As my first big voyage with American Study, I had a lot of mixed feelings.
At first, Ms. Quynh Thu just invited me to the trip as a valuable extracurricular activity. I was immediately worried as an introvert for having to new friends and even working with them. This worsened at my first meeting two days before the trip, because my impressions of the leaders of the groups were a bit immature and the whole timeline was fairly poorly planned. I didn’t have high expectations for the trip in any possible ways. I had trouble talking to anyone aside from my teammates due to my shy nature and the feelings that everyone already knew each other beforehand. Luckily, we got the chance to connect after getting on the bus, even though it was only like 15 minutes and everyone was out cold afterwards.
To my surprise, both teams I was on were awesome, either the forest-cleaning or the recycling class team. In contrast to my imagination, the forests were uniquely outstanding and I was granted the opportunity to learn more about the ecosystem there. I was really impressed by Mr.Vinh and his enthusiasm with guiding everyone and teaching our cruse about this amazing land. I truly believed that his students were really lucky to have such a fantastic Geography teacher.
Regarding the recycling classes, even though my team was mostly younger than me, everyone really tried their best to fulfill their positions. I learned a multitude about recycling and environment protection, and I gained various skills of teaching young students, which to be honest, was a huge burden. Children were really loud, uncontrollable and chaotic and I truly sympathize with the teachers.
I met a lot of great friends. First of all, my two roommates were truly nice and fun. They always accompanied me everywhere I went and even though we only had 3.5 days to connect, I could see that they were outstanding friends, always supporting and assisting me. Thuc Phuong and Diep really successfully led the entire program despite their age and they were chaotic and messy in a great way.
All in all, my experiences with the trip were irreplaceable and priceless. I have successfully met new friends and have learnt a lot. I have seen places that only a few are aware of learning. Although the trip was only short-lived, I was immensely satisfied and happy with the memories I have made with everyone. I have gained a lot and completed myself even further and hopefully one day, I could be fortunate enough to join this cruise once more.
