Hi there! My name is Zack and I'm 29 years old. I was born in California and have lived there most of my life. I'm introverted by nature and only just recently decided to go out into the world and learn how to meet people. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and am incredibly curious to learn as much as possible in the meantime. Back home I've worked as a heater and water heater service technician, professional poker player, accountant, chef, farmer, tutor, PC builder, legal secretary, tech support... Might be missing something, but I hope to add to the list until I discover exactly what I devote my life to. I've been in and out of college many times, changing my degree focus several times. Started with game programming, switched to networking, then to mathematics, and lastly to chemistry right before leaving to travel (so still no degree after four years of college!).

At the very end of 2017 I decided to travel for the first time out of the United States and spent five months backpacking around Europe. While I was there I tried out couchsurfing and discovered how fantastic it is for meeting new people! After returning home to visit family and friends I've returned to travelling, but this time through Asia! I've started in Japan (after a five day layover in Bangkok) and intend to ferry over to Korea. After that I'll ferry to China where I intend to purchase a motorcycle and ride through China and Southeast Asia. I've recently discovered WWOOFing/HelpX/Workaway and plan to make use of them during this trip as much as possible, hopefully finding all kinds of new experiences!

I love educating myself and am extremely curious about everything, no matter the subject. I always try to be as inoffensive and respectful as possible to new cultures, customs, those around me and their ideas and beliefs (especially so when they invite me into their home!).

I personally try to believe in nothing and be open to everything, I feel that is the only way to be a real scientist, completely agnostic. Everything is a theory, proof doesn't exist, nothing is certain. That said, I don't try to push my views onto others unless they wish to know them.

Instagram: EfficientZ

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm here to meet locals during my travels and make new friends... I can't honestly claim to be a secret fanatic of couches. Hostels have been hit and miss, I've met a few people but it's often far too much party for me or entirely empty because of the season/location. Furthermore, I only meet other travellers this way, many of which have recommended me to try this instead. Airbnb has been very nice but almost always lonely; however, I've stayed with a couple locals through airbnb and it's been an amazing experience every time. I've only used this a couple times near the end of my last trip, but I found it an excellent way of learning new cultures/views and getting the inside information on the local area.

Interests

I have a love for the harder sciences that is regularly impeded by my fascination with philosophy and psychology... And video games... And now travelling.

Back at home I paid my bills playing poker for years, built gaming computers as a hobby, and went to a weekly basic ballroom dance class.

• swing dancing
• ballroom dancing
• video games
• traveling
• poker
• chemistry
• mathematics
• philosophy
• physics
• psychology
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

My music tends to be a little bit of every genre, often just the hits of from the top artists... Can be Billy Joel or Marilyn Manson, Sarah Brightman or Metallica, Vivaldi or Marshall Mathers... You get the idea. That said, since I've left home Tom Petty, Parov Stelar, and The Eagles have been among the top. I'm always very excited to learn about new music, no matter the genre.

Books? I really need to catch up on reading... Few random oldies that first pop in my head from when I used to read more are Enders Game (and of course Shadow), Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Dresden Files, everything by Plato, Walden, Call of the Wild... Most recent things that I've read that I've enjoyed are Homo Deus, Waking Up & Free Will by Sam Harris, Thinking Fast and Slow, and The Engineer Trilogy by KJ Parker.

Movies... Probably as far behind in movies as I am in books, but it's mostly by choice. Love a lot of older stuff, and often watch things I've already seen over new stuff. Uh, few random ones off the top of my head: Fight Club, The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, all of Miyazaki, and 4/5/6 of Starwars... That said, mostly just binge tv series like Westworld or Sherlock nowadays.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Right now, for me, packing up my bag and leaving the U.S. for the first time ever to explore the world on my own for months is pretty amazing.

As far as seeing, Sagrada Familia, the Eiffel tower, and the bottom of the ocean while scuba diving were all pretty cool things I've seen recently...

Hiking the grand canyon for two weeks was an amazing experience... I once was able to best master level players in Starcraft, and logged over 10k hours(over a full years worth of time) on a single character in WoW in under three years, not something I'm proud of or would suggest, but it amazes me on a regular basis... To me it's amazing I left my computer, let alone my house and state. I think life is amazing in general so it's hard to say, it really depends on your standard and what you're relating it to.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm overwhelmingly curious about everything, and open to new ideas, food, and adventures. Please teach me about whatever your passion is, I'd love to listen (and help if I can!). I'm always happy to try and to share my life and outlook on things in general! There is no subject off limits for me, even religion or politics; I'm an open book and happy to discuss anything.

What I Can Share with Hosts

What can I offer? Conversation and curiosity, mostly. I got an able body and I'm happy to lend a hand with chores around the house, help cook, etc. I can fix your computer or build you an entirely new one! Can tutor math or English... Or poker! :)

I can tell you about myself and my philosophies (open book about my history/ideas as long as they don't offend you), where I come from (ever see a tree so large you could drive a truck through it's hollowed out trunk?) and it's culture, stories of where I've been and what I've seen... What else... American English of course. Then just anything about my hobbies, video games, poker, psychology, and again (my favorite), philosophical discussion and a different outlook on life that I'm willing to bet is a bit different to anything you've heard before.

And as far as the curiosity goes if it's something I don't already know then I'm interested. Anything you do, be it for work or for fun, I'll love to learn about it. It can be biochemistry research at ETH Zurich or janitorial service at McDonald's.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States