CURRENT MISSION

See the world, one couch at a time

ABOUT ME

We've moved around a bunch. From CT to Nagoya, Japan. To Dallas, TX. To Austin, TX. To Orange County, CA. To London. And now back to Sendai, Japan.

Melinda recently completed her MA in international relations at SOAS, University of London.

Richard spends his days creating narrative story arcs and dynamic play for video games. He also released his first speculative fiction novel, Vessel of Kali, in March 2014 (why, yes...it IS available on Amazon.com) --Shameless plug. We gotta eat, you know.

PHILOSOPHY

Melinda's personal philosophy is "don't be a dick."

Richard questions everything and believes there is no one true path.

Social injustice really...REALLY...bothers us.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We bring goodies to the people kind enough to host us in the hopes that Karma is a real thing. Hint, hint.

Hoping that moving to London will allow us the opportunity to host more people as it's a city people actually want to go to :D

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

The first time we couchsurfed was in Galway, Ireland in 2006. We also surfed in Japan and hosted some wonderful people while we lived there. We weren't able to host much in Austin or Orange County as studying and work consumed our lives.

Interests

Reading, writing, eating, drinking, traveling, eating and drinking while traveling, correcting people's grammar, discussing the finer points of Lady Gaga's insanity, video games, Japanese language/culture/food, listening to great stories, and laughing at ridiculous things.

• culture
• writing
• books
• dining
• cooking
• baking
• drinking
• video games
• reading
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• international relations

Music, Movies, and Books

Melinda will listen to anything. And will most definitely provide said music with a range of nerd-tastic dance moves you will never forget. Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Chopin, Bollywood soundtracks...you name it. She refuses to read romance novels, unless it's to openly mock a passage describing the act of sex. Right now, she's reading up on international relations & diplomacy. Yes, for fun. And really, how can you blame her? She enjoys watching any genre of movie that has a good plot AND good acting. She dislikes attempts at Americanizing foreign films (i.e., taking a film that was successful in England, replacing the entire cast with Hollywood tarts and slapping a pithy catch phrase on the movie poster).

Rich enjoys hard rock, indie rock, and has even been known to voluntarily listen to pop. He reads everything from Shakespeare to China Mieville. He's also written a book (SHAMELESS PLUG #2!!!!!)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We saw the sunrise on the summit of Mt. Fuji. After coming to terms with the fact that Melinda wasn't really going to freeze to death, she realized it was the most amazing thing - as of now - that she had ever witnessed.

Teach, Learn, Share

We'll try almost anything at least once unless it conflicts with our personal philosphies ;) Melinda enjoys cooking, and has been known to bake when it strikes her fancy (baking cupcakes always strikes her fancy).

Rich enjoys practicing Aikido, any activity that takes place outdoors and can teach you how to pick off Grunts from 200 yards in Halo Reach.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Food. Lovely food. And English conversation/instruction.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, England, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

England, Japan, United States