I'm 29 and I currently live in a housing co-op in Iowa City, IA. I'm Interested in sustainable living and in intentional community building as well as connecting with people who will help me learn new things and expand my interests and understanding of the world.

I'm very easygoing and I'm pretty low key. I'm almost never mad and I basically never get offended by other people. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't have kids or pets of my own that currently live with me (although my roommates have some pets). I don't drink caffeine, but I used to LOVE coffee. I just decided to see how I could do without constant stimulants.

I love to laugh. I talk way too loud. I make lame jokes sometimes, but all in good fun. I love meeting new people and having conversations.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love the idea of everyday people banding together to undermine the capitalist/consumerist culture that is so prevalent in modern society. And I love the idea of us all being able to trust each other even though we've never met. I love to meet new people and learn new things. I love getting to have insight into the awesome local things I might not otherwise know about and I love getting to share that with others in my home town. Also, I don't have a lot of money, so it's nice to have a way to lower the cost of traveling.

Interests

Reading, learning, working, camping, having new experiences. I follow politics, but I mostly hate talking about it because it mostly just bums me out or makes me mad. I am typically interested in having polite conversations about political views and even religion, but I'm not really interested in debating the issues. I like to know why people think/feel the way they do, but I don't think we need to agree on everything to find common ground.

Music, Movies, and Books

Any music, I LOVE musicals both plays and movies. I have trouble thinking of my favorite anything when I try because way too many come to mind, but I'd say some of my all time favorite movies are Evita, Les Mis, the Kira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice, Love Actually, Cloud Atlas, all the old Disney musicals, The Sound of Music, and a bunch more, some of which are terrible, I know. There are also a ton are really amazing movies that I haven't seen yet.

Favorite books are Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, the Harry Potter books, Catch 22, The Giver and many more. I read a lot of pretty bad books for fun. I've read most the the recent YA pop culture books (Aka Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars) and I think that, while they tend to lack technical sophistication, they're actually better than a lot of people give them credit for, at least when you're just judging them on pure entertainment value. My favorite genre of books is futuristic dystopia novels and pretty much anything that is fantasy/magical with a strong female lead. Who knew this would be the topic where I'd get all rambly.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well one cool thing I did this year is work on overhauling the budget at my co-op. I'm the treasurer on the board of directors and we have been struggling for years with our budget. I worked with other members of the community and managed to find more than $13,000 of savings on our expenses. That accounts for about 10% of our total budget which might not seem like a very big deal, but it really was what we needed to get the finances stabilized and hopefully keep the organization going for another 40 years.

Teach, Learn, Share

I don't have a lot of interesting skills. I grew up poor so I never did sports or music as a kid and haven't really picked it up as an adult. I like to cook and could show you how to make something. I can show you my favorite ways to turn almost any baking recipe vegan (or not lol). I love to cook with tofu. I am also okay at sewing and crafts.

I could talk to you about consensus based decision making and the feminist process and non-violent communication (all things we practice in my co-op). I also know how to make super-easy homemade laundry and dish detergent, I can make minor hardware repairs to electronics and some car repairs as well. Pretty much anything I can find a tutorial for online I can do.

People some times tease me that I'm like a walking google because I know a lot about random things. Basically, anything that I'm curious about, I like to research. So I don't necessarily have in depth knowledge about many things, but I have a whole lot of surface level knowledge. (This is me trying to sound cooler than I am.)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Well, I'm pretty good at personal finances so if you need any help there, I could help with that. ;-) Otherwise, I'm not a super interesting person, but I think most people enjoy talking to me. I can be a pretty funny/entertaining guest, if you like my sense of humor. I also have a lot of knowledge about Collective living, intentional community building, managing property, fair housing, the American's with Disabilities Act and the Family Medical Leave Act (from work). If you're interested in legal stuff, it can be really interesting to talk about. But I'm kind of a geek about that stuff I guess. I also LOVE to play board games if you're into that. I can bring some of my favorites or we could play yours.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Mexico

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States