HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING Often and with enthusiasm! COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE Hosted: Josh & Dan - Grand Rapids / Chicago Gianni di Caro - Lugano, Switzerland Pierre Esselink Cren - Santiago, Chile Jennifer Bertagnolli - Springfield, IL Moses Allen - Springfield, IL April Menegazzo - Denver, CO Jon Cordoba - Tempe, AZ Lauren Greenfield - Chicago, IL Juan Carlos Fariña Zeairi - Sevilla, Spain John Skyhiker - London, UK Hannah Martin - Basel, Switzerland Roy Coughlin - San Francisco, CA Katy & David - Paris, France Shauna Ward & Company (Lindsey, Jonathon, Richard, & Robin) - Ireland, England, and Wales Henri d'Armancourt & Julie - Paris, France Sascha - Berlin, Germany Kelly - Denver, CO Seth Conger - Athens, GA Matta (Mauro & Tonianne) - NYC Aur Beck - Carbondale, IL The Shackeltons - Chambersburg, PA Daina - Tuscon, AZ Margaret Kramer - New Zealand Clay & Steph - Milwaukee, WI Corey & Sarah - Grand Rapids, MI Hana Nower - Upstate NY Jamie Anderson - Oxford, UK Simon Rashleigh - Melbourne, Australia Adam Thiel - Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sabrina Rickli - Says, Switzerland Justin Blasi - NJ Miles Copeland - Bishop Auckland, UK Dan O'Donnell - Bristol, UK Fabien Champion - Paris, FR Amy, Krista, Shawn, and David - Memphis, TN Magdalena - Poland Yakov - Kiev, Ukraine by way of Chicago :) Meriem - France Darren & Omar - Zurich, Switzerland; London, UK Joann & Dana - Layton, UT/Long Beach, CA Louis Baguenault de Puchesse - Paris, FR Jennie Fernandez - Albuquerque, NM Luke Huckstepp - Newcastle, Australia Nina & Maria - Leipzig, Germany Nina & Patrick - Madison, WI Frank Martin-Buck - Ann Arbor, MI Baptiste Didier - Paris, France Bruno Narciso - Lisbon, Portugal Alex - L.A., CA Charles Elison - Philly, PA Alex & Riika - Paradise, CA and Finland John Gosslee - Nashville, TN Giovanni Pazienza - Italy Michael Petras - international man of mystery Surfed with: Katy & David in Vancouver, BC Rain in Vancouver, BC Harry Warner in Fulford on Salt Spring Island, BC Rob in Victoria, BC Aur in Carbondale, IL David Ip in Chicago, IL Joe G. in Chicago, IL Lorie Guevara in Chicago, IL Daniel Stahl in Flagstaff, AZ Chris Prentice in Moab, UT April Menegazzo in Denver, CO Travelled with: Natalia, Lorie Guevera, Mike Turner, and Zoe McNuggets - Turkey Demi Beys - to Chicago, Memphis, NOLA, San Francisco, Belize, and Guatamala Beth Opbroek - to many trips to count, most recently a rad roadtrip to Carbondale, IL and a very memorable trip to Las Vegas Brooke Baker - Carbondale, IL Alex - CHI to STL Crystal and Jim Rolfe - We roadtripped to the Grand Canyon and beyond Katarina Myska - Chicago and countless others

Books: those by world travelers, The Life of Pi, The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, The Stranger, The Secret Life of Lobsters, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (apparently, I'm attracted to book titles beginning with the word 'The'), anything on the subject of art, every single thing written by David Sedaris and some by Charles Bukowski, my writer/chef blogging pals Cinema: Foreign films (especially anything by Julio Medem), Tampopo, Red like the Sky, The Lives of Others, Bend it Like Beckham, Blazing Saddles, Amelie, Young Frankenstein, Singles, Delicatessan, The Sting, Dangerous Liaisons, Lost in Translation, The Daytrippers, Living in Oblivion, The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, Groundhog Day, Inception, The Princess Bride, Cold Comfort Farm, The Pillow Book, Death and the Maiden, The Matrix, Uncle Buck, The Shawshank Redemption, French Kiss, Orlando, Happy Gilmore, Trainspotting, and on and on... Music: John Coltrane, James Brown, Scott Joplin, Tom Waits, Cannonball Adderly, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Meat Beat Manifesto, MC Chris, Mozart's Requim, Future Sound of London, Sonny Rollins, Finitribe, Shostakovich, CAKE, Mulatu Astatke, Debussy, Gogol Bordello, Ween, Jason Wembley, sometimes even mindless pop blared at unhealthy levels (currently Pumped up Kicks is repeating often), locally -- Rum Drum Ramblers, the Monads Art: German Expressionism, and in particular, Max Beckmann and Egon Schiele, Paul Klee, Cindy Sherman, Van Gogh, Durer, Modigliani, Edward Hopper, Gauguin, Roy Lichtenstein, Wayne Thiebaud, Georgia O'Keefe, Rodin, Andrew Wyeth