Hey stranger,

What's up! It's Ben here!

I've done many things during the past 20 something years of my life. I've started up an online magazine during college. I've attempted to start an apparel franchise. I've filmed a documentary for an indie band called OVDS. I've filmed promotional videos for community servicing organizations. I've been in a film. The "I've..." list could go on and on, but there is one thing in common for most of the experiences listed above. They all took place under the roof of "University Cafe".

So what's University Cafe?

It all started on one Saturday afternoon when my friends and I decided to finally live our life at its fullest. My friend Timothy, had an idle house in the heart of Taipei, and he had a choice: either to sell it, or something else. He chose for "something else". So he called a few of us up to discuss on how we could turn "something else" into "something specific".

So in the call were myself, Timothy, Tracy, and Jason.

Tracy gave up her high-paying financial services job to do a start-up with an Irish guy she met in London (but sadly, the Irish guy left with his GF to Chiangmai in Thailand not long ago). She then became the manager for a Charity Airbnb.

Jason on the other hand, is the guy that's "good with tech". Although he has a day job, he's really into photography and computers.

Anyway, so we talked on the phone for hours, then finally had the consensus to make the idle house into a "hub for like-minded people" to gather.

We named it the "University Cafe".

So since the phone call that took place 5 years ago, we've been inviting a variety of people with different backgrounds to this hub, to exchange ideas, share experiences, and develop friendships.

We've hosted book clubs, movie nights, charity events, live concerts, classical music concerts, charity Airbnb, and more! University Cafe became the center where trouble makers would gather!

So in a nutshell, my friends and I have changed this place from "idle" to "vital".

There's so much more to share with you...why don't I save it for when we meet? I can share these stories while we check out the offbeat corners of Taipei.

See you soon!

Interests

Bringing impact to our society, movies, tennis, classical music, electronic music, drawing, start-ups, reading...

• culture
• books
• concerts
• clubbing
• movies
• reading
• socializing
• drawing
• music
• classical music
• electronic music
• tennis

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies/TV Series:

The Shawshank Redemption
Saving Private Ryan
The Godfather
The Schindler's LIst
Silence of the Lambs
Mystic River
Scarface
The Pianist
House of Cards
Suits
24
Walking Dead

Books/Magazine:

Monocle Magazine
Casa Brutus
Inc
Wired
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Marukami)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, stories and more stories.

Oh and one more thing, me and my group of friends like to host house concerts as well! Are you a music lover? If you ever have the chance to stay over on the 3rd week of every month, then you'd have the chance to join our live house concert where we'd invite classical musicians to play for us! If you'd like to know more, I created a Facebook event page; just search: "University Cafe x Playing For Formosa" to check out more videos and photos!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States