CURRENT MISSION

to wake up early &
stay up late

ABOUT ME

i'm a graduate student at columbia university studying TESOL - teaching english to speakers of other languages. so, if we hit it off, i'll be happy to put my skills to work and help you with your english if you need it. i'm a language nerd, period - my goal is to learn as many languages as possible, though the only foreign language i'm currently "okay" in is french. i will be traveling to paris at the end of may and hope to practice my french there as well as meet cool new friends. in addition to paris, I'm hitting up lisbon and barcelona - and maybe some other places you suggest! feel free to get in touch with me if you'll be available to host/show me around in paris or perhaps become travel buddies and explore some of europe together! camping out & hitchhiking are not out of the question.

Anyway---

i get my kicks mainly from hanging out with quality people - in parks and apartments, vehicles & venues across the world - sharing a beer or two & finding the humor and/or adventure in whatever happens to surround us.

currently, i spend a lot of time at the library or drinking tea in my apartment. i am working on a piece of creative nonfiction that I once called a zine and now call a memoir. i volunteer teach esl to the community.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

i've been on this site for years and years. i'm a broke student but also believe in a gift economy. i love traveling but hate being a "tourist" - i like to just settle into a city as though it were my home, eat and drink with the locals, etc.

Interests

literature, life, love, philosophy, psychology, language...
"urban studies," prose poems, surrealist games & the like, sharing, serendipity

Music, Movies, and Books

i'm especially a fan of literary non-fiction, diaries/letters, cultural studies, and good, minimalistic prose. joan didion, renata adler, anais nin, michael ondaatje, tom wolfe, luce irigaray, roland barthes, fernando pessoa, lester bangs, amy hempel, marguerite duras, richard brautigan, sam shepard, aaron cometbus, raymond carver, flannery o'connor, rene crevel... goodreads.

i'm pretty open to all kinds of music, but especially like indie rock, hip hop and folk music. i'd really like to discover more international music, especially international hip hop groups.

i'm not much of a movie freak, compared to most acquaintances. but. slow, tense movies about class, love, betrayal and subtle violence tend to grab me, especially the french ones. recently i saw "le combat dans l'île" & enjoyed that a lot. i'm pretty into cassavetes, especially "a woman under the influence." also "l'enfant," "ratcatcher," "le weekend," "persona," "the kid with the bike," "rain man," "the future," and i always have a soft spot for "gummo" i'd be more than happy to take in whatever films you think i may like!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

hitchhiking to & from the massive Danish music festival, Roskilde, from Berlin a few summers ago was pretty awesome.

Teach, Learn, Share

really, really into swapping book recommendations!
would love to teach, learn, and collaborate on web programming skills/projects.

What I Can Share with Hosts

love o' language, food, NYC tips&tricks

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Denmark, England, France, Israel, Morocco, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States

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