I didn't have the chance to travel when I was younger, my first international trip was in my mid 30s. I've spent a lot of time visiting and living in Southern Italy because traveling started out as a heritage quest. Over several years, I was researching my Italian ancestry. Now that I've successfully obtained dual Italian-American citizenship, my eyes are finally opening to the world.

I'm ambitious and I aspire to create my own study abroad company. Perhaps I developed this goal because international travel changed my life so profoundly, I now feel I can't live without it. I want to go everywhere.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The first reason is cost. If you're not affluent, it's quite difficult to move about internationally. However, the second reason is the volunteer culture. When something is given as a gift, it comes with genuine hospitality and that is invaluable. I'm really not interested in the sterile hotel experience or the consumer-centered tourist culture. I don't collect anything from my travels except friends, photographs, and memories. I feel the experience of seeing another part of the world is so extraordinary, there's nothing I could buy and bring home that would do it justice.

Interests

• culture
• writing
• poetry
• festivals
• beer
• yoga
• meditation
• gardening
• technology
• reading
• classical music
• folk music
• hiking
• sailing
• dialects
• geography
• geology
• science
• mountains
• art
• linguistics
• social justice
• waterfalls
• learning
• research
• social enterprise
• multiculturalism
• environmental education
• teaching english
• volcanoes
• nature conservation
• climatology
• academia

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, China, Greece, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Slovenia, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States