| Some history about myself: I grew up in the suburbs of Beirut (Lebanon), in a pretty poor family and neighbourhood. My parents are uneducated (neither of them completed middle school studies). My mother is a homemaker who worked briefly as a cleaner, and my father was a carpenter who died more than 10 years ago. I have an older and a younger brother in a similar age bracket. My family was pretty dysfunctional, in the sense that daily physical and verbal abuse was the norm. Many people assume that my family’s religious background is Islam, which is fair given that most of the Arab world is. But mine is from the Maronite Christianity faith. I don’t think it’s much better in terms of personal liberties, in the way it's practiced by many Lebanese people, including my parents. It was definitely tough growing up in such an environment, and my family didn’t really support my ambitions as a woman, even when I excelled at school. They thought for more or less okayish reasons (didn’t seem to me so at the time, the world is ugly), I would be better off quitting education, and marrying a more well-off man. |
| Regarding my value system: I highly favor center-left/social democratic ideology, I’m a feminist, a minimalist, an atheist, I care about the environment, I think people should be nice to one another or at least try to. I also think that difference in opinion should be tolerated and that diversity is a strength. |
| Regarding my personality traits: I’m introverted, I’m pretty reflective, I’m generally calm, I don’t enjoy small talk, I like having few significant people in my life rather than many surface-level ones. |
| Fields that have so far always captured my interest are computer science, linguistics, natural language processing, history, philosophy and art. I already dug well into each of them I would say, but it’s a never ending intellectual endeavour. However, I’m also generally curious about many things, and I also strive to have a well-rounded understanding of the world, so I also possess general knowledge in finance, international politics, economy, sociology, and biology for example. |
| Things I enjoy in random order: cooking, hiking, running, reading (mostly non-fiction: I read some BBC articles on a daily basis for instance, and books.), watching movies/series (mostly comedies and documentaries/docuseries), listening to music (mainly Pop and R&B), exploring other cultures (through different means, such as intentional travel; reading; documentaries; visiting museums; tasting/making different foods; meeting/engaging with people from such countries), talking to people (including people from different countries or views), discussing different topics (I tend to be abstract in my discussions but I’m also fine with the concrete), daydreaming, being alone, cleaning and organizing things (because you gotta at least put up with the mundane!), being intimate with someone I fancy. |
| Other random things about me in random order: I’m bisexual (more like pansexual), my biological sex is female and I identify as one (I’m also ok with they/them pronouns). I don’t know how to drive a car, nor a motorcycle, nor how to ride a bicycle. I eat healthy mostly. I don’t smoke cigarettes, nor do drugs, nor drink alcohol (I've never been into any of that, but I drank alcohol socially in my early 20s). I never watch sports on television. I don’t play videogames. I don’t know how to swim nor ski. I’ve been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder for many years (not all at once, but depression always), and I’ve been taking medication for many years (and of course doing therapy, at different times). I have never been married and I don’t have children. I have been in multiple short-term relationships in my early 20s mainly. I haven’t been in a relationship for the past bunch of years even when I dated many people (most lasted either 1 or 2 dates). I prefer monogamy over open relationships even when I tried it in the past. I'm really good with money. I like coffee!. |
| Frequently Asked Questions (more like questions I came up with, because I can!): |
| Why are you sharing so much about yourself? → Because I meet a lot of humans at first online in this day and age, and I don't mind sharing such things about myself. I tend to say such things when asked anyway. |
| Do you ever go partying? → No, I felt too socially awkward and out of place when I did when I was younger. I was really trying to fit in, but I just felt too empty. |
| Do you ever put makeup on? or remove your glasses? → No, I don't own anything makeup related, and I would go blind without my glasses. I don't think it's inherently wrong to do such things, but I don't have that sort of energy myself. I never did. |
| Do you hate religious people? → No, I think each person should be respected for whatever religious view they hold, as long as they don't impose it on others. I just was never able to believe in a supreme being as described in religious texts I know of, and I'd rather base my belief system on fields such as biology and history. |
| Have you ever been harassed sexually? → Yes, I have, multiple times, including in Europe. Thankfully, I have never been raped. I think many women (and other individuals), experience such thing in their lifetime, and a lot of work needs to be done to address this properly, in the sexist society we still live in. |
| Do you always talk in English? → I live and worked with an international community for some years now, so yes, I mostly talk in English on a day to day basis, and I am really comfortable with this. I also consume(d) a lot of English content. However, I talk with my family primarily in Lebanese Arabic (with occasional French and English code-switching which I have to translate again to Arabic most of the time😂), and I talk in basic broken German with Austrians/Austrian residents when necessary😅 |
| Do you like Austria?! → yes, I mostly really do. Even though it took a while to get accustomed to some things (which I am not sure I could explain easily in writing!). The quality of life is pretty high for example, and some systems are pretty efficient (e.g., administrative, medical, etc.). |
| How do I pronounce your name? → Sandy is pronounced the way you pronounce Sandy in English, and my family name is really hard to pronounce the way it's pronounced in Modern Standard Arabic or Lebanese Arabic, so read it however you want. I prefer people to call me using my first name anyway. Specific people in my life have assigned me few nicknames, but most people call me Sandy. If we don't know each other much yet, I prefer if you don't assign me a nickname. |
| Aren't you afraid of people judging you very negatively due to sharing your mental health issues?! → Part of the reason this is shared is to raise some awareness around the topic. A fair percentage of humans will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, and most people hide it. There is so much stigma around the topic. More people should talk openly about it. |
| Chatgpt (or other generative AI platforms) wasn't used in writing anything on this page (or on this website as a whole)😋 |
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