Hi, I’m Amanda, and I’m so happy you are here!
I am a full-time college student from the San Francisco Bay Area currently based in St. Louis, Missouri. I study History and Educational Studies, and my goal is to pursue a Ph.D. upon graduation in hopes of becoming a professor. I am most definitely not a professional blogger or world traveler, but traveling has been one of my favorite things to do for as long as I can remember. I love to travel because it allows me to learn about other cultures and broaden my horizons – there truly is no better way to understand the world than by seeing it.
As someone with severe food allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts, most tree nuts, fish, and shellfish, traveling also challenges me and pushes me outside my comfort zone. I’m a planner (and foodie!) at heart, and I love researching new places and thinking about how I can safely navigate them with my dietary restrictions. In addition to my food allergies, I’ve been vegan since June 2020.
I was incredibly fortunate to begin traveling at a young age because my parents are from opposite sides of the world: Hawai‘i and Singapore. My family is a very important part of my life, and I visit my relatives as often as I can. In Spring 2024, I also had the chance to study abroad in the United Kingdom (Oxford) which made me fall in love with traveling even more!
Here are some of my other favorite things:
- Beaches and paddle-boarding
- History museums and public history
- National parks
- Hiking
- Yoga
- Farmers’ markets
- Grilled peaches
- Romance novels
- Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Hozier, and Noah Kahan
- Journalism
- Working with kids (I was a gymnastics coach, and I volunteer at a summer camp for kids with skin diseases!)
- Vegan baking and cooking
- Watching Gossip Girl and cooking competition shows
