CURRENT MISSION

embarking

ABOUT ME

i'm from the midwest region of the US, which means i grew up mainly among corn fields, open spaces, and big skies and lakes. those places will always be part of me, but once i got hooked on traveling i started to head out into new territory. i lived in chicago for a couple years- i loved the city and had a great time exploring it. i fell in love with budapest a few years ago and moved here in september-- so far developing a relationship with the city has been incredible. i'm excited to keep meeting new people and to see how this part of my life will play out. i'm pretty easy-going and fairly hedonistic. i don't get bored easily- i can pretty much entertain myself in any situation, just by sitting and taking everything in. i love people watching. i'm happy anywhere near the water. i think i'm becoming a bit of an adrenaline junky in the sense that i thrive off of experiencing new places and trying new things. i have a feeling that my life in the next few years might consist largely of traipsing around--i believe in following your bliss! (geographical and otherwise). i'm fascinated by how huge this world is but also how beautifully small it becomes when you start to explore it and make connections all over the place.

PHILOSOPHY

"When it's over I want to to say:
All my life I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking
the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something
particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing
and frightened, or full or argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."
--Mary Oliver

"follow your bliss!" - Joseph Campbell

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

so far, nothing but wonderful. i couch surfed a little bit this summer while i was road tripping around the US...now i'm just getting started on this continent.

Interests

traveling, reading, writing, journaling, music, meeting great people, sharing cheap bottles of wine, good beer, good food, and good conversation, whiskey, learning languages, tying to learn to cook, camping, being outside, plunging into lakes

• writing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• reading
• traveling
• music
• hiking
• camping
• languages
• lakes
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

books/poetry: rilke, ee cummings, wallace stevens, margaret atwood, alice walker, paulo coelho, kahlil gibran, david whyte, steinbeck, faulkner, vonnegut, tom robbins, cormac mccarthy, mary oliver, li-young lee, rebecca solnit, travel narratives, so much more

music: the beatles, the white stripes, modest mouse, beck, the flaming lips, joanna newsome, jose gonzalez, the kinks, regina spektor, tom waits-- the list goes on-- really i'll listen to whatever fits the mood

movies: like the books and the music, really too many to list! it's more fun just to talk about it.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

hiking in the simien mountains in ethiopia-- amazing.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Hungary, United States

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