CURRENT MISSION

To explore the universe!

ABOUT ME

I'm a space case with a degree in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and a side-passion for Mandarin Chinese and all things Taiwan. :) I love exploring new places and meeting new people.

Something a friend once told me: "Each person is like a book, and getting to know somebody new is like reading that book." I love to read.

PHILOSOPHY

There's no point in buying money with all my hard-earned time.

ALSO: maximizing experience.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've hosted in the past and am available to host now! Two summers ago I surfed/biked down the east coast, and last summer I went down Hong Kong for a few days and met some very welcoming couchsurfers. I'm spending this year going between Paris and Taipei, trying to capture the ways in which these two cultures interact--and I'm so glad to have a way to meet people in foreign places!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosting is quite a nice experience--opening up your life to someone from far away gives you a different perspective, letting you see everyday things with new eyes. :) It's equally nice to have lunch/dinner with interesting strangers, whenever and wherever I am.

Interests

travelling, bicycling, drawing, photography, documentaries, comic books, books with no pictures, Chinese, Taiwanese, French, other languages, tarot, astrology, palmistry, mixology, wildlife, DISNEYWORLD, trying new things

• animals
• wildlife
• culture
• books
• photography
• documentaries
• cocktails
• partying
• trivia
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• drawing
• rock climbing
• biology
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

movies: Eternal Sunshine, Amélie, Life Aquatic, Into the Wild, The Beach, Spirited Away, Starry Starry Night, I'm a Cyborg But That's OK, anything with David Attenborough, anything by Werner Herzog, etc.

music: Devendra Banhart, Cocorosie, Joanna Newsom, Múm, Sigur Rós, good Taiwanese pop music, bad Taiwanese pop music

books: 19th-20th century naturalist/explorer autobiographies (Roy Chapman Andrews, William Beebe, Muir, Thoreau, etc.), Death in Venice, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Alice in Wonderland, Slaughterhouse V, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, anything

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Rode a camel in Inner Mongolia and watched the sun rise over the grasslands.

Almost parched to death climbing to the top of Jefferson Mountain in New Hampshire, then found a clear stream of water trickling out of a random rock.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm pretty up on my weird animal facts, Idaho trivia, and Taiwanese language/culture things (at least from an outsider's perspective, haha). And of course I can talk about Harvard if you're curious... I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about! Also sometimes I can do tarot readings for interested parties.

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