I am Rita. I was born and raised in Banteay Meanchay Province, in the neighboring area to Siem Reap province where the Angkor Wat temple is. After finishing high school, I went to France, Brittany or Bretange, for my higher education. I stayed there for 3 years then I moved to Växjö, Sweden for my exchange program. The adventures I have had so far makes me more curious and my curiosity always leads me to new places.

I am a friendly and open minded person who is always up for trying new things. Within the last year I had my first beer with a street musician in Barcelona, my first experience dumpster diving (We got so many bananas so we made them into banana bread. It was so tasty!!!), my first time becoming a weekday vegetarian, made my first snowman (with my current boyfriend which is from Hawaii), walked on a frozen lake.... Too many adventures to write, you'll have to meet me to hear about the rest.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing gives me possibilities that are only available through the freedom that comes with staying with others. I've been traveling another way, in hotels and hostels and this is something that I've always wanted to try! I also like it because it introduces me to other people who share the same sort of passion as me.

Interests

Since I was a kid I have been interested in reading history books and learning more about the world. When I grew up and started seeing the world, I found that I love learning new languages, making international friendship and learning about the culture of the places that I visit. Recently staying in Sweden got me into sustainable practices like recycling, dumpster diving and vegetarianism. I have also picked up new hobbies like photography, hiking, learning ukulele and having Swedish fika (Fika basically means dedicating time to be with friends and having coffee or tea along with sweets).

• photography
• wine tasting
• vegetarian
• movies
• reading
• dumpster diving
• sudoku
• music
• hiking
• camping
• history
• languages
• language exchange
• budget travel
• ukulele
• sustainability
• recycling
• local history
• star gazing
• culture exchange
• watching sunset
• fika
• international friendships

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Taylor Swift, Jack Johnson, Little Monsters, Bottlecap, The Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Yiruma, as well as Classic Rock, Instrumental Music, Pop, but I am open to almost anything!

Movies: "Into the Wild", "The Mortal Instrument: The City of Bone", "The Best Offer", "The Girl King", the Twilight Series, as well as Fantasy, Science Fiction, Action, Musicals, and Romance.

Books: "The Fault in Our Star", "Anna and the French Kiss", as well as romance novels, history books (i'm a nerd), and books on philosophy.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

These are the top five amazing things I'm proud of doing:
- First kiss under the fireworks at midnight on new years eve.
- Walking on a frozen lake
- Solo backpacking in Paris for 10 days
- Studying outside of my home country for 4 years
- Did solo night photography at midnight in Barcelona

Teach, Learn, Share

Based on my experience I can teach my host how to make a traditional Cambodian dish (or French), some basic photography skills, some chords on the ukulele and if you are interested in learning languages, I can teach you Khmer (Cambodian language), English and French.

Food is life. So I would love to learn some of your dishes as well. Additionally, I'd also love to learn new perspectives and hear some of your story.

If you are interested in hearing my story, I'd love to share story about me, where I am from, where I have been living and where I'm going. Of course, I will also tell you about the other adventures that might be missing in the "about me" section.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cambodia, Denmark, France, Germany, Laos, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Cambodia, France, Spain, Sweden