CURRENT MISSION

I enjoy hosting and traveling often to meet interesting people.

ABOUT ME

I started travel at age 17, attending an international youth conference in Switzerland after a two month tour of Europe. The main purpose of my foreign travel is to meet people from that culture, to speak their language, and to learn about their arts. I'm physically active usually renting/buying a bicycle and traveling alone so I meet people. I enjoy taking photos when I travel. I chose a foreign private language school in Switzerland to study French full time rather than attend an American university junior year abroad program. It's a challenge keeping up my language skills. I enjoy skiing in Europe rather than in the US west, just so i can speak French and German. In 2015 and 2016,2017 I took intensive advanced French language studies in La Rochelle and Montpellier, France and in Martinique living with families. In 2018 I traveled for 5 weeks around the perimeter of France visiting friends and returned in 2019 for 3 weeks to ski and stay with friends in Nice. It's my 65nd year skiing this year. (hard to believe) Since I'm 72 I have a million memories of great people and places. I don't plan to ever retire so I travel as a traveler, rather than a tourist. I would rather stay on anyone's couch than in a hotel. I could never repay in equal measure all the hospitality I have received, but I try to be the kind of guest that my host would want. In Japan, my interest in gardens, architecture and art took my hosts to places they had never seen like the National Theatre of Bunraku (my favorite theater style of puppetry). In Peru, my interest in ancient textiles took my hosts to Chancay on an archeological dig. In all it's been a fabulous life of adventure, I'm glad I started so young and didn't wait until retirement. I encourage you to travel widely, often and cheaply and meet the local people. That's how we'll have more peace and understanding in the world.

PHILOSOPHY

Let's help one another

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I enjoy hosting and being a couch surfer guest. Have you visited www.meetup.com? I'm getting very active in meet ups. What a great concept parallel to Couch Surfing.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We never called it that when we hitch hiked through Europe on our honey moon in 1970. (long since divorced)
I've hosted three CSers cycling across the country. Interesting guys.
I had a great CS host in Fort Lauderdale in Oct. 2009.I look forward to hosting anytime. I live near Syracuse New York.

Interests

Visual and performing arts, architecture, cycling, kayaking, roller blading, skiing (XC and downhill), hiking, everything on and in the water, gardening, cooking, I forgot... travel, real estate investments, photography, textiles/fiber arts, foreign handcrafts, short notice get-aways, leftist politics, #resistTrump., social justice, peace activism, urban issues, physical fitness, international foods, hi tech gadgets, Starbucks,
I absolutely love snow, the winter, the moon in all its phases and the chance to get outdoors to enjoy them.

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm reading "Retrofitting Suburbia" and mostly non-fiction books, I enjoy French cinema. I have sung in a capella groups and choruses. I like opera (isn't simulcast great). I listen to symphonic and chamber music while working. I know popular music up to the 80s and after that I got distracted from radio and television to CDs and video. I enjoy the Sunday New York Times. Netflix has changed so many of us. Now I can get it in France.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was alone at the top of Mont Blanc, France on a clear day!

I produced little theatre for the deaf when I was director of an art center.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can share tips for travel on a budget to any of the destinations that I have visited or lived. I'd enjoy a visitor who wanted to get outside to ski or cycle. I always want to keep up my French and German language skills. Syracuse's Everson Museum has a very major ceramics collection. I live here because I chose it after having lived other places. The small towns and the nearby Adirondack Mountains and the Finger Lakes are great to visit. I'm on LinkedIn too if there are any of you looking for work or opportunities. You'll find me on Face Book at scottRseverance (use it a lot), and ScottSeverance on Twitter( don't use it much).

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can be helpful in the kitchen and either very self sufficient or social.
I'll be traveling with photos of trips should you be interested.
I can reciprocate should a host want to visit my home.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chad, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Ghana, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Martinique, Monaco, Nigeria, Peru, Spain, Togo

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Niger, Switzerland, United States

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