Exchange and Outbound Activities Overseas at Walailak University International College - The Key to Opening the Door to a Magical World
Everyone dreams, and each dream leads down a different path. The crucial point is: how do we begin pursuing our dreams, and what steps must we take to achieve them?
I was born in a small town on the outskirts of Hanoi, the bustling heart of Vietnam. Living so close to what I used to call "the world of the matured," "the world of magical things," because every time I visited Hanoi as a child, through my rose-tinted glasses, everything seemed novel and worth exploring. In the city, the buildings, the people, and the vehicles all seemed to have their own missions, and that mission was to keep moving forward.
At that time, the little me couldn't comprehend why people always worked so much, some even having to compromise their well-being just to get a decent job. I asked my sister, "Why do they never look back?" "Because they have something very important to pursue," she replied, "something that used to be their dreams, and now might be their way of life."
I realized a lot after that conversation and, turning inward, asked myself, "What is it that I want that can push me forward continuously?" From that small question, I began my journey of applying for a scholarship at Walailak University International College. Luckily, because of that "moving forward continuously," I got a chance to step outside my tiny world and see even greater things, greater people, where each story has its own meaning.
Studying at WUIC brought me many memorable experiences, including wonderful and always-ready-to-help friends, very supportive professors and supervisors, the green and clean environment, the extracurricular activities, etc. Everything was a "first" for me: my first time going abroad, my first time being in an atmosphere where everyone didn't share the same background, but we all shared a mutual goal: "To be a better version of ourselves and keep moving forward." These "firsts" remind me of the moment I saw the stream of vehicles flowing before me; everything seems like just yesterday, and I can now measure how far I've come.
A picture of me (blond hair) with other students at WUIC.
Thanks to the college and the professors at WUIC, I was chosen as one of the students to join the exchange program at Shih Chien University in Taipei, Taiwan. Here, I feel like my world has opened to a new horizon, to a magical world where I could learn things I thought I'd never have the chance to. One of the reasons I chose Shih Chien was their course offerings. The courses not only emphasized business-centered topics but also extended to other related subjects such as Communication Design, Digital Media and Marketing, etc. One of my favorite subjects was Global Supply Chain Management, where in Professor Anderson's class, we had the chance to meet many skillful, professional, and experienced guest speakers from very famous fields and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Sanofi, etc. These lectures provided me with a lot of useful and practical information about the real working world outside the classroom, while also equipping us with many soft skills and the required knowledge to prepare for our internships and work in the near future.
A lecture about Microsoft Supply Chain Management with guest speakers who currently work at Microsoft.
Another subject that left a remarkable impression on me was Digital Media Design, where we were able to create our own physical and digital commercial products and designs. At first, everything seemed too different for me—as a business student—but the more I learned, the more I gained. From Professor York Chu's class, I learned to see the world more deeply, to understand how important a product is in representing its brand and company, and how these designs support us in expressing and conveying our ideas to the world. In this class, we were able to work and collaborate with many students from the Communication Design College, and through each project, the class instilled in me a new wave of knowledge and skills, a more meaningful way of studying and approaching a problem.
