I am 19 years old and have always had a passion for going overseas and meeting new people. I have a younger sister and we both live with my mum who works for the government of New Zealand. Since young, we have always been quite nomadic; moving around New Zealand a fair bit, which has taught me to be open to new things and always grateful to meet new people. In my university I flat with other students, as it isn't in the same island as my home town, but the dynamics of the student life in such university results in the flatmates changing every year. I study ecology but have always said that if that doesn't work out I'd study anthropology as I find it interesting how societies and human interaction have evolved over time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm on couchsurfing because I find it to be an amazing source for making friends in other countries. One benefit of this is you generally tend to get a different experience of the city. Thousands of people travel every year and they go to hotels or hostels which are similar to the environment found in their home country and they don't really get to experience the other place to the full extent. With couchsurfing, you get more of the local's perspective of your destination and you tend to enjoy it more as you are immersing yourself right into the culture

Interests

My interests are very broad and varied, nearly anything will keep me amused. However, I'm a bit of a nature lover so anything to do with a forest, nature park, or beach and I'm happy. However, these activities are more for alone moments, although it's real fun going into the bush with all your friends, when I'm with a group of people I enjoy socialising, exploring new places and... well trying new food

• culture
• environment
• dining
• working out
• flying
• traveling
• anthropology
• ecology
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

I don't really read as I find it hard to get hooked into a book and sometimes I get a little impatient with them. My favourite movies would have to be cartoons. Some recent ones that I rwally enjoyed watching; inside out and the book of like but you can't stray away from the classic Disneys!
Music, I'm down for any type of music but my favourite would have to be a band from New Zealand called six60 which is like a mixture between pop amd reggae

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In 2015 I decided to take advantage of the opportunities offered by my university and I went on exchange the whole year; first semester in Mexico and second semester in argentina. It was one of the best decisions ever because spending a large amount of time in a country with the locals really creates a great relationship between you and the country and you get to see and experience things you wouldn't normally under normal tourist conditions

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach, Learn, Share? Well, I'm not really into direct teaching, I personally feel that getting somebody else to experience what you want to teach them is more effective. However, if I were to share anything it'd have to be a quote from the indigenous culture of New Zealand; mā te huruhuru, kā rere te manu which translate to 'adorn the bird with feather and it will fly' basically meaning that everybody should be given the chance to excell in what they are passionate about/good at/made for

What I Can Share with Hosts

One of the biggest, most important things I can share with hosts would be the New Zealand way. Although it was an English colony, we have many different protocols and customs
New Zealanders are so few that not many people know about our way of life, nor even if we exist... there has been many facebook pages and yahoo questions that have questioned the existence of New Zealand.
I could share with them the culture of both New Zealand and Aotearoa (pre-colonial New Zealand) as my mum saw the importance in teaching me as much as she could about the ancestors of our country

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Brazil

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Mexico, New Zealand