CURRENT MISSION

To explore new worlds! Or, as I say to squares, to broaden my experiences and make connections with other people from anywhere and everywhere.

ABOUT ME

I'm a young, recent college graduate who studied international relations. I have some grand plans, and they involve a lot of travel. I have no place of my own that I can offer to couchsurfers, but since I plan on couchsurfing during my own travels, you can be sure I'll be giving it back when I have a place of my own or a roommate that will allow couchsurfing!

PHILOSOPHY

The purpose of life is to seek lasting happiness for everyone. I use happiness in a holistic sense that includes fulfillment, purposeful employment, health, friendship, physical pleasures, and so on. Everyone deserves to be happy. And so I work to help that become real, which itself makes me happy!

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hopefully hosting one day soon, definitely participating in groups, and after a year or two, couchsurfing myself!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None at the moment, which I hope to rectify soon!

兴趣

I'm a thoughtful, bookish kind of guy. My passion is sustainable agriculture and African studies. My career goal is to work in rural West Africa on food security and agricultural issues.

And so, predictably for a liberal arts graduate, my interests include history, philosophy, and literature, and, referencing my interests above, anything related to food.

I'm proud of the fact that nearly all my interests and passions over the years have become knitted together into one large, relevant landscape. History and ethics inform my career choice, which I get inspiration for by reading literature like Thoreau and Emerson.

Je suis également bilingue en français (mais il faut dire que je ne parle pas couramment), donc je serais complètement à l'aise avec un hôte francophone. En fait, j'accueillerais l'occasion!

• arts
• literature
• ethics
• dining
• reading
• traveling
• agriculture
• history
• international relations
• languages

音乐、电影和书籍

I'll be brief, even though it means I have to cut out a lot that I truly love.

My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut. Two of my other favorite books are Brave New World and Walden by Thoreau. I love dystopian authors from the 20th century (Bradbury, Orwell, etc.) and the transcendentalists.

I also love non-fiction, especially history and philosophy. I'm fascinated by the Age of Discovery (1500s-1700s) and pre-history in particular. I love philosophy of every kind; I've read of lot of the classics.

For movies, my favorites tend to be period pieces. Terrence Malick's New World is FANTASTIC. I absolutely love it. I've had a special place in my heart for Master and Commander (2003) since, well, 2003. In general I like movies that make you think and were made thoughtfully. "The Mill and the Cross" is another favorite. And, just as I love non-fiction, I love documentaries. "The Ambassador" is my favorite documentary.

I enjoy music of almost every kind. What I have a hard time enjoying is pop, top-40 kind of music. The less generic and the more artful, the better. My favorite genres are jazz, hip hop, classical, and African, in no particular order. Indie pop and country are dark-horse favorites too!

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

The best experience I've ever had was working as an agricultural extension intern in rural Senegal for two months. It was fantastic. I learned more then than I've learned in years in classrooms.

教，学，和分享

The best skill I can probably teach is language. I can help you learn French or English. I suppose I'm pretty good at learning languages.

This is a bit more out-there, but I can also help you think philosophically and examine big questions you may not have known how to approach before, like what is true? What is right or wrong? What is the point of life? What should I do with my life? I hope this doesn't sound pretentious. I like to talk about this with people, whoever they are, and wherever they are in this thought process.

I also know a ton of random (and hopefully interesting) facts. So hang out with me and you will hear a few!