CURRENT MISSION

travel. learn. share.

ABOUT ME

I'm a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson. I'm originally from New Jersey, where my mother's family still lives. They are all of Italian heritage, and I used to love our Sunday dinners of pasta and family. The Italian language was lost in my family two generations before mine, so studying Italian is my way of reclaiming that part of our family history. I've met incredible people in my program, and some very inspiring and helpful professors that have really guided me in my studies and interest in the culture and language.

During the summer of 2009, I had the amazing opportunity to study in Orvieto, Italy for five weeks. The small town completely entranced me; the whole experience feels like a dream and I often can't believe it happened. While there, I studied the language more, and also read parts of Orlando Furioso for a class.

After the program, I traveled with a friend to other parts of Italy, and to Paris, Amsterdam, and Barcelona. The entire trip was completely unforgettable and really changed my perspectives on traveling. There were times when we had no idea where we would stay the next day, or how we would get there, but everything worked out in a way that either taught us a lesson or made us feel very lucky. We seemed to learn something new from each place, and that's one of the things I love about traveling. (The other major part being the food, of course!)

PHILOSOPHY

I'll be graduating very soon and don't have any specific goals for the rest of my life, but I figure that that's how I'm supposed to feel right now; how can I know what I want to do with the rest of my life when I barely know who I am? So I prefer to live life as it comes and I try my best not to worry about what will happen (although I still occasionally do!)

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I can share my couch and, in the hopefully near future, I'd like to couchsurf myself!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've stayed on friend's couches before and have enjoyed sharing spaces with them.

When I was younger, my family let a great couple from Switzerland stay in our guest room for three weeks. They cooked for us and shared with us their travels - they had a lot to tell, they'd been on bicycles since they left their homes. It was great to get to know them, and we still get postcards every once in a while.

兴趣

I really enjoy learning new languages; besides Italian, I've studied Spanish, modern Greek, Indonesian, and a small bit of French. Italian is the only one I have a pretty good grasp on, but I pick up languages pretty quickly.

I've recently become interested in the history of Italy, from ancient Rome to the middle ages to the Resistance movement, thanks to a few really great classes and professors.

Outside of the university, I enjoy working with kids. I've been a Sunday School teacher, a camp counselor, and a teacher's assistant, and I've found out that I can often learn from kids as much as I can teach them, if not more.

I also love to read, listen to all kinds of music, ride my bike, cook, and be crafty.

• culture
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• vegetarian
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• cycling
• camping
• teaching
• history
• languages
• law
• mountains

音乐、电影和书籍

I like to watch all kinds of movies, from action movies to horror to romance to foreign films. My all time favorite movie is Young Frankenstein - Gene Wilder is my favorite actor and I think he's just brilliant in this movie.

I like pretty much all genres of music, too, but my favorite lately is alternative music - nice, soft music to keep me relaxed while I'm studying, but I love loud dance music, too (I love cheesy disco moves and like to teach them to people!)

I love reading, and I can't really pick one specific favorite. I like everything from Dracula to Water for Elephants to Pride and Prejudice to Harry Potter. I'm not very picky about genres, but a book does have to catch my interest in the first chapter or I probably won't make it all the way through.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

The easiest way to explain this is to just share my entry in my travel journal about it. This is about the night before I left Oriveto:

"Yesterday morning, I watched the sun rise over Orvieto. No other moment has felt more real and surreal at the same time than that. Two friends and I sat with our feet dangling over the edge of the city, staring out into a great abyss of gray. Fog covered everything; it was an ocean. As we talked and cried, the sun slyly rose in to the sky. It burned off some of the mist to give us a quick glimpse of the most majestic sight: I saw the countryside, the beautiful Umbrian countryside that I've been trying to imprint in my brain, in a way that I have never seen before. The hills and valleys were just barely visible, stretching out hidden into the horizon while a sea of clouds laid upon it. It felt as though I was looking into Heaven itself. We stared in awe. Then, as quickly and as suddenly as the fog had gone, it returned. That short view of Heaven was enough, though. It was a sight that could never be explained or understood by anyone else except for us."

教，学，和分享

I like to teach crafty things (I'm very good at crocheting). I'm also a pretty decent cook, and can figure out something to eat with anything that's in my house. I'm a vegetarian, so I love to share my vegetarian recipes with people. I also have a lot of really random facts and knowledge in my head, especially about the Titanic, so if you're interested in stuff like that, I can sure help.

I'm interested in learning really anything people have to offer, but I'd especially love to practice my Italian. I'm not super comfortable with speaking Italian, so I'd like to meet people to chat with and help me get better at it.

我游览过的国家

France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain

我居住过的国家

United States