HOANG Vu Thien Phuoc

College of International Management

Program

Overseas Student Exchange Program

Key Information

Program Location/Partner University	Canada, The University of British Columbia
Year of Participation	September 2019
Program Length	1 year

Experiences unique to your host country/university

I genuinely enjoyed my time in Vancouver, Canada because I was able to pursue my interests in Arts and Culture on a wider scale and at a deeper level. Every Friday, I would take the bus from campus to downtown and volunteer at the University of British Columbia Learning Center―this was where I assisted in hosting Arts and Crafts Workshops with local people. The workshops ranged from making New Year’s cards and vision boards to making bee wax or rice drums. Through those Arts workshops, I was able to meet local residents who came from multinational and complex backgrounds with very diverse histories: students, elderly folks, immigrants, veterans, indigenous residents, homeless people, and many more. The conversations were different every time. Sometimes we spoke about their backgrounds and life stories, other times we spoke about the Vancouver community and the Downtown East Side Area (where the learning center was located). After just a few weeks, I started remembering the staff and participants’ names, and they started to recognize me. At the end of my first semester, everyone put together a puppet show to discuss the issue of gentrification in the local neighborhood. Not only was I able to write the screenplay, make the puppets and act in the show, but I also learned about the importance of territorial land acknowledgements to the people who live in that community. I never missed a week volunteering, and I would trade anything to go back and do it again.

Words of advice/encouragement for students who want to go on exchange in the future.

I believe that there is, and will be, something for everyone when one goes on exchangeーpartying, traveling, studying or pursuing your personal interests. I was able to try new activities that expanded my horizons and helped me understand better who I was and who I wanted to be. There will be new challenges and surprises during the program, but I believe that you can achieve wondrous things when you take a step outside your comfort zone and apply.