PhD student in Canada for mountains and a friend's wedding! I like being outside, rock climbing, running, biking, camping, music & campfires & good vibes

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

i'm on couchsurfing because i reckon meeting new people is one of the best things about visiting new places - and it provides a way to engage rather than just passing through. i like to think that giving freely and expecting nothing in return is a philosophy that isn't dead, and couchsurfing proves it isn't!

Interests

communities, cycling, marathon running, rock climbing, growing food, planting trees, poetry, painting, live music, history, mountains, the sea, seeds and dancing!

anything that takes place outside and involves friendship and laughter is good enough for me :)

• poetry
• dancing
• dining
• marathon
• running
• painting
• music
• live music
• cycling
• rock climbing
• hitchhiking
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

music... music is so all encompassing and i love everything from klezmer to folk to post-hardcore to cumbia to punk. i dig new interesting music, send it my way. i don't know about favourites but some who will always be special to me are: bonnie 'prince' billy, nick cave, quantic, helois, moddi, earth, radiohead, burial, nine inch nails, mewithoutyou, low, frank turner, nick drake, a silver mt zion, apparat.... the list goes on, y'know. i like music that gets into your bones and makes you want to dance or reconsider everything you ever thought you knew about love.

books... here are a few. one hundred years of solitude - gabriel garcia marquez; a field guide to getting lost - rebecca solnit; oryx & crake - margaret atwood; edgelands - paul farley and michael symmons roberts; the living mountain - nan shepherd; the old ways - robert macfarlane; soil not oil - vandana shiva; the god of small things - arundihati roy; wild - jay griffiths; brave new world - aldous huxley. again the list goes on, i love to talk about books. give me some magical realism or grimy dystopian fiction, or the last poem you read that you think might just have saved your life.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

i walked from the sea on one edge of the UK to the sea on the opposite edge of the UK - 200 miles. i learnt about gaining knowledge with your feet rather than with your head and what getting lost really feels like, physically and mentally. i learnt about what it means to belong to a place and what it means to be part of somewhere. i learnt that the best things in life are the things you do slowly and that strangers are simply brimming over with kindness.

Teach, Learn, Share

"salt water cures everything: sweat, tears or the sea" - isak denisen

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Madagascar, New Zealand

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom

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