2 months

Below is the note I wrote last night. I've posted it on my facebook, and I was encouraged, by Alison Raap, to post it here. I hope this will help prospective students at Augsburg, who are international or commuters, to have an insight into how it is like to live away from your family for the first time.

"It's been 2 months already since I first arrived here at Augsburg. Everything is cool here. I've got many new friends, I talked to many people, my roommate is great, and I enjoy student government meetings and my job at IA office so much. During the week it is a bunch of work and stress, sometimes I am so tired that I just wish I could have a bed and sleep right away. But the weekend is awesome, every weekend is awesome, always tons of fun, relaxing and interesting. Conclusively, I love living and studying here.

However, I can't help crying at times. For example, it was 2AM and I was still studying for the mid-term test of my HON100 class, a religion one. I am not religious, for crying out loud, though sometimes I do pray to Buddhas. And Christian, Bible, religious study are what I had never once encountered in my whole life before I got here. And so, the test drove me nuts, I worried I would miss some important points and fail the test. When I was studying, my sister suddenly sent me a message via Skype. We had a normal chit chat for a while. And just then, I burst into tears. I miss my mom, my family, my friends and my favorite activities in Vietnam. I remember at home mom would wake up several times at night to remind me to try to go to bed as early as possible every time I was studying for upcoming test at midnight. She would make me a glass of hot milk, stroke my head and ask if I was tired. Now that I am here and I do not want to make mom more worried, I cannot tell her I stay up all night to study. So I was sitting at my desk, with my desk lamp on, studying and crying, wishing my mom could give me a hug as she always did. Things at night are quiet. And the quiet makes me feel lonely, and during the intervals, I contemplate on what I should have been doing if I were in Vietnam. Right now, if I were in Vietnam, I would be sitting among my family and enjoy the lunch. I've just received a phone call from my family, they're all there: my father, my mom, my niece, my sisters and my nanny. Before, I would sleep over lunch time, waking up and eat my own meal when watching TV. I rarely joined family meals, except those with my whole family gathering at the table. I really enjoy such meals, and I wish I could have those meals every day now. I wonder if any in my family notices my empty spot, if anyone knows my wish to be there right now. I am 7 thousand miles away from home, I am not there when my mother is sick, when my father visits home, when my youngest niece walked her first few steps by herself, or when they all gather to celebrate special occasions.

To have an auspicious future, I am giving up many precious things: the few years my old mom and dad may have, the possibility that I can help educate and take care of my nieces, the responsibility as a granddaughter to my grandfather, the times when my big family gather. I will try not to waste my time any longer. Every second I am here now, I would have spent with my family, and it is all invaluable in a lifetime. I hope sacrifice will result in good consequences and at the end of 2010 I can make it back home.

To my most beloved ones of my life, I love you all, and I miss you so much, dear mom, dad, sisters, nieces and nanny. I'm doing fine, and I will be fine. Hope you are all well :)"

Homecoming 09

This weekend is Augsburg's Homecoming and there is just one word to describe this occasion: FABULOUS!
During the week, we have had a lot of activities to prepare for the weekend. The Augsburg Super Fan T-shirts are sold ($7 each for Auggies), decorations are everywhere and meetings and reunions took place almost everyday.
On Friday night, October 2nd, the Homecoming party was held at Kennedy Center, room 305. I have been there with my friends, who are also international students at Augsburg. We have had a really good time dancing and enjoying the music. Here are some photos:
My friends' names and their nationalities from left to right: Son Tran (Vietnamese), Ella Robinson (American), Lucia Gayoso (Argentinian), Me - the girl in purple dress, Sana Tanveer Malik (Pakistani), Dat Nguyen (Vietnamese), Rimi Bhowmik (Bangladeshi), Jamyang Phuntsho (Bhutanese)

And the following morning, we had many representative booths at Murphy Parks with a variety of foods, drinks and activities from different clubs and associations. For example, at the booth of Augsburg Asian Student Association, we were given three balls each person and had three chances to make the cans and bottles fall down by throwing those balls. The winners were awarded with little bags of candy. At another booth of the campus ministry, we had a chance to try apples dipped in caramel, which are absolutely delicious. We also had hennas for $3 each on our hands and wrists. Auggie and alumni gathered and had a great time together.

Afterwards, we went to the football game between Augsburg College and Hamline University. During the break, the dance team of Augsburg performed a lively dance.


In the evening, there were even more fascinating activities: The Block Party, fireworks, and homecoming run. The atmosphere around the campus is full of excitement and joyfulness. And I enjoy homecoming so much!!!

A little more introduction about me.

I take double major in International Business and Finance. I have 6 classes this semester, 2 of which are non-credit class. They are:

• AUG101 - Q: This class is designed for first-year students to identify program goals and learning outcome and it is a non-credit class. I am instructed by Professor Phillip Quanbeck II. He is truly inspirational. Also, I really fancy my two AugSem Leaders: Amanda and Ashley. They give us a lot of useful information about Augsburg, classes, professors, interesting places in Minneapolis. To the best of my knowledge, students are put in different AugSem group in accordance with there (intended) majors or interests. My AugSem class is a gathering of most students in the Honors Program. I will tell you more about Honors Program later.
• HON100 - Y (Christian Vocation and Search For Meaning I): This honors class is about religion. And this class is also under the instruction of Prof. Quanbeck. In this class, in addition to Bible Access, we study some other interesting books that look at religion at different viewpoints.
• HON120 - V (The scholar citizen): Another honors class, and in this class we learn how to think critically and to write academic papers. Our instructor is Professor Crockett. This class is truly an intellectual challenge to all of us, as our reading materials are very complicated and mention many abstract and confusing topics. Hence, at first I was quite panicked, but after discussing the problems with other students and professors, I figured out that the best way to study in this class, and any other class that you have problems studying, is to talk to your professor if there is something confusing or unclear. Now I feel much better about the class, and enjoy it a lot even though reading a whole chapter in one day or two is really challenging.
• HON120L - V (The scholar citizen theater lab): I am under the instruction of Erica Huls, who is an Honors graduate. She is an amazingly energetic and lively person. In this class each of us will be assigned different positions in the process of making a play that suit us. On November 21st we will have an official play at the Christensen Symposium. I am very excited about this and I have registered for the positions of prop master, producer, and costume design. And this class is a non-credit class.
  
• ECO112 - A (Principles of Macroeconomics): This is one of my favorite class. My instructor in this class is Mr. Daniel Norgard. I do quite well in this class and understand all of the basic concepts of macroeconomics that have been taught so far. One of the interesting facts is that my instructor and I join the same swing dance club. And it's an exciting experience to dance with him, my instructor.
• BUS242 - A (Principles of Management): This is another favorite class of mine. I really like my instructor, Professor Zapp. She is a Polish and she possesses a great sense of humor and aesthetics. The professor is strict and disciplined, but her classes are always fun and interesting. I am a leader of one of the four teams in this class. And I learn a lot from working with my teammates, such as how to work with people that have different timetables, or how to assign different tasks based on each person's ability, etc.

So, they are some main points about my classes. As I mentioned before, I'm in the Honors Program (you can learn more about this program by click here). The participation is required for all President Scholars, and I am one of them. It's a real honor to receive the international President Scholarship and to be in the Honors Program. Though it's challenging, it's worth my time and efforts.

About the President Scholarship, I am required to maintain a GPA of 3.5 and above to keep this scholarship. In the meantime, my study is going on well. Also, I have joined a lot of clubs and activities. I am a member of Augsburg Asian Student Association, Swing Dance Club, International Student Organization and I'm running for First-Year Senate. The election period will take place form 7:00 AM September 25th - 11:59PM September 27th. I'll keep you update with the election result. Also, I'm a student representative for IGNITE project and I'm working as Augarithms Student Assistant for Mathematics Department

Now it is Thursday night, and I do not have any class tomorrow. However, I gotta stop now to do some homework for next week because this weekend I have a lot of fun and exciting plans, one of which is shopping for Halloween with a group of international students. I have never had any experience about Halloween before, and so, I want to make this experience unforgettable. I will upload some pictures about Halloween day for sure.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about one of my favorite activities for the weekend, it is going to Target, Mall of America and Downtown. They are shopping centers for different purposes and products. Sometimes I just go to those places to have a relaxing time, walking around and having fun with my accompanies. One of my most unforgettable out this activity is a seven-hour-straight shopping at MOA with Đạt and Sơn, the other two Vietnamese male students at Augsburg. Under are some pictures we took on that terrifying shopping day:
Do you see those bags????? They're not all mine :P Don't freak out :P

The guy sitting next to me is Sơn. He's also a freshman. And what he was doing is checking the bills ;))

This picture was taken on the light rail on the way back to our campus. We were all tired but willing to take a lot of pictures.

Last photo - I was reading Nicholi's Question of God, an interesting and thought-provoking book.