It's tough to put stuff into words in a way that feels right, but here goes. I grew up moving around a ton on the East Coast, then made the Bay Area my home when I moved there for grad school.

I'm taking some time to explore freedom right now. That means meeting people, trying new things (and more of the things I haven't done enough of!), pushing myself, and reading and writing about stuff.

I care a lot about experiencing life fully. Some of that is about doing things that are full of life and meaningful. Some of it is working toward experiencing life fully moment-by-moment. I believe in meditation and other techniques for doing that and they're one of my major focuses right now.

Connection is important to me. Friendship and good times with other people is a big part of what makes life worth living.

I've wandered around a lot in life and tried a lot of stuff. My career started in math and then moved to computer science and statistics, then to thinking about social and political problems. Now it's on hold. I've lived in seven or eight states and also in England and France. At different times, I've been obsessed with cooking, climbing, hiking, philosophy. My current obsession is experiencing life fully.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm itching to explore the big world that's out there, and a big part of that is meeting new and interesting people in new places. Couchsurfing seems like a community of people who value those kinds of experiences as much as I do. It feels like a natural way to connect to people as I travel.

Interests

• ethics
• cooking
• coffee
• meditation
• reading
• hiking
• backpacking
• psychology
• science
• social science
• mindfulness
• how things work

Music, Movies, and Books

Big fan of folk (Iron & Wine, Gregory Alan Isakov) and indie folk. Phoebe Bridgers was my big find in 2018. Also into lots of other mellow, lyrical stuff like The National, Elliot Smith, and the xx. I like some of the more intense lyrical stuff, too, like Brand New.

Movies are tough. I don't always have the attention span for them. I've recently been super into horror movies; The Conjuring was awesome, and so was Don't Look Now. In the right mood, it feels good to watch something heavy and really go into the experience of the story. I loved Call Me By Your Name this past spring.

Favorite book is probably Infinite Jest. Lately I've been doing more non-fiction. My recent favorite has been The Mind Illuminated, which is an incredible book about meditation, and A Visit from The Good Squad, which is a novel written as kind of a collage of stories. I was also a huge fan of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed; it's a thought experiment about what an anarchist society would look like and the best sci-fi I've ever read.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amazing is a tall order!

Right now I'm really excited about the fundamentally new view of experience meditation can give. It's been amazing to me to see how my mind builds up experience moment-by-moment and to start to get a way deeper understanding of how my mind actually works.

Teach, Learn, Share

Open to learning anything interesting. And to teach anything I know.

As far as teaching goes, I can offer some skill in meditation, cooking, climbing/hiking/backpacking, languages (French, Russian). I've done a lot in life and read a lot, too, and if any of my experiences are interesting or informative to people, I love to share those, too.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cooking skills, meditation knowledge, a sense of humor, an interest in exploring new places.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom, United States