International Students Study: Ba Vi Grassland, the land of thousands of islands and the land of aurora

Ngoc Lan is one of three Vietnamese students in Course 1 of the program “ASEAN Master on Sustainability Management

After graduating, she chose to work at a number of non-governmental organizations with the desire to accumulate knowledge and experience to apply for scholarships to study abroad. Surprisingly, in March 2021, she applied at the last minute and was awarded a full scholarship for the Master's course in Sustainable Development Management. This is the first course of the cooperation program between the Norwegian Embassy in ASEAN and the ASEAN University Network (AUN), Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia and the University of Agder, Norway.
Because everything happened so quickly, from the time of applying to the start of the program only lasted two months, so at that time she was still quite hesitant. Although the program had many advantages and a full scholarship, she had never thought of studying abroad in Indonesia. After consulting with teachers, relatives and her senior, she decided to take this scholarship, because "if you keep going, it will come, this opportunity can lead to many other opportunities that I don't know about yet".
Despite her determination, she found herself facing numerous difficulties when she first started. The two-year program was designed to be completed in 18 months, making the learning process much more stressful and difficult. During the first semester, she had to study online and continue working at the office, and she thought about dropping out at least five times. “During that time, I was in a state of uncertainty, terribly disappointed, and had so many negative emotions coming one after another,” she recalled.
Right after the Lunar New Year 2022, when the pandemic situation had stabilized, she packed her bags and headed to the archipelago. She studied at Gadjah Mada University - one of the largest and oldest universities in Indonesia. Here, she met many like-minded friends. It was not only a common concern for sustainable development issues, but also enthusiasm and readiness to face challenges and difficulties to become young leaders of ASEAN countries.

Journey to the world
In addition to “studying”, Ngoc Lan also gained many interesting things from her “traveling”. During these April days, she recalled the days living in the “fasting month” of Ramadan of Muslims in Indonesia - the place with the largest number of Muslims in the world. Although she had heard about it many times, this was the first time she had witnessed and immersed herself in this sacred month.
In the subject “Forest Resources Protection”, she and her friends had a field trip to an owl conservation center and participated in a traditional festival of the indigenous people. “Although there are now pesticides and insecticides, here, they call on people not to use those chemicals, but to use natural enemies to kill rats, in this case owls,” she recalled.
The subject “Marine Resources Management” was another unforgettable memory. The whole class had to wake up early in the morning, climb the cliff facing the sea with the teacher to observe the waves, wind direction, water currents, coastline, terrain, planning and many other things. In another subject, she attended the “Leadership Camp” which lasted for several days, participating with her friends in many practical activities to learn about management and leadership knowledge.
With the third largest number of volcanoes in the world, Indonesia is considered a “specialty”. That is why when studying abroad, she also took the opportunity to try this “specialty”. From jeep trips with the whole class, or days of climbing two mountains in a row, to the point where when she returned, her legs were exhausted and her skin was sunburned. But in return, there were also beautiful moments, such as a night of stargazing from an altitude of more than 2,200m above sea level, or waking up at 3am in the cold of 10 degrees Celsius to wait for the sunrise.
For her, those were such impressive experiences that if it weren't for the scholarship, she wouldn't have had the chance to try them. There were days when she went to the forest in the morning and to the sea in the afternoon, climbing mountains in the morning and sitting on a boat in the afternoon enjoying the ocean breeze. But the most wonderful time was probably when she was on Bali island to calm down and complete her thesis. According to her, that was the time when Bali had not yet fully opened to visitors, the cultural life of the people was still somewhat peaceful, not yet having to endure the noise and crowds of tourist activities.  
At the end of her year in Indonesia, with her research proposal accepted by the professor, she had the opportunity to continue her studies in Norway at the University of Agder. With a European visa in hand, she was able to freely explore ancient and poetic cities like in Anderson's fairy tales. If Indonesia is a bit wild and liberal of a tropical archipelago with the world's fourth largest population and a developing economy, the "old continent" made her more calm and gentle.
In addition to the busy months of studying, working, preparing reports and presentations, she took the opportunity to do one of the things she had to do when coming to Norway - go see the aurora borealis. In just six weeks, she had time to immerse herself in the streets of Northern Europe in late autumn when the leaves were falling in Gothenburg (Sweden), wait for the Halloween costume festival in Copenhagen (Denmark), immerse herself in the cozy atmosphere of Christmas in the old town in Norway, or experience the feeling of standing in line to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum, Paris (France). Not only was it an opportunity to explore many famous landmarks, the above-mentioned time also helped her get a Master of Science degree from the University of Agder, along with her previous MBA degree thanks to her studies in Indonesia.
Looking back at those beautiful days studying abroad, she never expected that a last-minute decision would take her so far. Perhaps “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” is the phrase that describes Ngoc Lan’s study abroad journey, full of surprises, challenges, and countless interesting things.
Find out information about the International Studies major, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi here
Article in Vietnamese Student Newspaper:Ba Vi Grassland, the land of thousands of islands and the land of aurora