I moved to Gainesville in 2006 to become a gator grad and ended up staying because I fell in love with the city and all it has to offer. I am an avid traveler and enjoy going on outdoor adventures. I'm also a fitness junkie and a huge foodie who loves to try new experiences, new food, and new things in general! I enjoy meeting new people and connecting with others who are different than me. I value open mindedness and trying to understand others before jumping to judgment. :) I am a passionate entrepreneur who owns a personal training business in Gainesville, FL called Swamp Fitness. I am also a Realtor and real estate investor. I thrive on having a positive impact on the lives of others. I love these sayings/quotes: "Progress not perfection" and “Life begins outside of your comfort zone”

Hi! I’m from Miami, Florida and recently graduated from the University of Florida. I enjoy traveling and specifically bikepacking.

Noch keine Bio, wahrscheinlich gerade auf Entdeckungstour

CURRENT MISSION To add more glass pieces to my mosaic ABOUT ME I like listening to good stories. PHILOSOPHY I have on my wall: "How we spend our days is how we spend our lives." In other words, we may have big, wonderful ideas of how we'd like our lives to be, but how we choose to live every day is the best indicator of our life's potential. The only way to have the life we want is to start living it now.

Hello, I am a mother of one. Doing my best to raise a responsible, caring, respectful, self aware Homo sapien. I actively try to reduce my impact on the planet. I combined my love of my son and the planet and started my own company, One Healthy Planet LLC. I upcycle things to save the planet and to have an artistic release. I have been a homeowner in Gainesville, FL for over 15 years. I fancy myself a novice homesteader. I like to make most everything from scratch, laundry and dish soap, ketchup etc. I like being outdoors. But I also like to binge on movies, shows and Chinese food. 😁 I believe life is pain but we choose to suffer. Happiness is found within and it is our responsibility to fuel it, no one else's! I like to give the benefit of the doubt. I believe good manners are paramount especially concerning my son. I am often honest to a fault. I believe honesty is the best policy. I love making new friends and hope to make many more here on Couchsurfing!

I’m Jan, a NASA-funded astrobiologist looking for life on Mars and guiding the first private mission to Venus. I currently live in Gainesville, Florida. I started IMPRESS Spaceworks, a company developing Mars exploration probes, and ALFA Mars, a nonprofit focused on searching for life on Mars before humans arrive. You can find them at impressmars.com and alfamars.org. Before Gainesville, I lived in Czechia, Denmark, Turkey, California, and Oregon. Along the way I crossed Australia by bicycle, rode a bicycle around the Baltic Sea, and spent a couple of weeks riding horses across Mongolia and now I started Advanced Adventure club in Gainesville https://www.advancedadventures.club/. After finishing my PhD in Genomics and Proteomics I've done some work on molecular diagnostics including covid detection. Now I work on astrobiology, Mars life-detection missions, and strange chemistry in extreme environments. I also proposed an organic carbon cycle in the clouds of Venus — the same planet where Rocket Lab is sending the first private interplanetary probe. I also spend time on philosophy of life in the universe – for work and for fun. After a decade of using CouchSurfing as a guest, it’s time to repay the community as a host. As a host, I enjoy meeting curious, kind people who can share travel stories, science, nature, weird ideas. I can share stories from the road, talk about Mars and Venus, or point you toward springs, trails, and interesting places around Gainesville. I appreciate guests who are respectful, easygoing, and genuinely interested in cultural exchange. Couchsurfing, for me, is about the old spirit of travel: trust, curiosity, stories, and leaving both people a little richer in experience than before.

CURRENT MISSION I think if I can just get my damn shoes tied right once, where they will stay tied all day, everything else will somehow fall mystically into place... ABOUT ME Hmm, how should I describe myself? I have got two eyes. They function alright. They are the kind of eyes with pupils. I have also got a nose, not really like an elephants or even a wolves (though that might be entertaining), more human like. This is equipped with standardly with 2 nostrils, which I have. Oh yeah, I've got a mouth as well, fortunately. Human looking pretty much I would say. More human than bug-eyed green alien looking anyway. But perhaps I've said too much... What else? Hmm, I am interested in travel and adventure and plan to travel the length and breadth of the whole freaking world in a blaze of fire and heat before I rest in the cold earth. See everything, do everything, so that when I am an old man (If I happen to make it that long), I don't have to make up tales to tell my grandchildren, I'll have enough real ones to make their eyes get wide with wonder. And I am going to start by going to the corner store to get a beer. PHILOSOPHY I'll have to philosophize on this...

Hi there, I'm currently in a PhD program at University of Florida, and I'm studying a linguistics called Systemic Functional Linguistics. When I travel, there is always a main purpose of visiting the place, other than sightseeing; it's usually attending professional conferences, visiting my old friends, and going to some events. So I would not stay at your place for a very long time. That being said, I love talking to interesting people, so I would like to talk to you over a meal, coffee, or even a walk. I will enjoy listening to you talk about what you're passionate about, what you do for living, and/or what you like about your city or neighborhood. I'm looking forward to talking to you soon!