lunch/dinner, etc.

Interests

Learning foreign languages has been one of my biggest interests for a while and it is now a big part of my professional career (I currently am a Russian teaching assistant and would really like to teach Russian full-time at a university). I have dabbled in many languages but Russian is the only one that I would say I am at a very functional level in, since I have spent a lot of time in Russian-speaking countries.

Aside from languages, my biggest passion is producing electronic music. I have been regularly releasing free music on the web under the project alias "Volpan" since 2013. In, 2014 created electronic arrangements for a local experimental band "Tryptyk". While I categorize my music as "electronic", it really only refers to the means with which I make my music (I rely primarily on digital software -- FL Studio and Audacity). In terms of style, my music has much more in common with rock, jazz, folk, and psychedelia than club-based electronic dance music.

• dancing
• beer
• coffee
• clubbing
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• electronic music
• jazz
• dance music
• languages
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

Music -- I really enjoy listening to The Residents, Frank Zappa (in particular, the Synclavier arrangements of his later career), Tom Waits (generally his experimental, cabaret-inspired music from 1983 and onward), as well as krautrock, industrial music, and ambient music (Nurse With Wound, The Legendary Pink Dots, Popol Vuh, Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, King Crimson, Skinny Puppy).

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm a native English speaker and am at an advanced proficiency level in Russian. I also teach Russian professionally so I know exactly what difficulties English speakers have when learning Russian. :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russian Federation, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States