CURRENT MISSION

Stayin' afloat

ABOUT ME

I'm a psychology grad student currently living in Denver (by way of the Bay Area, by way of Durham, by way of New York, by way of Tehran...).

I'm very curious. I like listening to people's stories and interrupting every couple of sentences to ask questions.

PHILOSOPHY

"We must endure our thoughts all night until/
The bright obvious stands motionless in cold."~Wallace Stevens

I believe in warm-heartedness, awareness and simplicity.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting and guesting.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My first CS experience was with a woman and her daughter in Amsterdam. It set the bar high: I felt safe, we talked for hours and bonded over some unexpected things, we shared a delicious dinner she made and then watched Love Actually into the night while her daughter did my hair.

Oh, and I stopped by the Couchsurfing hub in Amsterdam and talked to the owner for hours about how he had opened this incredible cafe/exchange space. He made me barley coffee and we watched Italian presidential campaigning music videos on YouTube.

In Durham, I stayed with a lovely couple while interviewing for a job, and they ended up becoming good friends once I moved down there.

Otherwise...I've hosted and have been hosted quite a bit informally. I love it.

Interests

Psychology, ashtanga yoga, acro-yoga, vegetarian cooking, books, blogs, StumbleUpon(R), giving and receiving, Taboo and other word games, writing, movies and TV, dancing (if you can call it that...)

• writing
• books
• dancing
• cooking
• coffee
• vegetarian
• yoga
• movies
• tv
• music
• history
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Suttree, Our Town, A Wrinkle in Time, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Winesburg,Ohio, Persepolis, Lolita, Girl Interrupted, Catcher in the Rye, David Sedaris, One Hundred Years of Solitude...

Movies: I <3 Huckabees, The Business of Being Born, American Beauty, Away We Go, A Beautiful Mind, Being John Malkovitch, The Royal Tennenbaums, Groundhog Day, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,Love Actually, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Arranged, Matilda, My Life, The Invention of Lying, Little Miss Sunshine, Amelie, Requiem for a Dream, The Squid and the Whale, Another Year

Music: Iron & Wine, Damien Rice, Regina Spektor, Belle & Sebastian, Bowerbirds, Stars, Lisa Hannigan, The Magnetic Fields, Rilo Kiley, Explosions in the Sky, Neutral Milk Hotel, Simon and Garfunkel, Beirut, Alexi Murdoch, Noah and the Whale, The Decemberists

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I took some time off after high school and worked on a Kibbutz in Israel for a few months. I met some of the coolest people I know there and loitered outside my comfort zone a good bit.

Big Sur (CA) was breath-taking.

Teach, Learn, Share

I've found that people enjoy hearing about my somewhat unusual history. I like thinking about things from different perspectives and have a ball with people who (respectfully) disagree with me on the big stuff.

As far as practical skills...I know just enough to get by. Although just last weekend, my friend had me over to assemble a desk she got from Target. So there's that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Iran, Israel, Italy, United States