CURRENT MISSION Believe, retrieve, achieve.
Try to devote myself to the world 'cause i've been very lucky, and travel as much as I can to meet people around the world. Be a good person, good mom, good wife and achieve my PhD degree in the next five years.

ABOUT ME
I'm Cynthia from Taiwan, born and raised in the capital city, Taipei. I am married to a Palestinian from Gaza, blessed with our first baby girl Alma in June, 2018. We currently live in Hamilton, a city close to Toronto in Canada.
My adventure started from the moment when I entered university in Taiwan, and chose to major in Arabic language, double majored in journalism. The more I read the more I’m inspired to be a journalist someday.
I moved to London and got my MSc degree in Media and Communication at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I have a great interest in human rights issues, conflicts, and crises studies hence I put my focus mainly on conflict zones.
After graduation, I decided to take up an opportunity and moved to Palestine and started freelancing as a writer and photojournalist. I’m still a contributor for major Taiwanese media until now.
I have a great passion in literature I love reading, and calligraphy! I have a deep affection of my hometown Taiwan, which I really want to introduce to everyone who would like to visit this beautiful island.
A little about me personally- It's always hard to find some "words" to describe myself, 'cause I can be sometimes crazy while sometimes quiet, but most importantly, I'm very open-minded in terms of cultures, as an Asian girl who grew up in Asia, studied and traveled in Europe, and started a family in North America!
I'm a travel enthusiast. Over the past 8 years, I traveled by myself throughout the world and I met so many amazing people that I could share my point of view and my life goal. I enjoy meeting new people, have cultural exchanges, and share some fun stories over a course of nice meals.
My dream is to be a writer and photographer, continue to travel and write stories about people, culture, life and love, especially to listen to those who can not be heard easily.
I am a lucky girl, So I made up my mind that my life goal would be always help the world to hear the unheard.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
I joined couchsurfing in 2011, and actually had my first experience in the UK. It's also my first time traveling around a whole new country all by myself, and I decided to give a try on Couchsurfing! and its such an amazing experiences that I surfed at four different places there, and had the greatest memories! I'm so glad that I got into couchsurfing, and I'll do more surfing and also hosting in the future! COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
Long story short: I met my husband through Couchsurfing!
2011 I Couchsurfed at four different places in the UK. Those experiences were awesome! I hanged out with the hosts and their friends, had so many great experiences that are beyond words. 2012 summer, I started my journey in Europe again, this time, in the mainland Europe, through couchsurfing, I deep rinsed myself in a totally different style of traveling, I did not go to touristic spots but hang out with hosts to discover their favorite parts of the city instead. i made friends, met people, enjoyed all the time. I can not describe how exciting, adventurous, fulfilling I got from those couchsurfing experience. I started to host and show more people around in my city after back from my trip. I remembered the philosophy of couchsurfing that I learned from one of my host, when i can not travel myself, then let's bring the world to my house!!! The spirit of couchsurfing, share, discover, and enjoy! 2013 summer again, I backpacked myself and explored the other part of Europe again. I experienced quite a lot during this journey since it was the time I suffered from a lot of obstacles in life, but thanks for those who have helped me unconditionally during my trip. I gradually healed myself. After Europe I headed to Nepal and also met a lot of good friends. Until now I still keep in touch with almost all my best friends on CS :) They are such amazing people you can never expected before starting a trip! 2015 until now I have started to study my postgraduate degree at LSE in London and finally had my small space settle for hosting some travelers! I enjoyed so much during hosting and sometimes still find small vacations between school breaks to travel a bit through Couchsurfing.

Interests

I'm interested in lots of things, I love traveling, reading, listening to music, eating, writing calligraphy, and exercising! I am a big fan of fitness life. I ran marathons, cycling, and love weight training! It is just part of my life routine for present days. And of course I love to meet new people and hang out with friends, chatting for no matter how long you can imagine. Lastly, it is really important!!! Food!!! I think no one dislike exploring decent and great food, no? :D One of my habit when I travel is to discover local and special cafes to sit there for some time to just experience some serenity and alone time. And always up for trying local food as long as they are delicious!

• culture
• writing
• literature
• human rights
• cooking
• baking
• exercise
• dieting
• clubbing
• news
• reading
• traveling
• music
• surfing
• calligraphy
• economics
• journalism
• languages
• political science
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

I don't have specific favorite genre of music. I guess it depends on my mood or what I am doing. Music is more like something to coordinate my mind and body. I can enjoy every kind of music from classical, jazz, new age, pop to punk. I play some instruments like piano and recorder since my mom is a music teacher.
Movies.. I love movies! I have to watch movies every so often. I have a lot of favorites and there are indeed too many good movies out there. Not to be ashamed of, I especially love animation! Disney, Pixar, dream works... Animations always light up my mood and make me feel that life is full of possibilities and hopes!
And books... Where to start? I am just a book worm... I have read tens of thousands of different books and love collecting books as well. Reading for me is just as essential as eating since my dream is to be a writer, a journalist and a narrator. My favorite books nowadays are more related to biography and investigative news stories more than pure literature or novels although I used to read them a lot. To name two books of my favorite as an example, "it's what I do" from Lyndsey and "pencil of promise" from Adam.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I’m not sure what I can define as amazing but Right now I'll say the most amazing thing I've done in my life is, Ive lost about 68kg(approximately 132lb) in past years by exercising and eating healthily. I transformed from someone who hates even to walk a few kilometers to someone who loves weight training and ran marathons.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to share stories, listen to others' stories and have culture exchanges. The best novels always come from people's narratives.
Another thing I can offer is as I mentioned, I have lost more than 68 kg, so we can have some discussions about exercise, fitness life and how to find a mind balance between the past and present to live healthily and happily.
i'm good at writing chinese calligraphy, if u wanna know more about chinese traditional culture or languages n literature, i'd love to share
I can cook traditional rice cuisine, and teach you how we eat in Taiwan! (perhaps, Asia!)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Taiwan, United Kingdom