My name is Wes Kendrick, I'm 19, and I grew up in a town called Bethesda, Maryland, just a five minute drive from Washington DC.

During highschool I found out pretty quickly that my interests lie in math/science/engineering. I got involved with our school's Robotics team, which was a great chance to play with power tools and build things that on rare occasions functioned as intended. :)

Yet even with all of this, I realized that I don't want to be "just an engineer" with no understanding of the outside world. So, instead of heading straight to college, I decided to take a gap year first. This past fall I spent more than 100 days traveling along the Mekong river in Southeast Asia. I traveled through China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, living with families and taking a ridiculous number of photos along the way.

(Check them out here: http://photos.weskendrick.com )
(I also have a travel blog -- check it out: http://weskendrick.com )

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To:

- make friends and meet real people
- slip past the tourist industry (hotels, hostels, tour groups, etc)
- avoid tourist traps
- save money

Interests

reading, robotics, programming, film+digital photography, digital rights, technology policy, cryptography and cryptocurrency, political philosophy, linguistics, track, soccer, Buddhism and meditation . . . . .

• photography
• meditation
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• buddhist
• soccer
• track and field
• engineering
• mathematics
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino,
Dune by Frank Herbert,
The Once and Future King by T. H. White,
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts,
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Movies:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,
Casablanca,
La Grande Bellezza,
La Meglio Gioventù,
Il Postino,
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain,
LoTR,
Source Code,
Primer

Music: (a bit eclectic)
Mc Solaar (French rapper, very cool),
Soundtracks from Studio Ghibli movies,
Jay Z,
Queen,
Billy Joel,
Daft Punk

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

It felt great to set my personal record in the 400m last spring: 51.25 seconds.

Teach, Learn, Share

Oh gosh! Well, I can teach English, since I'm a native English speaker. I also speak Italian and would be happy to teach that as well.

I really enjoy discussing current issues and world events -- be ready for interesting conversations.

Learn:

- German! Never studied it and would love to expand my vocabulary beyond the utter basics.

- Mandarin! Learned enough to limp by in China, but would really like to improve.

What I Can Share with Hosts

travel stories!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Cambodia, China, Germany, Italy, Laos, Russian Federation, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, Laos, United States