hi! I am spencer, I'm 26 and happily living in pittsburgh PA again after traveling for awhile. I'm still getting back on my feet but happy to host kind souls at my house, shared with two cool roommates. I put our house rules in the 'my home' section, please read before sending a request :)

after working as an engineer for a few years I decided to take a break and travel to meet new people, work small jobs, fight materialistic impulses, and see the world. I am a musician, I make electronic ambient/sample-y music, but also play piano and love jazz and old folk music, from the US or all other countries.

In november 2022 I quit my job, surfed on friends couches, and traveled around the US playing music with my friends and seeing so much of the country I'd never seen before, meeting amazing people everywhere. In summer 2023 I traveled in europe doing some farm work programs and also hitchhiking and couchsurfing a lot,

I love this website and I also feel obligated to help those passing through Pittsburgh in thanks to those who helped me. those who seem humble, creative/artistic, eager to learn and share, thoughtful, not just "looking for a free place to stay" (though I am aware it's really helpful), on a big journey, etc., are likely to feel at home here. personalized messages are appreciated and (in general) you will be much more likely to find a host

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

meeting strangers is the best time to share memories, feelings, beliefs, language, philosophies, doubts, hopes, with little context but lots of gusto

Interests

• coffee
• reading
• music
• hiking
• art
• learning

Music, Movies, and Books

i love art that concerns memory and hearing people's experiences with it

music: jazz, soul, ambient, house, folk, UK garage, drum and bass ... some of my favorites are leroy hutson, CAN, neil young, gil scott-heron, brian eno, cocteau twins, pavement, four tet, paul johnson, wookie, ltj bukem, lizzy mercier descloux, pharoah sanders, don cherry, bill evans, probably something super cool you show me ...

movies: paris texas, cassavetes, the matrix, beau travail, near dark, perfect days, slacker, taste of cherry, heat, godard, varda, tati, solaris, cronenberg, carpenter, jim jarmusch, doom generation, wong kar wai, magnolia, terminator 2, & many more...

books: clarice lispector, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, tropic of cancer, emerson, proust, house of leaves, ocean of sound by david toop. i've been reading more about eastern religion/philosophy recently

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

existed at all!

hitchhiking from amsterdam to hamburg to copenhagen to malmo to berlin to heidelberg and into zurich, then later on from lugano, all across austria, from vienna to budapest, and at last to lovely ljubljana! everyone I met were fantastic brilliant insanely kind people

Teach, Learn, Share

teach: chat about music and movies; also chemistry, math, piano, making electronic music, how pittsburgh is cool
learn: french (i'm not very good), spanish (i'm okay), recipes and stories from home and away
share: my house, maybe some food, my time (hopefully), my friends (probably), recommendations around the city

What I Can Share with Hosts

i love to listen to stories and talk with people about their lives; also to learn more about film and music from places I've never been before and share my experiences with both

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States