Originally from the great state of New Mexico (Breaking Bad anyone?), I moved to Australia 4 years ago to work at a university and for the most part haven't looked back. After I'm done in Melbourne, I'm looking forward to dropping myself someplace entirely new for a few years...shortlist includes Kyoto, Shanghai, Barcelona, Chicago (it's got to be quantum-friendly).

Traveling for me is all about breaking out of the mental cage that develops from a domestic lifestyle. New people, new perspectives, new food, new schedule. I love cultural immersion, coffee in any form, running/fitness, trivia, languages, science, math, technical details.

I grew up living a fairly spartan life, and some of that has carried over to this day. I don't own many items or need much. Day-to-day is a balance between the richness of external experiences and a social battery that occasionally needs a recharge.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Isn't it much better to encounter real people and trade some life experiences than to bounce between tourist hotspots and shopping malls?

I had an account ~9 years ago and couchsurfed around Vietnam and India---some of my best travel memories are from those trips. I'm finally getting back into it (after the ages it took getting my PhD and going through the early career-building motions).

Interests

• birds
• coffee
• languages
• quantum physics
• bars
• conversation

Music, Movies, and Books

Music is the easy one: boom-bap hip hop, northern soul, motown, 70s classic rock, pop punk, first-wave rudeboy ska, kpop, American folk, synthwave, foreign hip hop, ranchero, cheeseball 80s, Japanese citypop.

Movies: Training Day, Friday, Goodfellas, The Fifth Element, The Darjeeling Limited, The Equalizer (yeah man I really like Denzel), Parasite, O Brother Where Art Thou, Mean Girls, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Boondock Saints, The Matrix

Books: I mostly ready nonfiction...including a lot of exciting stuff like technical papers and physics textbooks. I'm almost through Sapiens now. Occasionally I get a moment for fiction. Top 3: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Magus, The Cryptonomicon.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Bought an Indian-made Vespa (Bajaj) and drove around Europe for 3 months, no map, no plans---ended up leaving my heart in Munich along with some new "family."

What I Can Share with Hosts

Day job: I do theoretical physics research in quantum computing in Australia. So that means real-life Big Bang Theory coming to you live!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, France, Germany, United States