CURRENT MISSION

To find a biotech job in Seattle. And, more generally, to see the world with good friends and host in return!

ABOUT ME

easy-going, open, adventurous

I love rain, unless I'm at the beach.
I could throw a frisbee around for hours without getting bored.
I am extremely passionate about travel,
equal parts planned and spontaneous.

definitely contemplative, and love a good happy hour!

PHILOSOPHY

definitely Epicurean, and I also believe in karma, insofar as the good you do in the world will come back to you in some way. I also try to practice mindfulness, enjoying every moment and experience to the fullest. It makes time last just a little bit longer.

i'm constantly feeling and thinking...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

At the moment, I am happy to advise travelers regarding places to go and things to do in Seattle, though I must admit I just got here recently myself.

Once I am a bit more settled, I will be hosting on 1st Hill in Seattle!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None yet, but many hostellers I met have couchsurfed, so I am a bit familiar with it.

Interests

camping, hiking, cycling, frisbee, music/concerts, spectator sports: baseball, hockey, and soccer/football, microbreweries, food (any cuisine), traveling, art history, biotechnology

• chickens
• arts
• concerts
• dining
• running
• happy hour
• shopping
• traveling
• couponing
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• sports
• baseball
• soccer
• hockey
• art history
• emergency services
• history
• languages
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

An exhaustive list would be impossible here, BUT..

More into music than movies, by far, and I do read a lot as well.

Movies: Boys Don't Cry, Donnie Darko, James Bond series, Rent, Silence of the Lambs (and other Hannibal movies), The Shining, American Beauty, Requiem for a Dream, Die Hard, Fargo, Finding Forrester, the Perks of Being a Wallflower

The latest books I've read are The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the Bluest Eye, the Help, Crime and Punishment, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Metamorphosis, Bright Lights,Big City, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Currently working on Great Expectations, but not crazy about Dickens.

I like all kinds of music
(I'm sure you could find something I hate, but it would be difficult).

Right now, I'm really into J.J. Cale, Alt-J, Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, the National, the Antlers, Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens.
Ben Folds, Al Jarreau, The Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, and Steely Dan are a few of my all-time favorites.

Also, I love finding new music, so that is always a topic of conversation with people I meet!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

For my 11th birthday (the game was actually two days before), I went to the Devil Rays game with some of my friends from school, and we sat in the section where Wade Boggs hit his 3000th hit (1st player to hit a home run to achieve this milestone)

More recently, dropping into Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole (Mar 2013) was definitely the most exhilarating thing I've done in a long time. Such a rush!

Teach, Learn, Share

ummm...first one is extremely random, and comes from my fondness for couponing and shopping around for deals..2nd and 3rd are more travel related.

1) On Saturdays after about 5pm local time, the weekly sales at stores like CVS and Walgreens overlap, as the employees must change over the displays for the next week's deals in advance. This is especially useful at 24hr store locations.

2) whenever you go to a new city/town/place, check out the visitor center. This may be obvious I guess, but I for one never did this. Then I went to Napa and Sonoma Valleys with some fellow travelers, and the visitor center hooked us up with a bunch of free tasting coupons (and NOT touristy wineries, by any means, but some really amazing ones!). They can also advise where the best campgrounds are, the best attractions, restaurants, etc. Use this valuable resource!

3) If you want to have dinner at good restaurants in cities more cheaply, either eat before 6pm or after 9pm, as these are usually the times for happy hour!

I personally love to learn about other languages (not necessarily becoming fluent or anything (though that would be nice, :-) ), but rather learning about certain idioms or the way that things are expressed depending on the language used.
For example, I recently learned that while American English speakers call police officers 'pigs' sometimes as an insult, the French equivalent is 'chickens'. I find discrepancies like this fascinating, and am always trying to figure out the origins of such variants.

Conversely, I enjoy answering questions for people whose primary language is not English and who are interested in learning more about its grammar and usage.

Also, I'd love to learn how to play the guitar!