Not sure! I was raised on a farm in the Salinas Valley in California, and since I'm still (pretty much) doing school, the farm continues to share the "home" label in my head with wherever I happen to be somewhat settled. My family is on its 8th or 9th generation in the same part of ruralish central-coastal California, though, so my Californio roots run pretty deep.

I also spent seven years studying in the midwest, which was great, but for the past few years I've been a New Englander in this lovely state (Rhode Island) a third the size of my county in California. I'm currently doing my PhD in philosophy at Brown.

I got to study abroad in France for a year, when I also got to visit a fair amount of Italy and Switzerland, and after college I did some monastery hopping (including six months at one in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition, north of San Francisco).

I also had the pleasure of being an au pair (or "Au-Pair-Mädchen Junge" as my hosts said) in Nuremberg for about half a year.

I don't know myself yet, but it's been very interesting starting to get acquainted. My main goal in life is to figure out what "important" means and have a laugh about it, not necessarily in that order.

I like to absorb things. I'm (almost) always really grateful when the world sort of forces itself on me in the form of new (or old) stuff to try or experience.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Mainly: I've had some excellent guests! Some of the coolest people I've met have been couchsurfers. I guess it takes some good strangeness to open your place up to strangers. I also vastly prefer getting a personal feel for a place when traveling.

Interests

I like philosophy, I think! I've also been working on a concurrent MS in cognitive neuroscience -- my focus there is on the nature of emotion and how it relates to behavior and values.

I love learning languages -- my current Duolingo practice is mostly Russian; otherwise I try to work through the Harry Potter series in the languages I know well enough for practice. (Right now I'm on *HP y el Misterio del Príncipe*).

I'm mainly interested lately in learning how to avoid 'keeping a safe distance' from this insanely short life and learning how to see people as people as much as possible -- learning how to realize as vividly as possible that other people are also at the center of their worlds and matter to themselves in pretty much the same way I seem to matter to myself.

• languages
• philosophy
• psychology
• buddhism
• radiohead
• zen buddhism
• cognitive neuroscience
• eastern philosophy
• metaethics

Music, Movies, and Books

The kinds that make you feel destabilized, that rip open new things for you. Also pretty stuff, and fun stuff.

I sort of think music is the most important thing; my two favorite artists are probably radiohead and Bach.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I learned how to wiggle my ears by paying attention to them for 15 minutes while waiting in a doctor's office.

Teach, Learn, Share

Can teach English and handwhistling pretty well. I love armchair phonetics and can help folks who want to develop a good 'American' impression (accent).

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, United States

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