CURRENT MISSION

My current mission in life is adventure because happiness is a fleeting emotional state of mind. I want to live life to the fullest and the best way to do that is with new experiences.

ABOUT ME

I am very sociable and talkative, but at the same time, I understand the need for alone time. I am very intelligent and although I respect religious faith; I am personally not religious myself. I'm adventurous and relish new experiences: especially through travel, food, and meeting new people. I have a very sunny disposition and love to laugh and make jokes, although my sense of humor can be fairly sarcastic. Honestly, if you like to eat and enjoy a good beer, then we'll get along fine! :)

PHILOSOPHY

live and let live! I'm personally not religious and I refuse to be a moral policeman.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

So far I've only surfed, but I'm excited to host people as well!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have no couchsurfing experience and this is my first time! I'm really excited to start with my travels and meet new people and create a global network of friends and memories. :)

Interests

I enjoy being outside: hiking, running, kayaking, swimming, bouldering, etc. I enjoy reading and watching films although my interest in movies is fairly recent. I work out almost everyday and being fit is extremely important to me, but the reason behind this is that I love to cook and eat! Although I generally lose I really love sports and games of all kind. I'm always down to play and talk and socialize. The opposite side of my personality is that I LOVE to sleep, and if I have my way I probably won't be up before 11; although I will do it if the occasion calls for it obviously.

• coloring
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• running
• working out
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• bouldering
• hiking
• kayaking
• sports
• rock climbing
• swimming

Music, Movies, and Books

I like movies, and love books....I think I would love music more if I could play an instrument, but at the moment I'm stuck enjoying it passively through listening.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

When I was in Finland a friend and I hiked up a mountain in order to go down the longest sledding hill in Europe (1.5 km!). Keep in mind that being from the Southern U.S. I haven't seen very much snow and I'd never gone sledding. It was freezing up there, but the view was spectacular. I felt as though I had just stepped out of the closet in Narnia and was surrounded by the most beautiful view of picturesque snow caps in every direction! It was beautiful and it took my breath away, which is probably good because I would have screamed from fright while going down the sledding trail if it hadn't!

While staying in Iquitos, Peru, I met some missionaries who agreed to take me into the jungle with them in order to see how the tribes, most of whom still live a traditional lifestyle, including speaking their traditional language, Quetchua. We were teaching the children English and providing healthcare while their parent either worked, took a small educational class in healthcare and such, or went to the main village to vote that weekend because they had no one to stay with their children. I was in charge of the free time station where children could color. I hate to say this, but kids are really not my thing and so I was a little unhappy at the prospect of having to supervise what I perceived as going to be approximately 50 unruly and obnoxious kids. But they sat quietly and shared their crayons (which by itself shocked me because as a kid, I myself didn't like to share), eventually I noticed that I had ALL of the children, around 200 of them! They were all silent and intent upon their drawings, coloring and sharing all the colors--not even complaining that they only had three color options. A short while later, a little girl approached me crying, and I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was sad that her picture was finished and that she had to give it back. I knelt down and told her that she was supposed to give it to her parents as a gift to show them what she had done with us, and immediately she burst into more tears; although these were accompanied with a smile. With a small gasp of delight she told me that she had never had her own piece of paper before, nor ever had anything to give as a gift to her parents to tell them she loved them. I was immediately struck by how selfish and spoiled my whole life has been and it really gave me a new perspective on the value that I give to things that would normally not even cross my mind: the simplicity of having as much paper as I desire to write whatever I want upon, or even just to throw it away...We are far more blessed than we imagine.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach me something. I love to learn :) and hopefully I can teach you something in return...

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, United States