Vietnam – College Admission at Loyola

Vietnamese Student Association

By | September 15, 2017

The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) at Loyola University is about to have an awesome event called VSA Meet and Greet! It is a fantastic group for students to want to explore Vietnamese culture and socialize with other students! I am a part of EBoard of VSA and wanted to take this opportunity to share some info about this event as well as acknowledge Vietnamese participation we have at our university!

VSA Meet and Greet will be from 6:00PM-7:30PM at Cuneo 002 and it is a open invite to all Loyola students!

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VSA is one out of a few Asian organizations we have on our Loyola campus. This organization allows for the celebration and awareness to Vietnamese culture (open to other Asian cultures too!) through the leadership of current students such as myself and others. Unlike other organizations, our meetings and events are often known for having good food! We try our best to promote our Viet culture by bringing to the community a taste of Vietnam; whether it is spring rolls or eggs rolls, you are assured to have fun exploring the cuisines at every meeting.

Our group is open to everyone, not only those of Asian ethnicity. We encourage culture mixing and embrace people of all backgrounds! VSA is one easy method for people to come together to socialize, celebrate Asian culture, and bring the community together. Fortunately, LUC VSA is not just a university group, but a nationwide group. With that being said, we do have affiliations and partnerships with other VSA’s. Currently, we are interacting with UIC’s VSA and hope to have many good and beneficial connections with them for this academic term!

Obligations for membership into this club are quite relaxed as we try to make this organization more manageable and easy for all students to be a part of. With that being said, VSA EBoard strives to create and plan events that can really highlight Vietnamese culture and draw people in through engaging and interactive methods, such as DIY Spring Rolls and DIY Che (popular dessert). With exciting events, we hope to serve the greater community of Loyola with an awareness to Vietnam in terms of traditions, culture, language, and cuisine.

VSA Meet and Greet is the chance for YOU to finally join an organization that requires little obligations yet you still get a full experience of the group through the events.

At this event, you will get to meet other excited students such as yourself and meet the Executive Board members, which I personally believe are very amicable, down-to-earth, wise, and helpful people. Meeting E-Board is awesome because you get to see the people who get to plan these fun VSA events coming up! Internships to our club is available to anyone as well! You will work alongside us and get a full view of how event planning is done as well provide inputs and creativity along the way.

Besides meeting and greeting, we will go into depth about our VSA group and the future events we are considering doing. Best part is, you get free pizza too! Please consider attending this NEXT THURSDAY at Cuneo 002 at 6PM. You’ll get to see me too and we can talk more in person with any questions you may have about anything related to VSA (or even admissions)!

Explore the World

By | October 5, 2016

One of the most exciting things college students has the opportunity to do, is be able to continue their education and immerse themselves into another culture in a different country. Not only will their classes be credited, but they get to experience extraordinary things- culture, language, people, environment, and so much more. Here at Loyola, we offer a range of countries student can choose from- Rome to Vietnam to Ireland- the list goes on.

Within focus, I will go into what kind of experience you may find in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam. Hopefully this way, you have a better idea of the kind of setting you may find yourself studying at, in the future.

Loyola’s Beijing Center, located in China, is one of the three most popular choices LUC students choose to study abroad at. Beijing, being the nation’s capital, will probably be an indicator that you may find yourself among the more modern side of the city- tall buildings and skyscrapers, TONS of technology, busy streets of walking people, lights, and so on. It’s a lot to take in, I know!

Food, the inevitable, may range in enumerable variety and may seem a little strange if you come from a more Western style taste palate. However, it tastes satisfactorily good!! (Generally speaking).

Since you are apart of an American-based education program, you will probably have the chance to go on trips to see tourist attractions- Great Wall, Forbidden City, the Yellow Mountains, terra cotta soldiers, etc. Things will be grand in scale and generally look regal or super elaborate. If you’ve seen the Beijing Olympics, especially the Opening Ceremony, you have a better idea when I talk about things being elaborate and grand-scheme.

Nevertheless, China is a breathtaking country and through studying abroad, you can take classes that pertain to China (history, art, religion, politics, music, and more). Altogether, it is clear that you will have a full experience of China and hopefully have a greater appreciation for Chinese culture and in general, the nation itself.

Moving south of China, is Vietnam! Loyola also has a campus here, located in the capital of Ho Chi Minh City. Similarly to China, it is a bustling city full of people and energy. However, the city is different in that although it is an urban city, it is not as contemporary. People (roughly 90%) ride motorcycles/scooters and bikes, street vendors can be found everywhere, and stores are family-owned, and the only noise you can hear will be vehicles honking (there are no traffic lights).

Street food happens to be the best kind of food out there. You get to see the cooker make the food right in front of your face. Ingredients are visibly fresh and food aromas can be smelled everyone. People walk around in comfortable clothes (PJ’s are totally acceptable) and you pray a car/motorcycle doesn’t run you over while crossing the street.

Again, as you are a part of an American-based education program, you will probably visit tourist locations such as Hoi An, Mekong Delta, Thien Mu Pagoda, and Ha Long Bay. Unlike China, where you have specific sites, you have Vietnam with broader sites such as towns and rivers.

Vietnam is generally a more rural type of a country. I have been here before and can testify to that. If you are looking for a more raw and relaxed setting to study abroad, Vietnam will definitely be the place for you to study abroad. If you are looking towards a more modern-driven, energy-filled experience, China is a fitting place to study abroad.

For more information on LUC Studying Abroad, here’s the link: http://www.luc.edu/studyabroad/

LUC Students Studying Abroad Bloggers: http://blogs.luc.edu/goglobal/

Tôi Là Người Việt Nam ~ I Am Vietnamese

By | March 10, 2015

If you read my other blogs, by now you should know that I am Vietnamese. Both my parents are refugees that came from Vietnam and wanted to start a new life, especially after the destruction of the war, traveling by boat and plane over to the United States.

As a first-born and first generation American, my first language learned was English. At school, I would learn and speak English and at home, I would speak Vietnamese. Language switching from school to home wasn’t a big problem for me because I learned the dialect and terminology well.

Culturally, there are so many distinct holidays and traditions that I love and find very interesting. To me, things like that made me considerably unique from the rest of my friends who did not know much of their heritage. In other words, I could show off more things than they could (culturally speaking)! For one thing, New Years in the Vietnamese household is always significantly festive, colorful, exuberant, and joyous. (I have a blog post about this). Weddings and funerals too, for example, are celebrated in a big fashion; there are many traditions and customs to doing everything.

Expectations. Going to school, I found that many people were judgmental of my ethnicity. As an “Asian”, they expected people like me would be intelligent, creative, and wise. Sadly, this carried on throughout all of grade school and high school. From that, I somewhat molded into the person they thought I should be. But it is inevitable- judging and stereotyping. We must admit that. All of my family and friends have been through that and through time, it just comes natural in the Vietnamese society to be highly looked upon. Hopefully through time and patience, things will be better and the majority of people won’t have biased mindsets.

Many older Vietnamese living in America (who have come to the United States for the same/similar reasons as my parents did) dream of flying back to their homeland of Vietnam. They miss the weather, the rural lifestyle, the people, and memories they had there. When they pack up and get ready for their flight, they pack some things for themselves, but usually they pack more things for others. Noting that Vietnam is a third-world country with many people living in the poverty level, all of us (living in America) try to help them out. The people will appreciate anything given to them, from clothes to vitamins to chocolate. Many people cannot afford things that can be purchased here in the U.S., even at a cheap price.