I truly believe that the most beautiful thing life can gift you is friendships. I have been so lucky to made deep connections with people from across the world, and I hope to have the same experience on CS (as a newbie to this website).

I am from New Zealand, a land of endless beautiful nature so I absolutely love exploring the outdoors, hiking, adventure, all that good stuff. I moved to the US and lived in Washington DC for four years doing my Bachelors degree in Psychology and Anthropology and while competitively swimming. This year I finally retired the goggles and cap and moved across another ocean to so my Masters in Clinical, Social and Intercultural Psychology for the next 2 years. Coming from NZ and every other country be at least a 3 hour flight away (but usually much more) and crazy expensive to get to, I am trying to make the most of Ryanair and visit as much of Europe as I can in my limited time here!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To sum it up in one sentence: I think the purpose of life is connecting with others (small or big connections).

I find that interacting with people absolutely invigorates me in ways that are hard to put into words. It makes me feel connected to humanity and ultimately if I had to define what my spirituality is, it is exactly that: a connection to humanity. Therefore connecting with people, particularly those who are vastly different to myself, who have different upbringings and life experiences, fills up my spiritual cup. To add to this, I believe KINDNESS to be the actionable core of what is means to be connected to humanity. It is a universal language. It takes absolutely nothing to be kind. I view kindness as a sort of math:

KINDNESS MATH:

Unkind 🟰 a ➖ for the person on the other end of your unkindness and a shitty➕ for yourself (ego filling and temporary)
KIND 🟰 a ➕ for you and a ➕ the other person → for both sides it fills up your soul and inspires you to be kind to others
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU&ab_channel=LifeVestInside)

How I see it, connection and kindness are the core of Couchsurfing (even if some people may not use it that way)... and I want to be a part of that!! To both give and receive that kindness.

Furthermore, I worked at a summer camp in Germany for 2 months this last summer and I ended up meeting some of the most amazing people from all over the world. A large majority of those people had used CS and had amazing experiences with it. I ended up visiting and staying with many of the people I met at that camp (some people that I didn’t know at all, had just met briefly but still welcomed me to their place), and I was overwhelmed by the spirit of hospitality, kindness, and friendliness. They would give me tips about their city, secret places to visit, and I would always leave with a better friend than before I arrived. I realized that there was something about the camp spirit that resonated with me: the openness to getting to know strangers and making deep connections with people you have only known for a brief amount of time. I truly believe that the kinds of people who are willing to let strangers into their homes are probably the people I would love to get to know and I think that is the ultimate beauty of CS. Plus, to be able to say you have friends from all over the world... how cool!

Interests

• documentaries
• hiking
• kayaking
• skiing
• volleyball
• swimming
• road trips
• beaches
• travel
• adventure
• spirituality
• new people
• good food
• creative writing

Music, Movies, and Books

Hands down favorite movie ever is: Everything Everywhere All At Once

That movie change my life. I like to think of my life as two periods, before I watched that movie and after I watch that movie. It completely changed the way I conceptualize of my existence, how I want to live my life, and what I most value in life. Most importantly, it taught me the importance of kindness. You take from the movie what you need and it something for everyone. It is the most profound funny, sad, existential, EVERYTHING movie ever!! I could go on forever, it is amazing, you must watch.

Favourite book: 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho

▪︎ "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
▪︎ “Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.”
▪︎ “There was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.”
▪︎ "If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. Life is the moment we are living now.”

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Moved half way across the world :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good vibes, positivity, laughter, and stories upon stories.

I am not the best cook but I can whip up a killer Banoffee Pie

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Samoa, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, New Zealand, United States