American wanderer, with roots in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Europe. I have lived in the Czech Republic, and then moved to Stavanger, Norway to study, where I met my husband Gjerulf at a Couchsurfing meeting. ❤️ We have two boys, and have lived in Spain since 2017 (yes, it was a rough pandemic).
I speak English and Norwegian and am working on Spanish, but will never be as good as the kids, who go to Spanish school.
I have had a long break from Couchsurfing since our first son was born, but was recently inspired to refresh my account and give it a new try. I hope to meet surfers as open and curious as those I met a decade ago. ❤️

Here is my old profile.

CURRENT MISSION

Fill the gaps

ABOUT ME

I am a wanderlust queen.

I was born in the smallest town you can imagine (more cows than people). When I was 13 I had a wall of pictures of the Eiffel tower, and I collected change from tips as a waitress for my "future expeditions."

As you can see I am a bit of a dreamer, always an optimist.

I love: bright colors, mountains, riding on trains, road trips and good Mexican food. And Stumptown coffee.
I don't like: seafood, being cold, closed-mindedness, or TV's.

I value good friendships and deep conversations, and laughter that makes your face hurt.

I used to tell people that I couldn't cook, but then I moved to a foreign country and discovered that wasn't true. It goes to show how much we can hinder ourselves by being afraid to try.

I believe your work should be your passion and you shouldn't waste your life doing something you don't really believe in. If you aren't doing everything you can to fulfill your dreams, what are you living for?

"If you are working toward something you believe in, you will not get tired."
~Jiřina Šiklová

"Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am."
~Parker Palmer

PHILOSOPHY

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel secure around you."
Nelson Mandela

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Was hosted for the first time in March 2007 in Prague and have become addicted ever since. Hosted in Portland, Oregon, Kruiningen, Netherlands and Most, Czech Republic. Have been hosted all over Europe and recently decided to become a Nomadic Ambassador in order to give more back to the community by participating in and organizing meetings, surfing with those who haven´t been strongly involved, and spreading the news about CS.
Also I give Free Hugs.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I still have so much to learn about CS, but here's what I know so far: I have found friends here, and a new way of viewing the world. Anyone who thinks this simply is a way to find a free place to stay has the wrong intentions. This is not only a great project and a great community, but a way to open up the world and show us how small it really is...and how much we all have in common.

Interests

Writing, photography, music, travel, history, reading, art, travel, happiness, goodness, growth, hammocks, handmade gifts, foreign movies and local hideaways.
I want to learn how to give a good massage.
I want to learn how to cook food from every culture.
I want to be introduced to new bands and new authors.
I want to learn to accept people the way they are.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• photography
• beauty
• dining
• seafood
• cooking
• coffee
• mexican food
• clothing
• news
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• survival
• music
• surfing
• history
• military science
• road trips
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Little Miss Sunshine, Braveheart, Liar Liar, Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Phantom of the Opera, Motorcycle Diaries, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Gods Must be Crazy, The Christmas Story, anything in black and white. Across the Universe, Into the Wild, Kolja.

Mat Kearney, Ingrid Michaelson, Jamie Cullum, Rufus Wainwright, Pink Martini, Latin (anything I can pretend to salsa to), Shantel, Gogol Bordello, Xavier Rudd, Cake, Squirrel Nut Zippers...

Charles Dickens, Michael Crichton, Rick Steves, Paulo Coelho, Chaim Potok, Rob Bell...whatever I can get my hands on.
Eat, pray, love, and anything by Bill Bryson. Jonathon Safron Foer.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The Amalfi Coast, Southern Italy
Eating authentic Mexican tacos at roadside stands
Playing Uno with peqino Mexican kids
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Discussing true beauty with Jr Highers with the view of Mirror Lake and Mt. Hood in the background
Being led through a gypsy village in Tirgu Mures, Romania
Classrooms full of students in the Czech Republic
Zoobombing!
Hitchiking in Poland
A lakeside fairytale in Cesky Krumlov with Petr
Throwing paper airplanes around the world

Teach, Learn, Share

"When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don't even understand the language the people speak. So you are like a child out of the womb. You begin to attach much more importance to the things around you because your survival depends on them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept any small favor from the gods with great delight, as if it were an episode you would remember for the rest of your life.
At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive."
~Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am....Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating.
~Michael Crichton, Travels

People always say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think this is what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive.
~Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

There are these moments when the enemy all of a sudden becomes just like me.
When a soldier becomes a son.
When a prostitute becomes a mother.
When they become we.
When those become us.
When he becomes me.
Moments when all of the ways that we divide ourselves and rank each other and convince ourselves of how different, better, and unalike we are disappear, and we are faced with the fact that first and foremost, we are humans.
In this together.
And not that much different from each other.
~Rob Bell

In a funny way nothing makes you feel more like a native of your own country than to live where nearly everyone is not.
~Bill Bryson, I'm a Stranger Here Myself

Minds are like parachutes...they only function when open.
~Random Bumper sticker from the Hawthorne District, Portland OR

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, United States

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