Hi! Great to meet you. A life that revolves around exploration and discovering "home" in many faraway places has been a priority since I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan in the US. I bought a one-way ticket to move to San Francisco ~12 years ago, and now have (mostly) worked full-time remotely while traveling for the last 5 years. :)

Right now I'm focused on writing a book on experiences of intimacy across 10 different cultures, and would love to chat about this! Curious to know your perspective.

A brief travel history so far:
Spent a year in 2017-2018 exploring the world for the first time, created a photography project, helped run a mobile pizzeria in Hawaii through Workaway, bought and sold a camper van in Australia, road tripped in New Zealand through free car relocation, got my PADI open water cert in Thailand, experienced sakura blossoms in Japan (childhood dream) while housesitting kitties through TrustedHousesitters.com, got rid of SF apartment officially in fall 2020, road tripped northern Argentina, Chile, and backpacked in Patagonia, hiked volcanoes in Guatemala and El Salvador, fell in love with Barcelona and finally decided to get serious about learning Spanish and moved there, road tripped Turkey while hiking the Lycian Way, ... anyway, the adventure goes on.

Ask me anything, I love chatting and am super open. 'Everyone has something to teach you.'

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Sharing of different cultural perspectives + understanding is extremely important to me! I deeply value diversity and openness.

Building worldwide friendships has been incredibly enriching and FUN - so far I've largely done that just by meeting people in person and haven't been super active via couchsurfing online, but I'd like to more. The spirit behind this platform is special.

*NOTE: If I reach out to you, please know I’ve read your entire profile and messaged you intentionally and specifically. :)

Interests

• arts
• writing
• dancing
• flying
• reading
• philosophy
• science
• cinema
• learning languages
• surrealism
• cultural exchange
• imagination
• nature conservation
• hiking in the mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: endless and always evolving. Special notes for specific dream-like, deeper, sometimes acidy techno.
- "Return to the Source" in Detroit every year at the end of May during Movement. "No Way Back" is the name of the party; BMG, Patrick Russell, Erika, Wata Igarashi, ...
- "ICKPA" in Kyiv, summer 2021: Christian AB B2B Quest, DVS1, ...
- Endzeit in SF Bay Area and Detroit: Rrose, Polar Inertia, Convextion ERP, .Vril
- Mostra and Parallel (in and close by to Barcelona): Luigi Tozzi, Donato Dozzy, Neel, Peter Van Hoesen (live drum and bass), Timnah
- Many, many other forms of music: live jazz, guitar (Argentinian friends!), hip hop, progressive metal, punk, ... I would have loved to see Nujabes play. Siempre bailando.

Movies:
Chungking Express, 2046 - Wong Kar Wai
Drive My Car - Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
Eternity and a Day - Theo Angelopoulos
Laputa: Castle in the Sky - Hayao Miyazaki
Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola
Good Will Hunting - Gus Van Sant (watched this movie a hundred times when I found it as a 12 year old)

Books:
The Order of Time - Carlo Rovelli
Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain - George Saunders
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
Behave - Robert Sapolsky
Never Split the Difference - Christopher Voss
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Traveling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa
+ lots more, GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/108074926-emily-iwankovitsch

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Challenging myself in various ways - and how can I encourage others in their dreams?

- Mentally, moving into a new industry within tech to focus more on climate mitigation
- Physically, hiking up higher mountains: Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, summiting Acatenango and Tajumulco in Guatemala, Ajusco in Mexico, Everest Base Camp trek
- Emotionally, committing to writing a book to investigate how we all process/experience intimacy differently, and how culture affects that
- Living minimally, selling all of my belongings twice now to nonstop travel with a 35L backpack

Teach, Learn, Share

- Tips on how to navigate working full-time remotely while on the move + communicating with your work
- Referring you for + helping set up a TrustedHousesitters profile (I've used this now ~20 times around the world, great exchange of taking care of pets)
- Beautiful meditative hiking/nature places
- Language learning methods
- Always would love to share what books we're reading, general philosophical questions on life...

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love cooking for friends and bringing small treasures… in addition to of course ensuring the space is just as I found it, if not better. 🖤

I've couchsurfed quite a few times these recent years (just with friends, not through this site) in between sublets / cat housesitting / Airbnbs / hostels. Being mindful and respectful of others' space is always a priority. After all, they are inviting you into their home!

Once I have a home again, I am very excited to host friends new and old, too! Sharing is important.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States