Just moved to Torino and will be here for 2 months (until Dec 2015). Then the plan is either ski teach in Switzerland, stay in Italy, or or ....

CURRENT MISSION

To learn 7 languages - currently I´m at 5 and a bit (that will also allow me to have amazing times travelling meeting great people, seeing amazing places, and making lots of memories

ABOUT ME

UPDATE APR/15: I was in Portugal for 2 months doing an English Teaching course, and have just arrived in Spain hoping to find a place to live and work. Pura Vida!

UPDATE SEP/14: Now I'm in Germany and liking it. My first 2 months I packed skydiving parachutes in a tiny town in the deep dark South. Now I've been in Munich for 2 months and it's really fun - I meet good people everyday at work, I get to use all my languages, and Oktoberfest is just around the corner. The ankle is healed, now the next challenge is to find an apartment...

UPDATE FEB/14: I broke my ankle on my first day in the snow in Austria (I love snow, but it doesn't love me) so had to leave and am now recovering in Switzerland - the land of cheese and chocolate. Rough plan is Austria again mid-March, then Germany or Italy for skydive season

UPDATE NOV/13: I'm just about to leave Italy after 6 fantastic months to spend a winter in Kirchberg, Austria (I love snow!). Before I get there I will go to South Italy for 9 days, then fly to Denmark and travel through Germany (hopefully learning some Deutsch) before Austria. Bring on the new adventure (and the next language!)

I'm currently in Italy and hoping to stay for one year - I love the language, the people, the food, the mountains...It's been a while since I left NZ - I have lived in Australia for 7 months, had 6 months backpacking around Europe, and then taught skiing in Norway for 5 months. Hopefully I will continue this way of life (work, travel, work, travel) for the next 5-6 years.

I'm currently on a new direction in life having changed from my ecclectic background in science, teaching english, and working for the government in front of a computer screen to one filled with people, the outdoors, and travel. I have been a mountain guide in Australia at the start of last year, practised rafting guiding in Slovenia for 5 weeks, was a ski teacher in Norway for the winter, and now want to learn how to pack parachutes so I can skydive and work at the same time.
Happy, talkative, enthusiastic, energetic, and slowly getting addicted to coffee in Italy (but still need 2+ sugars).
Personal motto - 'why not?'
People usually call me crazy kiwi - I'm always meeting people on buses, at the supermarket etc; and I always like to walk for hours in the mountains, do exciting activites like bungee jumping and rafting; and I know a couple of random languages.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is best (not just good, but best); and there are awesome people everywhere in the world.

This has also been a time where I have had no plans (or even guidebooks) but instead just let the wind blow me, with awesome results. It turns out opportunities are always there, but if you are focussed on an outcome you tend to be blind to other possibilities. For travel that means I stay as long or as little as I feel and am free to take detours to places people recommend. For work it means I stumble across things like packing parachuting parachutes. La vita e bella!

2 more - I try to grab happiness when I can because I know it doesn't always last.
And I always try to say yes - because then everything can change forever

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Unfortunately only surfing so far, and only seldomly (I prefer to be very flexible with my travel plans, which often doesn't give people enough notice).
Hopefully I will be able to host wherever I end up, but that will depend on the place/flatmates/landlord etc...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Every single time I've been hosted it has been fantastic - awesome friendly people who are happy to meet you and share with you and learn from you. It's always been a great experience.

Interests

Languages - fluent in Swedish, my Italian is pretty good, my Norwegian is OK, and unfortunately I am forgetting my Korean. My German is good and I want to learn Spanish.
Travel - done a lot in North and South East Asia, eventually want to get to South America and Africa. For me the language, culture, food, people etc are the most important things about travel so I tend to spend longer in countries rather than just hurrying around taking photos.
Mountains - enough said
Scuba diving, ice hockey, and would love to learn how to solo skydive this summer.

• culture
• oktoberfest
• dining
• chocolate
• cheese
• coffee
• flying
• traveling
• socializing
• outdoor activities
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• bungee jumping
• skydiving
• skiing
• hockey
• teaching
• languages
• science
• tourism
• mountains

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Everest Base Camp from both sides - awesome!
And pretty much any other place that reminds me how small I am and how really big nature is.

From a social perspective travelling in Mongolia was a very humbling experience - they have nothing and yet they are so generous and offer everything they have even to complete strangers (whereas a lot of us tend to live between closed doors and locked fences)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

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