CURRENT MISSION

To constantly live life, travel, experience, and make friends

ABOUT ME

I am an adventurous, creative, optimistic, and genuine person who loves forming friendships. I am shy at first, but easily open up (usually with the help of whichever companion I'm with). I am loyal, helpful, and usually go out of my way to make someone feel good.

I was born in Walnut Creek, California to Taiwanese parents, lived around the San Francisco area for 2 years, and finally moved to New Jersey, where I grew up for my entire childhood in an admittedly well-to-do, rural-suburban town near Princeton. It's 45 minutes to Philadelphia, 45 minutes to New York City, and it afforded me great opportunity to interact with people from all over the world.

Not to bore you with my biography, but I attended college at the University of Connecticut where I double majored in Physiology and Neurobiology, and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (which sounds like 4 majors, but it was two). I also minored in Chemistry. I attended medical school at UMDNJ - the University of Medicine and Dentistry in NJ. Through all of this, I found a way to travel every chance I could.

Currently, I have graduated and am working as a pediatric psychiatrist. It will be harder to travel, but it is a constant in my being so there is no way I will ever stop. I simply love experiencing life and will always find a way to enjoy it!

PHILOSOPHY

It is a disservice to close oneself from all the world has to offer. Be open and respectful to diversity and peoples from all over the world. Constantly learn enjoy life with others. Respect is the best thing one can have for others. I despise close-mindedness, rudeness, obnoxiousness, disrespect, and unwillingness to mature.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

SORRY! DUE TO WORK OBLIGATIONS AND LIVING SITUATION, I WILL NOT BE HOSTING FOR THE TIME BEING. HAPPY TO MEET UP THOUGH!

I started couchsurfing in 2012, when I began attending local events in Philadelphia and New York City. I then have been able to host travelers who come into New York City, Philadelphia, or even Princeton, New Jersey to show them around, see attractions, eat at restaurants, and drink in pubs. Currently, I live in Philadelphia and I enjoy spending a day with travelers from around the world and the country to visit a city to as a guide or companion. Being in the (South Jersey/Philadelphia) area for the past few years got me acquainted with the city and its myriad neighborhoods and attractions. However, I'm always a terrible guide =D. You can't trust me with historical facts and figures so I constantly google things. I do try to do as much as I can with my guests, and help the most I can with rides, supplies, food, and advice. But I am busy with work and other priorities so I'll do the best I can do. I appreciate guests from whom I can also gain something - whether it's a new friend, cultural exchange, fun experiences, I prefer this style of couchsurfing than those from surfers who want only a free place to stay and to never be around.

I also host the weekly CS Philadelphia meet up. Wednesday evenings in Center City. Anyone that comes to Philadelphia should try to attend to have a good time =).

Unfortunately, because of the demands of hosting and with my work schedule getting fairly busy, I'm limited with my time and efforts.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have been able to surf on a couch for the first time in Miami! Then I used couchsurfing in Europe a few times. I have been fairly active in meeting with travelers who come into New York City or Philadelphia or Princeton, and some of my greatest friends are the local Philadelphia couchsurfers. I also claim some of my former couchsurfing peers as some of my best friends. Currently, I'm thrilled to be able to host people in Philadelphia as it's a wonderful and often overlooked city! I try to use couchsurfing as much as I can when I travel if it's appropriate for the time and place. You can see from my experiences of whom I've hosted or visited, I am very familiar with couchsurfing and love it! I took a little break from hosting after summer 2017 in order to take care of some things but willing to try it again!

Surfed:
January 2013 Jason (Miami)
March 2013 Tomas (Prague)
March 2013 Christian (Vienna)
March 2013 Blaz (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
March 2013 Karoly (Budapest, Hungary)
September 2013 Flo (Erdweg, Germany)
September 2013 Andreas (Munich)
October 2013 Marcin (Krakow, Poland)
October 2013 Serdal (Stuttgart, Germany)
July 2014 Sebastian (Copenhagen)
July 2014 Andreas (Stockholm)
July 2014 Maria (Gothenburg, Sweden)
July 2014 John (Trondheim, Norway)
July 2014 Falke (Stavanger, Norway)
July 2014 Niklas (Oslo)
November 2015 Brandon (Phoenix)
May 2016 Ryan (Cape Town, South Africa)
May 2016 Michael (Pretoria, South Africa)
May 2016 Oan (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Hosted:
July 2013 Nick (Montreal)
July 2013 Fin, Bernhard, Gunter, and Lisa (Würzburg, Germany)
March 2014 Ben (Mannheim, Germany)
June 2014 Simon (Dunedin, New Zealand)
May 2014 Michael (Mont Tremblant, Canada)
August 2014 Søren and Simon (Aarhus, Denmark)
August 2015 Shane (Perth, Australia/Taumarunui, New Zealand)
August 2015 Tobias and Alex (Ulm, Germany)
August 2015 Marek, Marcela, and Michal (Lodz, Poland)
August 2015 Martin and Barbora (Brno, Czech Republic/Trnava, Slovakia)
August 2015 Victoria (Paris)
August 2015 Brandon (Fond Du Lac, WI)
September 2015 Ryan (Cape Town, South Africa)
September 2015 Jess and Sarah (Perth, Australia; Sydney)
September 2015 Jakub, Pavel, Dan, and Maciej (Brno, Czech Republic)
September 2015 Julien and Maelle (Montreal)
September 2015 Tad (Bratislava, Slovakia)
October 2015 Evan (Perth, Australia)
October 2015 Ronald and Rob (Leeuwarden, Netherlands)
December 2015 Long (Portland, Oregon)
December 2015 Fernando (Gainesville, Florida)
December 2015 Connor (Melbourne, Australia)
January 2016 Adolpho (Curitiba, Brazil)
February 2016 Marcel (Black Forest, Germany)
February 2016 Josh (Tampa, Florida)
February 2016 Peter and Emma (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
March 2016 Giulia, Fernanda, and Tadeu (Sao Paulo; Rio de Janeiro)
March 2016 Santosh (Bengaluru, India)
March 2016 Thomas (Lyon, France)
March 2016 Francesco and Greta (Palermo, Italy)
April 2016 Simon (London)
April 2016 Agostino (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
April 2016 Rejap and Rodrigo (Wuppertal, Germany/Brazil)
April 2016 Alexander (London)
April 2016 Maud and Pierre (Tours, France)
April 2016 Ugo and Alessandro (Salerno, Italy)
April 2016 Astrid and Gerhard (Rohrmoos, Austria)
April 2016 Jonathan and Marcel (Munich)
April 2016 Dan (Kingston Upon Hull, England)
May 2016 Hugh and George (Oxford, England)
May 2016 Christian (Chicago)
May 2016 Mark (Glasgow, Scotland)
May 2016 John and Jane (College Station, Texas)
June 2016 Morgan (London)
June 2016 Michael (Mainz, Germany)
June 2016 Efrain (Palmira, Colombia)
June 2016 Dmitry (Moscow)
July 2016 Gyula, Soma, and Aron (Budapest, Hungary)
July 2016 Eilon (Tel Aviv, Israel)
July 2016 Chris and Lu (Brighton, England)
July 2016 Raphael and Anne (Stuttgart, Germany)
July 2016 Matthias (Vienna)
July 2016 Yewming (Singapore)
July 2016 Todd (Santa Barbara, California)
August 2016 Ylenia and Tiziano (Emilia Romagna, Italy)
August 2016 Josh and Kurtis (Sheffield, England)
August 2016 Sebastian (London)
August 2016 Todd and Kelsie (Indianapolis)
August 2016 Hana and Igor (Prague)
August 2016 Sean (San Luis Obispo, California)
September 2016 Flavio (Turin, Italy)
September 2016 Glenn (Limavady, Northern Ireland)
September 2016 Frederik and Felix (Wiesbaden, Germany)
September 2016 Daniel (Tilarán, Costa Rica)
October 2016 Damo (Mirboo North, Australia)
November 2016 Sebastian (Grabenstätt, Germany)
December 2016 Matt (Tauranga, New Zealand)
January 2017 Tash and Mike (Johannesburg, South Africa; Durban, South Africa)
March 2017 Nuala and Mark (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
March 2017 George (Athens, Greece)
April 2017 David (Madrid, Spain)
May 2017 Niklas (Essen, Germany)
May 2017 Hendrik and Lucas (Steinfurt, Germany)
May 2017 Armando (Madrid, Spain)
June 2017 Bryce (Laie, Hawaii) and Philipp (Germany)
July 2017 Jacob (Boston)
July 2017 David and Marvin (Vienna)
August 2017 Alvaro (Málaga, Spain)
August 2017 Henry (Bogotá, Colombia)
September 2017 Michael (Glasgow, Scotland)
September 2017 Alexander (Moscow, Russia)
September 2017 Egor and Maria (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
March 2019 Michael (McKeesport, Pennsylvania)
April 2019 Mike (Honolulu)
April 2019 Emerson (Auckland, New Zealand)
May 2019 Rich (Edinburgh, Scotland)
May 2019 Marco and Alan (Itajai, Brazil)
June 2019 Taariq (Cape Town, South Africa)
June 2019 Yancé and Morgane (Nantes, France)
June 2019 Martin (Pamploma, Spain)
June 2019 Austin and Sári (Budapest, Hungary)
July 2019 Davide (Quartu Saint'Elena, Italy)
July 2019 Josef (Vienna)
August 2019 Tom (Leeds, England)
August 2019 Dan (Ann Arbor, MI)
September 2019 Robert (Žilina, Slovakia)

Intereses

I like art, photography, drawing, architecture
I like culture, mythology, geography
I like the outdoors (landscapes, seascapes, hiking, oceans, cityscapes)
I like being active. The only sport I really play is tennis. I also run, and I enjoy more non-everyday sports (hiking, mountain climbing, skiing, white-water-rafting, scuba-diving)
I like traveling. A lot.
PS, playing Pokemon Go is a big passion of mine at the moment. Big positive for anyone that plays as well =D

Música, películas y libros

Movies: Anything MCU, Transformers, X-Men, Batman, Se7en, Latter Days, the Incredibles, Lion King, Big Hero 6

Television: Friends, Will and Grace, Happy Endings, Glee, Family Guy, Teen Wolf, Futurama, NCIS, Modern Family, Walking Dead, Top Chef, Project Runway, Umbrella Academy

Music: Anthony Callea, Ludovico Einaudi, Snow Patrol, Rascal Flatts, Josh Groban, Shunichi Miyamoto, Blake Lewis, the Fray, Linkin Park

Books: Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, Calvin and Hobbes, Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Brian Jacques, Dan Brown, Bill Bryson, Malcolm Gladwell

Algo increíble que he hecho

1. Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
2. Parc Guell, Barcelona, Spain. My favorite place in the world.
3. Iguazu Falls, Brazil. I went to South America just for this. The sheer magnitude and majesty of these falls were so inspiring.
4. New Year's in Amsterdam. So much fun watching the fireworks reflect off the narrow houses and the canals.
5. Motorbiked up Thailand from Chiang Mai to Pai, stopping at roadside restaurants and enjoying good company with newly made friends.
6. Hiked up Volcan Acatenango and camped with perfect views of erupting Volcan Fuego in Guatemala. Poking my head out from behind the tent to see spewing reds and oranges was worth the strenuous hike that I intermittently thought I couldn't handle.
7. Took a 3 month trip through Southeast Asia, alone. Met awesome friends and had unforgettable experiences in Bagan, Myanmar; Luang Prabang, Laos; Kathmandu, Nepal; Siem Reap, Cambodia; and Cat Ba, Vietnam (among other towns, villages, and cities)
8. Hiked for two weeks through South Island, New Zealand with my best kiwi mate.

Enseña, aprende, comparte

I can teach you how to solve a Rubik's cube

I love learning about culture and customs from other parts of the world, about foods, about differences, and about people's lives

I can share my love for good food. I can eat a lot.

Países que he visitado

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Países en los que he vivido

United States

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