CURRENT MISSION

Living and learning

ABOUT ME

Liberal, love music, art, reading, and learning. I am an avid animal lover, love to cook, and am trying to add to my language repertoire. I would like to say I read a lot - I used to - but being in grad school means much of that reading is confined to scientific articles. Nonetheless I'm interested in hearing about/discussing social and environmental issues, politics, religion, science and ideas in general. I think as a guest it's most important to contribute something of yourself and share stories, experiences and ideas.

As I travel more and more the idea of longterm nomadism becomes increasingly appealing, although a big part of me still wants to settle down a bit and build a house surrounded by mountains and green space. Nonetheless I'm always drawn to busy places - big markets, colourful sidewalk vendors, street food and music, and so on.

PHILOSOPHY

Do what you fear the most, and your fear will diminish.

I live my life in order to write a good story at the end of it.

Always contribute. I wash dishes, take out the trash, help cook and clean up, and always try to leave a little gift or some good food when I depart...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

From the moment I found out about couchsurfing.org I knew it was something that would fit very well with my philosophy about travel, meeting people, and making connections. I try to attend meet-ups when I can, but that hasn't been very often; and have some ideas for hosting my own (eventually, when I'm in one place for long enough!).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

1st - Groningen, NL with Eva Magnuskova, which got me completely hooked on the CS way.

Later - Lund, Sweden, in a big crazy house full of students. Super fun.

Next - was almost Heidelberg, Germany, for a conference, but I ended up getting sick and deciding not to go. But what an amazing response from the Heidelberg CS community! I got many more kind offers (even a few texts) than I had expected. Hope to get there eventually before my time in Europe has expired!

2013 - I spent about 4 months couch surfing informally between friends and friends-of-friends in BC, Canada and in the northeast USA.

Interests

Natural sciences, language, cycling, hiking, horseback riding

• animals
• arts
• writing
• diy
• dining
• cooking
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• cycling
• equestrian
• hiking
• surfing
• ecology
• religion
• science
• mountains
• permaculture
• regenerative agriculture

Music, Movies, and Books

Mostly nonfiction (NF), or fiction that could be nonfiction in someone else's life (F), or fiction that's strange enough that it can be metaphorically applied to someone's real life (SF), somewhere. That said: Tom Robbins(SF), Isabel Allende(F), Jerry Mander (NF), Jim Lovelock (NF) and all the good ol' boys of old and current science (Darwin, Dobzhansky, Wilson, Emerson, Terborgh, Diamond and others); Anne-Marie Macdonald (F), Barbara Kingsolver (F), Brautigan (SF), Borges (SNF?) and others. There are few I stick consistently to and am always roving about for a strange underthing hidden in a stack of well-knowns in the local used bookstore.

Music equally diverse, or as much as I can get it to be... jazz in various forms, funk, punk and reggae, and fusions thereof; old rock, old country and some - *some* - new indie stuff. From Cassandra Wilson and Dizzy Gillespie to Asian Dub Foundation, Anoushka Shankar, Beirut and Belleruche, Florence and the Machine, Vampire Weekend, Zero7 and Zegunder, Feist, St. Germaine, Gotan Project, Afrocubism. That sort of mix.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Argentina. Peru. The Amazon; the subtropical jungles in valleys of the eastern slope of the Andes; high-altitude desert; and the Rocky Mountains. At dawn. The Canadian Rocky Mountains; Berg Lake and Mount Robson from the back of the mountain. The Rift Valley in Kenya under advancing rain. The look in a child's eyes when she overcomes her shyness to give you a hug.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, I'm an ecology and evolution major. That explains a lot. Neotropics; bugs and other crawly things; climate change, global change, social change; epidemics and infectious disease... but equally, I love learning from what people are interested in. Share? cooking, especially; DIY fix-its, writing (if you have a paper you need edited, I'm your go-to-girl), and how to make big life changes while maintaining your cool.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cooking and food; hiking companion; conversation; good microbrews, unique ciders, most wines - and even a glass of scotch at the end of the day.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, France, Netherlands, United States