CURRENT MISSION

Travel, Learn, Grow

ABOUT ME

I aspire to find opportunities to travel and experience new cultures as often as possible! I used to teach English in Seoul and studied in Brussels for a summer while in college. I was in the Army for 5.5 years, but finished in 2009. After spending some time working I decided I wanted to go to graduate school, but before I do that it's time to do more traveling!

PHILOSOPHY

Each culture, each person, no matter how foreign, is someone from whom we can learn and better ourselves. I have found this to be true from the battlefields of Iraq to the cornfields of Iowa.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I haven't been in a position to host anyone, which is part living arrangements and part the fact that few people ever travel to the places I lived :)

I surfed a few times in the US and Prague, and I encouraged a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver I met to set up an account - he's been very successful using it to meet people from all over the world.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have only couchsurfed a couple times via this site - once in Texas, once in Prague. Both experiences were great and a wonderful way to meet locals and see the "local view" of the city. Ideally I would prefer to couchsurf in every city I ever went to. The tourist bubble is tolerable to a point, but I have found my travel experiences to be much more fulfilling when I've been able to see the local, everyday side of places. I find the couchsurfing experience very positive and a encouraging sign that, despite all the turmoil in the world, there are still friendly people willing to help others in any way they can.

Centres d'intérêt

Sports, particularly basketball
World Cup Soccer
History and historical places, particularly the lesser visited
and of course...traveling!

• culture
• beer
• drinking
• traveling
• socializing
• sports
• basketball
• soccer
• world cup
• history

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Some of my favorite books include Lolita, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Brothers Karamazov, and In Cold Blood. Any book that is so well-written as to make the reader empathize and almost "root" for a significantly flawed character is, in my mind, the sign of a truly amazing piece of literature.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is probably the most amazing thing I've seen, but it's always the quirky things of traveling that stick out in my mind, such as enduring a 27 hour bus ride from Vietnam to Laos and the unique personalities I had to share it with. I recently spent Khmer New Year as the invited guest of a Cambodian family in their small village. It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed being the first Westerner some of the locals had seen in the flesh.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

Drop the taxis, buses, and subways. Don't focus too heavily on the classic sights. Get out on foot, especially in big cities. This is how you will truly connect with the energy that drives places and cultures. I have seen some of the most interesting things in my life just from wandering around cities aimlessly. Oh, and drink Belgian beer before anything else.

Pays que j'ai visités

Albania, Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Afghanistan, Belgium, Iraq, South Korea, United States

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