CURRENT MISSION

I am on a mission to find the spiciest hot sauce in the world.

ABOUT ME

Discovered couchsurfing while studying abroad during Fall 2008 in Italy, finished up the rest of my studies at UC Berkeley, where I majored in Economics and French. Now I work in San Francisco in economic consulting. I love languages, maps, cities, public transportation, food, and belgian beers, among many other things. I absolutely love dogs, and I get along with pretty much all pets.

When I'm really stressed, one of my favorite ways to take a break is to cook or bake, and I'm very adventurous with food. I'm pretty talkative once I get to know people.

These days I spend all my time and then some being a student at UC Berkeley again, studying city planning and transportation engineering.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe first and foremost in honesty above all things.

"Forgive me! In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did hold fast, through all extremity; save when thy good,-thy life,-thy fame,-were put in question! Then I consented to a deception. But a lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side!" - The Scarlet Letter

"... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life." - American Beauty

« ‘Faire de sa vie un chef d’œuvre’. Ou plutôt faire de la vie des autres, de la vie de tous un chef-d’œuvre. » ~ Henri Alleg

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I discovered CouchSurfing while I was studying abroad, had great experiences with it in Europe, and now I'm back home in California, and have couchsurfed in Oregon since.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've couchsurfed in Oregon, Italy, and France, and met some amazing people through couchsurfing. Couchsurfing has made my travel much more meaningful!

Interests

If you look at any of my photos from my travels, it becomes clear pretty quickly... I'm obsessed with food. :) I love learning about new regional foods, trying new cuisines, eating things I never thought I would (who knew there were so many ways to serve snails!), and learning about cultures and cities through their foods. Yum. I also love music and languages, and am an aspiring transportation planner!

• pets
• dogs
• beauty
• dining
• italian food
• cooking
• beer
• traveling
• music
• cartography
• economics
• engineering
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Films: Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Amélie, American Beauty, Devdas, Roma città aperta, 10 Things I Hate About You, La meglio gioventù, Saathiya, The Hours, La sconosciuta, Cinema Paradiso, The Lives of Others...

Books: The Scarlet Letter, The Fountainhead, Le spleen de Paris, The Hours, The Berlin Novels (and Christopher Isherwood in general), Mémoire algérienne, Amusing the Million, Nana, Le Père Goriot, anything Roald Dahl..., and my million language and travel books.

Music: Alicia Keys, Regina Spektor, Taylor Swift, MC Solaar, Manu Chao, Nek, Juanes, Amadou et Mariam, Yann Tiersen, Zeljko Joksimovic, הדג נחש, La Oreja De Van Gogh, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, India.Arie, Sufjan Stevens, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Death Cab For Cutie, Simon and Garfunkel, The Kinks, The Beatles, Fischerspooner, Basshunter, David Guetta, and a lot more, including classical (or especially Romantic era) music.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Played mahjong in Beijing. Had kindness to a stranger be reciprocated by a free taxi ride to Nice when my friends and I got stranded at midnight at the Italian border. Floated and played in the mud at the Dead Sea.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love food, and I have enjoyed cooking my way through Chinese, French, and Italian food. I've got plenty more to learn with all those, and I'd love to learn about more cuisines.

I love learning, talking about, and I suppose teaching languages.

I'm also very interested in urban/city planning, particularly transportation planning. I find it fascinating to look at what makes cities work, what makes a place dynamic, and get a different perspective than mine from growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've got a ton more to learn about this too. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States