I am still and always just as happy to be back in the US (friends, family, restaurants and movie theaters, running water) as I am desperate to leave again.

https://www.couchsurfing.com/users/3051524/profile/legacy

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

In my undergrad years, each summer I'd quit whatever job I'd been using to get me through school, pack up a suitcase and head out to couch surf for the summer (typically in Chicago, but once for three months in Hawaii). I'd get jobs to buy food and beer and just hang out for the summer, rotating couches to keep anyone (including myself) from feeling dull. Responsible? No. But perfect. I've lived abroad in some isolated and undeveloped places, and liked being able to offer a place to stay to people who might want to love these places as much as I do.

Interests

I'm a nerd, I do nerd things.

• books
• volunteer work
• music
• hiking
• camping
• snorkeling
• swimming
• science
• statistics
• bicycling
• trail riding

Music, Movies, and Books

I can talk your ear off about the subtle brilliance of Jaws. I have two regrets in life, and one of them is selling my Radiohead tickets in 2008. Sometimes I'll go weeks without listening to anything other than Kanye and Big Boi. It is weird and I wish it would stop, but here I am. 'East of Eden' and 'Geek Love' are so great I'll buy copies for people if I find out they haven't read them. Right now I'm obsessed with Octavia Butler. Also, I've started friendships based on a mutual love of Lolita.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

 This feels so self-congratulatory and icky. I danced at a feast for the king of Kitti and had coconut oil rubbed on my arms and neck and gifts heaped on me. Afterward, the king gave us 1/3 of a pig, which we put in the trunk of our car on top of a bright orange floaty raft until we were ready for it. Which was three hours later, at the end of the feast, at which point we made friends with our new neighbors by asking them how to butcher a pig. They showed us, and I loved those friends.

Teach, Learn, Share

What do I know that anyone else would want to know? I can sequence DNA. I can...taxidermy small mammals. Hmmm, I can fix up rotten flying squirrel so it tastes okay and doesn't get us sick. I can puncture a beer can with my thumb, and you can, too. I make the best scrambled eggs in the world, but that might be magic that can't be imparted as knowledge.

Maybe you could teach me how to make coffee that doesn't taste like ass.

Or we could just hang out like people instead of Jedis.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Definitely not my coffee.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Barbados, Brazil, Curaçao, England, Germany, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Ireland, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Slovakia, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Dominica, Micronesia, Federated States of, United States

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