CURRENT MISSION

Poet/Scholar in search of friendship and inspiration

ABOUT ME

I am thankful for every minute of my life and would not revise even the most difficult times I've gone through. I have been fortunate to build and maintain meaningful relationships with people all over the world, and have learned and grown with each one.

I think one of the greatest gifts in being human is the ability to listen as well as communicate. I love having discussions with friends, whether it is about philosophy, politics, writing or just making small talk.

PHILOSOPHY

As Nietzsche once said in Twilight of the Idols, the formula for happiness is a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal. I'm a poet, and my aim is to add to the canon of epic poems. It might be ambitious and difficult, but I do everything in pursuit of this end. It brings me happiness and will more likely result in my doing some good for the world than following someone else's agenda would.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a former Fulbright, so I recognize the importance of not only visiting a country, but also being a human representation of it. Living a year in Germany as well as England, I know how personal contact really helps break down cultural barriers.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've slept on friends' couches around America, and I did a home-stay through EV for the Christmas holiday in North Rhine-Westfalia. I've also had people sleep on my couches, and I'm excited to continue doing it through this website.

Interests

Classical Music, Jazz, Philosophy, Literature, Epic Poetry, German studies, Classical Studies (my discipline), Film, Art History, Architecture.

• arts
• writing
• literature
• poetry
• architecture
• politics
• music
• classical music
• jazz
• art history
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Homer, Vergil, Nietzsche, Plato, Lucretius. Trying to get into Goethe's Faust as well as James Joyce's Ulysses. Pretty big fan of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, as well as short story Der Sandmann by Hoffman. Big fan of gutenberg.spiegel.de where most public domain literature in German is cataloged for the public.
In Music, Wagner is my favorite composer, and I really like bands like Nightwish. But I'm also getting into more artsy bands like MLWTKK.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I saw Parsifal at the Wiener Staatsoper right before Easter. It was sublime.

Teach, Learn, Share

The one area I know more than anything else is Classical Literature as well as poetry in English, Latin and Greek. I've read some things in German, but the canon of German literature is so overwhelmingly large that it's hard finding a foothold, so I'd like to get to know readers. I'm starting to become a Wagner buff, but would not dare call myself a Wagnerian.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Ireland, Italy, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United Kingdom, United States

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