CURRENT MISSION

Figure out where I want to live for the next few years. Right now I'm considering the Bay Area, Austin, and various places in Western Europe.

ABOUT ME

"I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling; looking for something, what can it be?"

I'm incredibly compassionate and curious. I love helping others, but sometimes I have a tendency to get lost in my own head. I can be a bit shy at first, but when I open up and get to know someone, I'm very silly and outgoing. I love intellectual matters, though I try my best to stray away from pretension. I grew up in Venice, California, USA and moved to Portland, OR, USA for college. My partner grew up in the Bay, so I spend a lot of time there, too.

I'm an INFJ if that matters to you. I like peppermint tea, cartography (it's all about the Gall-Peters projection!), polka dots, canines, kale and avocado, hiking and camping, rivers and lakes, old books, new books, sunflowers, lying in the road and looking at the stars on quiet and clear nights, dancing like a fool alone and with friends, crossword puzzles...

"my songs're written with the kettledrum in mind/a touch of any anxious color ... i have given up at making any attempt at perfection/i have no arguments an' i never drink milk./ a song is anything that can walk by itself/i am called a songwriter. a poem is a naked person ... some people say that i am a poet." - Bob Dylan

"I am still so naive; I know pretty much what I like and dislike; but please, don't ask me who I am. A passionate, fragmentary girl, maybe?"
-Sylvia Plath

"Do I contradict myself?/Very well, then, I contradict myself./I am large/I contain multitudes" - William Wordsworth

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've started hosting people and I hope to find hosts myself as I travel Europe this summer! My housemates and I have hosted various travelers who were backpacking or just passing through.

Interests

I'm an English major, so literature is the first thing that comes to mind. I didn't always have such wanderlust. For years and years, I was content to read about these incredible places in fact and fiction, but never visit. As my anxiety has dissipated, this is changing. Reading isn't enough anymore. I want to see the world. So now, I spend my time day-dreaming and scratching my itchin'-to-travel feet.

When I'm not inside my head, I love to cook and converse. I participate in theatre, and although that's historically meant acting, I'm looking to learn more about the tech and management aspects.

Realistically, I spend most of my time studying or doing homework, because I graduate college this May. My partner is my best friend, and we're together a great deal. They're also my traveling companion.

Intersectional feminism is very, very important to me.

• books
• literature
• acting
• coloring
• dancing
• polka
• womens rights
• dining
• cooking
• instructor
• drinking
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• puzzles
• music
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• cartography
• languages
• software
• lakes
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

Music favorites:
Bruce Springsteen, the Mountain Goats, Indigo Girls, Ani Difranco, The Beatles, The Band, The Doors, Patti Smith, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, The Tallest Man on Earth, Joni Mitchell, Talking Heads, classic rock, Motown, and musical theatre (especially RENT, Les Mis, and most things by Sondheim)

I couldn't possibly list all the literature I've read and cherished, but the Harry Potter books will always be my #1 favorite. I love the poetry of Andrea Gibson and Sylvia Plath, and the writings of Helen Oyeyemi, Virginia Woolf, and Joan Didion. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and fantasy novels as well.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite television show.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In spring of 2011, I drove from Portland, OR to Berkeley, CA with three other people. We stopped in Crescent City, CA and took an all-day hike through the Jedidiah Smith Redwood Forest. Those redwoods were the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

In January of 2013, my partner and I drove from Los Angeles to Berkeley up the Pacific Coast Highway. Driving through Big Sur was an absolute dream. We stayed at a hostel in Cambria and saw lots of elephant seals.

I visited and swam in Crater Lake last summer. It's one of my favorite places in the United States.

This winter, I visited the Eastern Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you to cook lots of delicious food, and although I've never been a langauge instructor, I can certainly try to teach French or English, or even a little bit of русский язык. If you have the right software, I can also show you some cool things on the computer, such as Photoshop. Finally, I would be happy to read your Tarot cards if you would like me to!

I always welcome new information about languages and cultures that are foreign to me, and I'd love to learn some manual skills, especially farm labor. Let's share music, too!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States