Hi there, my name is Maddie a.k.a. Maddie Meets World. I’m a 30+ millennial from Canada, born-and-raised in Ontario to be exact. As part of my personal goals for the New Year (2026), I decided it was important to learn more about the countries around the World. The older I get the more increasingly aware I am that I have a limited and narrow view of the world.
My relationship to cultural identity is complicated. I grew up as a Mixed-Ethnicity Canadian (British/Chinese) in a predominantly white community, with a severe lack of diversity and a large dose of racism and ignorance. In addition, my Chinese father has never been an active participant in his cultural heritage or background. As a result, I have always been wary of my own cultural identity and have limited my exploration of the world to North America and Europe.
I recently married my wonderful husband this past September. He is Iranian, born-and-raised in Tehran, later immigrating to Canada as a teenager. He was one of the first people I met who was proud of his culture and loud about it. As he shared his experiences with me, and we spoke more about the Eastern World, I was faced with my immense lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. I was forced to question my biases created from a lifetime of Western news headlines. It broadened my perspective and enhanced my understanding of other people around me. It resulted in my thirst for knowledge and understanding and kickstarted this personal learning journey.
Even if no one ever reads this, I want to memorialize this journey to better understanding of the world. This blog is where I will study the world slowly and intentionally. I’m going to be learning about each country through research and reflection, with the goal of becoming more informed, more empathetic, and less ignorant about the world beyond my own experience.
With curiosity,
Maddie
Maddie Meets World 