My name is May Gantugs and I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying Economics and Communication.

I am originally from Mongolia but I moved to the Netherlands when I was four; I lived there till I was twelve. Then, I moved to Chicago and now I live in Champaign, IL for college.

I don't know myself that well, I am still trying to discover who I am =P but many people tell me I am a very wise person and chill too.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

Like many people, I love traveling and I love meeting new people. I've heard great stories from people who have couch-surfed before and I decided to try it out. The main goal of my everyday life is to network. I am not going to make a list of reasons why I like meeting new people but I will tell you a story. Here it goes...

A few months ago, I lost a friend to suicide. For a couple of weeks after the incident, I've been trying to figure out why she did what she did. I've been completely and utterly confused because, for the 4 years I've known her, I thought she was one of the happiest people in this world. So one day, I was so desperate to talk to someone. I was walking on Green street (in Champaign, IL) and decided to talk to one of the homeless guys. The man I spoke to is named Kevin Love. I kindly asked him to tell his story and why he ended up in his state. To summarize, he came out of prison about 3 months ago (from the time I spoke to him) after serving 12 years due to drug dealing. He told me he had children, how his son lives in Kankakee, and how his daughter works as an accountant in Tennessee. So I asked him, " Is there a reason why you can't get help from them?" He answered, " I would like to get back on my feet all by my own." He told me about all the struggles he faced in life and about all the people he have lost and, to my surprise, he is one of the happiest person in this world. Throughout our conversation, he kept saying " My mother always told me it's not between life and death, if you keep your sense of humor and stay positive, you will be happy no matter what." After I spoke to him, I realized it doesn't matter why my friend committed suicide, there's no point in trying to figure it out now because it's over now. Instead, I should try to reach out to people who are in the same situation as my friend was. We all know there are so many reasons why life sucks sometimes, but there are even more reasons why life is worth going through. If I feel like all hope is lost, I am never afraid to speak to someone. Anyone. Even "that homeless guy on the street" might be able to change my perspective of life. There are 7 billion people in this world and we all have or will eventually have a story to tell. That is what makes life beautiful and that is why people are worth meeting.

Centres d'intérêt

I have an unlimited number of interests but the main one is: reading.

Other ones are:
- Board games
- Video editing
- Programming
- Baking
- Creative writing
- Knitting/crocheting
- Dancing
- Singing (although I suck)
- "Do it yourself" projects (DIY)
- Learning languages
- Napping
- Biking
- Talking
- Working out
- Web surfing
- Swimming
- Tanning
- Yoga
- Watching movies
- Walking
- Running
- Yo-yoing
- Climbing
- Hiking
- Video games
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Squash
- Bird watching
- People watching (sounds creepy, but I like to study human body movements)

.....The list goes on..but I am going to stop here =P

• birds
• writing
• singing
• diy
• dancing
• dining
• baking
• yoga
• running
• working out
• walking
• movies
• video games
• board games
• reading
• traveling
• knitting
• cycling
• hiking
• surfing
• rock climbing
• racquetball
• swimming
• economics
• languages
• squash

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Music: I listen to anything. I like the typical "college party" music like EDM (electronic dance music) and mainstream music, but I also like classical music and jazz. I pretty much listen to anything that has a good beat or melody.

Movies:

- Pulp Fiction
- Django Unchained
- 12 Years a Slave
- The Godfather
- The Lord of the Rings
- Star Wars
- Silence of the Lambs
- Prisoners
- Fight Club
- American Beauty
- Scarface
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Schindler's List
- Saving Private Ryan
- Inception
- The Toy Story films
- The Pianist
- Oldboy
- 3 Idiots
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Interstellar
- Flags of Our Fathers
- Life is Beautiful
- Brokeback Mountain

Books:
- All the Freakonomics books by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
- The Evolution of Life by Richard Dawkins
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

When I was a sophomore in high school I talked my friend out of joining a gang in Chicago.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

My favorite quotes are:

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.” -Lao Tzu

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong." -John Lennon

"I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan." -Jackie Chan

Ce que j'aimerais partager avec mes hôtes

-Unlimited conversations
-Food
-Friendship :)

Pays que j'ai visités

China, France, Germany, North Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Mongolia, Netherlands, United States