My name is Madison and I am 19 years old. I was born and raised in Newport Beach, California. I am finishing my third year at the University of California- Irvine. My major is Cognitive Psychology with a focus on child development and neuroscience and my minor is International Studies with a focus on Europe and the Americas. My passions are helping kids, learning languages and traveling. I hope one day to be a child psychologist or possibly a cultural mentor for those moving in or out of the United States. Although both my parents are American, from ages 9-16 I had a Brazilian step mom that had a big influence on my life. She introduced me to Brazilian culture and Portuguese. I believe because of her I am able to connect with a lot of people from a lot of different countries and I take a huge interest in learning about different cultures from around the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I will be studying abroad in The Netherlands starting September, 2016. I am leaving The U.S and heading to Europe in late June and will be doing lots of traveling between then and mid-August. My first stop is Barcelona, where I will be spending a few weeks and then I head to Germany for a few weeks. It has been one of my biggest dreams to spend extended time in Europe. I have a list of places I would like to see between June and when I return home in late December. The top places I would like to see that I do not yet have plans to go yet are Paris, Copenhagen and Lisboa.

Interests

Traveling, languages, meeting new people and helping people. I am definitely a people person!

• culture
• traveling
• rock climbing
• track and field
• languages
• neuroscience
• psychology
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Forest Gump- best movie ever!
Anything with Johnny Depp
Life of Pi

Favorite book is definitely The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I like basically every genre of music. My favorite bands are Of Monsters and Men and The Killers.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I am very adventurous. One of my proudest moments was back in 2014 when I went to Malaysia with friends and took the 2 day trek of climbing Mt. Kinabalu.
I also did not like high school very much so I started attending junior college at 16 and now I am on track to getting my Bachelor's degree next year when I am 20.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bolivia, Brazil, England, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States