I am a 23-year-old male who hails from the sunny island of Singapore :) (Disclaimer: I'll be verifying my profile shortly, but in the meantime, you can check me out on Instagram! I am very active and I have more pictures over there! @hp_rahul)

I am a Year 2 college student (at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) studying Economics and Public Policy and Global Affairs. Before college, I completed two years of military service (mandatory for all male Singaporean citizens - I served in the Navy). My greatest passion in life is solo travelling and learning about different cultures around the world. I enjoy deep-diving into places that I know little about, meeting locals who can share bits and pieces of their life with me, and forming new friendships and connections around the world. Now that I'm typing this out I realise that that sounds incredibly cliche....but I don't care haha because this is an authentic description of what I enjoy!

I am a part of my college's recreational running and swimming teams, and I also play in a band (i sing!). But most of the time, I just tag along with my friends and do what they enjoy doing. I am quite outdoorsy in general but I am not great at most sports, sadly.

I am VERY into live bands, especially live cover bands! If you are my eventual CS Host and you love live music too, please show me where's some great spots in your town!

A huge part about me is I am a major TV/Film buff. I recently completed an internship with NBCUniversal, which was basically a dream job for me - I got to recommend shows and movies to clients and basically just yap about them all day.

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

I initially joined the Couchsurfing community because I wish to explore America through the lens of those who live there. What made the city so great were the tiny gems located in each neighbourhood. I wouldn't have any knowledge of them through my own online research.

More importantly, however, I enjoy meeting and conversing with exciting individuals, I love learning new ideas, and I enjoy hanging out with those from a different side of the world than where I am from.

I get to experience a myriad of personalities, passions, goals, and purposes. I am also an ideal Couchsurfer for hosts as I am extroverted, open, earnest, and most importantly, respectful and hygienic.

音乐、电影和书籍

Music: I appreciate all kinds of music (yes, even country!), but truthfully, I mainly listen to Pop music - though the songs span various decades (starting with the 60s). I have an affinity for 80s pop music because I enjoy the style of production that was popular during that period. Melodies were complex yet heartfelt, and the instrumentation used was so diverse, between electronic and actual instruments. I am also into Music History!

Movies: My Letterboxd top 3 are: 1) In The Heights dir. Jon M. Chu, 2) New Year's Eve dir. Garry Marshall, 3) Nerve dir. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. I pretty much enjoy movies, though I do have genres of movies that I DO NOT like. That would be cartoon/childish movies (think Dreamworks), and Biopics. Please, enough biopics.

Books: I just finished 'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara. Man, I could go on and on about this book. I aim to read 'The Odyssey' next, in preparation for the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie based on The Odyssey. I'm not really a big fan of Self-Help books but I particularly enjoyed reading 'Empowered' by Vee Kathivu. Her aim is to inspire students to put in their best efforts academically. She has an eponymous YouTube channel, if you're interested to check her out.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

Road-tripped across Cali with my best bud.
Impromptu ran through freezing sprinklers naked.
Fell into a drain whilst it was dark and heavily raining and left a scar on my leg for life.

教，学，和分享

My favourite quote to live by is "We cannot change the cards we're dealt, but we can choose how we play our hand."

我游览过的国家

Brunei Darussalam, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

我居住过的国家

Singapore