Hi there, Welcome to my CS profile! I'm Ingrid and I currently live in the beautiful city of Hangzhou, China. I first started using Couchsurfing eleven years ago when I was still a young & adorable college kid. ABOUT ME: I am from Brazil and lived in Rio for 7 years until I moved to NYC to pursue my masters, where I ended up having 4 of the best years of my life. I studied something called Peacebuilding which allowed me to have a broader sense of what justice and equal rights actually mean. While in NYC, I've worked with refugees, women's rights, research and taught college courses on Peace and Justice studies. During that time I also spent some time in a tiny nation-island country called East Timor (Timor-Leste) where I had the most rewarding experience since. I've worked with former gang members combining mediation work, conflict resolution, and restorative justice in order to rehabilitate them while contributing to breaking the cycle of violence in the country. I've also used photography and theatre as Peacebuilding tools among the local youth I worked with. That gave me the certainty that with the right tools, kindness, and care, we can without a doubt create a more just and peaceful society without the use of violence nor oppression means. I guess it's fair to say I am optimistic and I am in love with humans, despite what our daily doses of negative media and chaotic world politics show us otherwise. I've seen some of the worst the world can give, but on the other hand, I have seen some of life's most beautiful things. Like most of us here, I love to travel and experience different things. But I am more about the people I meet along the way than anything else. I'm all about the cultural interconnection and how we can share our life perspectives with one another. And I'm looking forward to hearing yours :-) PHILOSOPHY "If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed" (Leo Tolstoy)