Autobiography:
Hey everybody, here’s a little bit about myself. I was born in Berkeley California in 1990. My parents are from Wisconsin so all of my family lives back there and I visit them every year. I went to Harding Elementary school, Portola Middle school and El Cerrito High School. I played cello and Violin for several years and really loved it but had to quit in 7th grade when my school lost funding for orchestra. In 8th grade I joined the Piedmont Choirs which competes internationally. I went to international festivals in Vancouver Canada, China, Malaysia and Singapore. The things I saw on these tours and the people I met really made me fall in love with different cultures, particularly Asian cultures.
After high school I knew I wanted to study international issues so I chose Eleanor Roosevelt College in UC San Diego which focuses on international scholarship and history. I also decided to major in comparative political science so I could really go in depth into that aspect of other countries. Once at UCSD I had to pick a language to study and I chose American Sign Language because my elementary school had a number of students who spoke ASL and I always loved to watch it. After a few weeks I fell completely in love with ASL, deaf culture and Deaf rights… the language was so rich and beautiful that I knew I wanted to make it a bigger part of my life. I’m now head of the ASL club on campus, minoring in ASL and looking for jobs where I can put my skills to use. I’m really happy at UCSD and know that while I will be sad to leave Vietnam I will be happy to go back to all the wonderful people there that have made my last two years amazing.
Few other miscellaneous things about me: I have one younger brother named Brian who is going into his third year of high school. He’s a real sweetheart… despite being a 16 year old boy. I’m gonna miss him while I’m here. As far as hobbies go I like to unicycle, hike make pottery, write poetry and cook. My favorite color is green and I’m totally in love with turtles frogs and succulents. That’s about it. I look forward to getting to know all of you soon!
Goals for Vietnam:
1. Get to know the amazing HANU students and UC students. I really feel like I have a ton to learn from all of you and will be disappointed with myself if I don’t go home having had at least one good conversation with everyone.
2. Learn about Vietnamese culture history. I’m really interested and there is so much to learn.
3. Learn Vietnamese Sign Language and volunteer at an orphanage! This seemed like a total long shot before I came but it might actually be reality. Soooooooo cool!
4. Learn as much Vietnamese as possible. I’ve never really learned a spoken language before, so I’m afraid this could be quite the challenge. I took Spanish in high school, but all I can really do is say “Yo no hablo espanol.”
5. Travel! See an opera in Vietnam, explore the French district, visit a village where they make pottery, maybe visit a national park…
6. Learn how to cook some Vietnamese food!
7. Learn about the minority groups in northern Vietnam.
8. Challenge myself… learn to do things I normally wouldn’t do, think about things from different perspectives and hopefully come away from Vietnam a better person.
9. Have an amazing time :)
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