CURRENT MISSION

To finish grad school and continue learning about/appreciating other cultures and languages. To inspire others and reach out to help those around me (and in the world at large).

ABOUT ME

"they came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world.... and after a while they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do some day."

Music addict. Travel junkie. Coffee lover. Picture taker. Road runner. Bike rider. Undercover ninja.

I've lived in 7 cities in the US and I spent the last two years living/working overseas before moving here to Richmond. It's been a pretty wild/amazing journey (and I miss living/working abroad!). However, it's also good to be back in the states and closer to family and dear friends. Time will tell where "home" is (or will be)... :)

PHILOSOPHY

I believe you were meant for amazing things....

I think Donald Miller says it best:
"If I have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, "Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm all about community, meeting new people, sharing experiences, swapping stories, and connecting the dots or helping however I can. I can show you around, cook you a meal, meet ya for a drink, introduce you to some pretty amazing friends, or sing some tunes with ya. I also love hearing your story and what you're passionate about!

Interests

music, singing, playing piano, art, design, photography, traveling, going to shows, cooking, dancing, riding bikes, meeting new people, pilates, yoga, running, hiking, camping, kayaking, films, Prague, Budapest, Copenhagen, hostels, adventures, random road trips, pillow fights, learning new languages, accents, culture, community, philosophy, poetry, religion and being a nerd

• arts
• culture
• poetry
• singing
• design
• photography
• beauty
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• coffee
• yoga
• pilates
• running
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• music
• folk music
• piano
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• languages
• religion
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Blue Like Jazz. Three Cups of Tea. Where the Wild Things Are. Exploring Culture. Searching for God Knows What. To Kill a Mockingbird. Where the Sidewalk Ends. The Bible. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Sound and the Fury. Crossing Over. 1000 Gifts.

Movies: Everything is Illuminated, Royal Tenenbaums, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, I Heart Huckabees, Bella, Dan in Real Life, Sandlot, A Beautiful Mind, Emperor's New Groove, Amelie, Napoleon Dynamite, Life is Beautiful, Indiana Jones, Brick, In America, Paris Je T'aime, Finding Neverland, Silver Linings Playbook

Music: Sufjan Stevens, James Blake, Radiohead, Feist, The Avett Brothers, Fujiya & Miyagi, Lykke Li, Adele, Duffy, James Morrison, Sleeping at Last, Muse, Kings of Leon, Andrew Bird, Regina Spektor, MIA, Kings of Convenience, Josh Garrels, Beach House, Yeasayer, The Head and the Heart.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1) Watched the sun rise over Prague and the Vltava River as my dear international friends and I sang songs in Czech, Latvian and English and celebrated Easter morn together. (We'd only had an hour of sleep because of dancing late the night before, but it was so worth it! That morning was unforgettable to me!)

2) Shared a bottle of wine on a hostel rooftop in Spain with loads of diverse people we'd met earlier that day. We were all huddled together on blankets/coaches under a canopy of sheets blowing in the wind, but the stars were beautiful, as were the conversations and the wine :)

3) Spoke Czech with the former President of Czech Republic while he was here in the states.

4) Discovered a drive-in (er raft-in) mojito bar while rafting the river in Český Krumlov... complete with Czech folk music, an inch of water to dip your toes into, and fun new friends:
http://youtu.be/9nAxQ9s_d1Y

5) Planned/participated in a massive food fight in the middle of a forrest in Prague! haha. It was a birthday wish of my Latvian roommate at the time, and it was a blast!

Teach, Learn, Share

"they came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world.... and after a while they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do some day"

Countries I’ve Visited

Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, United States

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