Hello! My name is Matt and I've been on CS for over a decade although I haven't participated for a while because I haven't traveled internationally for several years. I couchsurfed my way through Sri Lanka and India, and had a wonderful time doing so.

I'm an avid traveler and adventurer who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with my wife and two young children. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and have lived in upstate New York and Austin Texas. I work in the higher education industry where I support disabled students through college.

I have a masters degree in Geography where I focused on social/cultural geography. I am a lifelong learner and lover of maps, culture, global religions, and all things humanity. I'm very outgoing, curious, social, and adventurous.

When I travel, I move fast and see everything that I can see. I am not a fan of resting when traveling! I love to talk, ask question about culture, have good conversations, and have noteworthy experiences. I'm energetic, authentic, forward, direct, and curious.

Currently I am very busy taking care of my young children and trying to manage my way through it. When I have free time, I like to see friends, hike, walk around the lakes here, bike, and travel.

My wife has gracefully gifted me the opportunity to travel the world (I have a very nice wife), and I'll be doing that as best I can during the next few years, in bits and spurts.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love authentic cultural exchanges. Some of the most remarkable experiences I've had in my life were where I got to know people from entirely different cultures. As I mentioned above, I am a lifelong student of the world. Maps, geography, and culture — these are things I love. Traveling and spending time with other travelers feels fake and inauthentic to me. When I travel, I want to experience not just the place, but the people — authentically. To me, that's how I can learn about the world, and that's why I travel — to learn about the world.

Interests

Hobbies - traveling, hiking, biking, spending time with friends/family

Interests - geography, economics, history, global affairs

Music, Movies, and Books

Music — varied but right now ... trap/UK drill, jazz (blue notes), trip hop, hypnotic electronica, ambient

Movies - not a huge movie fan, but in the past few years I did enjoy Oppenheimer and Dune. My favorite TV series is "Dark"

Books - I read all of the Game of Thrones books, I enjoyed them. I like other epic fantasy as well including historical fiction such as "The Source" by James Michener.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I helped develop one of the largest wind farms in Latin America.

Teach, Learn, Share

From a purely cultural perspective, I'm more than happy to share my thoughts about the USA, American culture, Judaism/Jewish culture. Beyond culture, I'm interested in a very broad array of intellectual topics, am extremely curious, and love good discussions.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, France, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States