Shaimaa Khanam's Photo

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Overview

  • 7 references 5 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in Bengali, Bangla, English, Spanish; learning French, Hindi, Spanish
  • 27, Female
  • Member since 2016
  • Grad Student / TA
  • UIUC (grad school) + FSU (undergrad)
  • From West Palm Beach, FL, USA
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

ABOUT ME

I'm currently a grad student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I read/think/write about women's experiences. I love to learn in all the different ways that can happen (in classes/schools, from people, by doing new things, etc). I love good food, and cooking with fun people.

If you're traveling for healthcare purposes, let me know, and I will make extra effort to accommodate you. (!!!)

I love words. Sometimes I can get caught up in the beauty and simultaneous simplicity/intricacy of a single word for days.

PHILOSOPHY

Everyone is ignorant about something. Ignorance is only the lack of knowledge, and no one person knows everything. Once we accept that, we can look at things from a perspective of knowing/not knowing, and how to educate. Education is key.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

This website is such a great way to travel and meet amazing people, whose interests and priorities seem to greatly align. This is a community of adventurers, and I love getting to experience a new space through the eyes of a local. Everyone has been to so many places and done so many things, it's an adventure meeting every new person.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I love staying with surfers when I travel, which I hope will always be at least once a year. Work and life can certainly take over, but this is part of who I am.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have made very deep connections through Couchsurfing. Travelers connect in very unique ways. I have multiple life-long friends thanks to these experiences.

Interests

I love to experience cultures in all the ways you can. I love reading, and writing, and movies/tv shows, and making good food, and finding niche communities. Obviously not an all encompassing list of how you experience cultures, but the biggest one is too obvious- travel!

I love learning. I've studied in many disciplines/topics, but people are so varied. I'll never tire of learning about people.

  • culture
  • recipes
  • clothing
  • music
  • live music
  • anthropology
  • gender studies
  • history
  • philosophy
  • psychology
  • religion
  • sociology
  • health
  • nutrition
  • classics
  • new food
  • epistemology
  • the natural world

Music, Movies, and Books

I read a lot, and have favorites by genre/type of read.

I breeze through creative nonfiction/memoirs. A classic favorite of mine is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Educated by Tara Westover is another stellar book in this genre.

I also like learning about people and psychology. If you're interested in the ways that people's political preferences have psychological tendencies (especially in the US, but elsewhere too), then Irony and Outrage by Dannagal Young is SUCH a good book.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to cook, and am more than happy to cook great meals together. I also read about/study such a range of topics, I think just talking and teasing out interesting ideas/ concepts is something I have fun doing with hosts (and friends in general).

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Czech Republic, England, France, Iceland, Italy, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bangladesh, Kuwait, United States

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