CURRENT MISSION

To share my passion for life, culture, and adventure.

ABOUT ME

I'm an outgoing 25-year old Canadian girl with a relentless sense of adventure. While my formal education is in economics, I have developed a strong passion for international development and environmental conservation through years of travelling and volunteering abroad. I'm particularly interested in agricultural development as a means of poverty reduction, thus am always keen to visit farms in the developing world. My travels have gifted me with an appetite for international music and cuisine, and I love collecting local artwork wherever I go. Friends and family are very important to me - sometimes I wish I could be in ten places at once! My parter, Jeff, is a Tropical Ecologist and we cannot wait to begin travelling together once I complete my studies at Vancouver Island University in Spring 2012.

PHILOSOPHY

live, love, laugh, hike.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As a university student, unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to host couch surfers. Many of my friends, however, have enjoyed nothing but great experiences hosting and surfing around the world! Over the next year, I will be surfing throughout Central and South America. While I'm super excited to be travelling in 2012, I look forward to hosting surfers once settled back in Canada in 2013 :)

Interests

Anything outdoors! Hiking, biking, camping, scuba diving, bungee jumping, kayaking, cliff jumping and playing rugby.
I love to cook, craft and dance!
Emerging myself into new cultures, sharing stories, and learning new skills tend to put a smile on my face.
I'm also obsessed with reading the news!

• culture
• dancing
• education
• cooking
• news
• reading
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• bungee jumping
• cliff jumping
• rugby
• ecology
• economics
• teaching
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

I enjoy reading non-fiction books about international development, development economics or adventure-travel. A few of my favourites are:
The Challenge for Africa - Wangari Maathai
The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa - Calestous Juma
Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond
The Blue Sweater - Jacqueline Novogratz

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hiking the Andes
Exploring the Amazon
Island hopping in Greece
Camping in the Australian Outback
Tree Planting in Ghana

Teach, Learn, Share

I enjoy meeting and learning from ANYONE open-minded and kind - students, development workers, adventurers, free-spirits, farmers, mother, children, elders, the list goes on. I love chatting about international development and learning from other people's experiences in far away lands! I'm really interested in new agricultural technologies such as GM foods (the good and the bad), so it may be best not to bring up this subject if you don't have much time ;) I'm also a huge proponent of agroforestry and have participated in tree-planting initiatives in Africa and Canada.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Canada, Ghana

•