Kexin Shen's Photo

Partially Verified

  • Payment verified
  • Phone not verified
  • Government ID not verified

Accepting Guests

  • 100% response rate
  • Last login about 2 hours ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Kexin’s full profile.

Overview

  • 69 references 60 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in Chinese (Simplified), English; learning Russian, Spanish, Yue (Cantonese)
  • 23, Female
  • Member since 2022
  • Full-time Student
  • MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • From Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

Hello there! My name is Kexin and right now I am a phd student in physics in USA. (To pronounce my name in French: Quee siín)

I grew up in Ningbo, a beautiful coastal city in China with the most delicious yet the most simply-cooked seafood in the world. My parents took me to travel a lot when I was a kid, and I found myself constantly enjoying meeting different people and being amazed by the majesty of nature.

Since then I started to travel with my friends and by myself, hoping to set foot on every corner of the earth, and if space travel and time travel allow, every place in the universe.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I started Couchsurfing when I traveled with my amazingly cool best friend Carol winter 2021 around the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico by nothing but hitchhiking and CouchSurfing. Thanks to 21 kindhearted drivers and 4 enthusiastic hosts who made our over 1300 km journey absolutely enjoyable and made me fall in love with this vibrant way of travel.

I enjoy Couchsurfing because I love to spend time with amazing locals, hear each other's stories, and learn about each other's culture. I also love how Couchsurfing connects me with like-minded travelers from the global community, opening a door for lifelong friendships.

How I practice Couchsurfing as a host:

The only thing I ask from my surfers is to be respectful and mindful, that includes following the house rules.

As your host, I don’t expect you to give me anything in return for my hosting. I am opening my house to travelers to give back to this community and the wonderful people who offered their places and time to me when I was traveling. So you shouldn’t feel obligated to bring me anything, fruit, bread, souvenirs… nor should you feel that you have to spend a significant amount of time with me. You are a traveler, so I understand if you want to explore the city.

That being said, I am always open to conversations and hangouts. I realized that I probably can’t show you around much, but if I am not too overwhelmed with my studies, I may invite you to the routine activities I do, such as flow art meetups, bouldering, football games, local festivals…

My calendar accurately reflects my availability, so please avoid requesting the dates I’ve marked as unavailable. I wish all hosts would do the same, as I’ve submitted many requests only to later find out the host would be out of town.

p.s. I have a sketchy YouTube travel channel --> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5hRJe6ArEmNq3X4bvNFaA

Interests

  • arts
  • waltz
  • cooking
  • yoga
  • meditation
  • crafts
  • crochet
  • painting
  • bouldering
  • hiking
  • sailing
  • swimming
  • rowing
  • poi
  • jogging
  • museums
  • fruits
  • pistol shooting

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite music artists: Hins Cheung, Terry Lim

Favorite visual artists: Henry Martisse, M. C. Escher, Núria Pompeia, Woomin Kim, Claude Monet, 徐渭, Tanaka Ryōhei;

I studied visual arts in college and I am generally a BIG BIG fan of visual arts

Favorite movies: Harry Potter, Marvel Movies, Titanic, My Octopus Teacher, Clarkson’s Farm…

Favorite shows: La Casa de Papel, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, The Good Place…

Favorite books: Educated (by Tara Westover), A Man Called Ove (by Fredrik Backman), The Three-Body Problem (by Cixin Liu 刘慈欣), 余华、莫言, The Count of Monte Cristo

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I had a collection of every pebble that got stuck under my shoes while I was running. It was interesting to see how the pebbles are of the same size as they fit exactly within the spacing between the ridges.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach:
① I began to learn Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy ever since I was a kid and am still practicing it today. I have been volunteering to teach kids in rural primary schools Chinese painting every summer since 2016. And I would love to teach anyone who's interested in it to have a taste of what it's like.
② I started crocheting on and off since 2021. I crocheted a few stuffed dulls and a sweater that I am very proud of. I can also show anyone who's interested how to crochet.
③ if you want to hear about some physics behind phenomena, well that’s my expertise

Learn:
① I am very interested in all kinds of dance (Salsa, Samba, Waltz) and thus look forward very much to learning/dancing some
② Your story, your culture, your way of living

Share: Chinese food, my artworks and some thoughts on arts, and lots of fun personal stories.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Hong Kong, Iceland, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States

Join Couchsurfing to see Kexin’s full profile.