*Archaeologist by day, poet by night, and everything else in between.*

Hi, I am Raija. I am of Estonian and Finnish decent, but I like to consider myself a citizen of the world. I was born in Sweden, raised in Estonia and educated in the United States. I graduated college in May 2015 and since then have spent most of my time in Estonia, living with my mom and sister.

I have never had a place to call my own, beside my dorm room in college, and therefore I have not hosted anyone from Couchsurfing myself...yet. Many international friends of mine and my siblings' (from Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Sweden, England, USA) have stayed on my mom's couch in Estonia, but none officially through the Couchsurfing website. It was great having them over and being able to learn so much about them and their cultures. My Vietnamese friend from college learned how to cook Estonian dishes and she taught us Vietnamese recipes in return, and we all taught each other words in our languages. My Malaysian friend from college came to visit us for her first Estonian Christmas (what we call 'jõulud' or 'yule') and New Years and during her stay we also travelled all over the contry (Estonia is a small place, mind you). I think it would be fun to do the same kind of things with people I have never met before and to learn about as many cultures and communities as possible.

When I go to graduate school this fall, I should be able to start hosting other surfers, but in which European country this will be, I cannot tell at the moment. I believe in karma and passing good things on, and therefore I hope to become a diligent host in the future. For now, I hope others on this site will be able to host me during my travels.

I just recently moved back to the United States (this is why my address is in Maryland :) ), but will stay here only until the beginning of summer when I have to go off to my second excavation in Turkey, and after that it is graduate school in either England, Sweden, Denmark, Germany or Estonia. But I know life will bring plenty more opportunities for me to travel and meet amazing people all over the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am not independently wealthy, but I like and need to travel due to my interests and studies. I also enjoy meeting new people and locals while on my travels and the best way to do so is to stay in either hostels or couchsurf.

Interests

History, creative writing, fencing, collecting animal bones (no, I am not a weirdo, my speciality within archaeology is bones)

• animals
• writing
• cooking
• recipes
• wine
• coffee
• traveling
• fencing
• archeology
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: The ones I could read over and over again are Memoirs of Hungary, Master and Margarita, and the Three Musketeers.

Music: I could never get fed up with Arctic Monkeys or the Cure.

Movies: Recent good ones I have seen are 12 Angry Men, Casablanca, and Me, Earl and the Dying Girl.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I visited Machu Picchu in 2014 while doing zooarchaeology lab work (studying animal bones) in Peru during the summer.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Philosophical conversations over coffee, tea or wine. My knowledge of history, evolution and bones.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Estonia, Sweden, United States