SELF-INTRODUCTION
Mr. Châu Minh Phúc is majoring in Electrical and Computer Sciences at College of Information and Communication Engineering. He was born and raised in Tra Vinh province, a small town with avenue of trees, plenty of fruits and veggies. Phúc has been decided to be PhD candidate in technology major at SKKU. Additionally, he is also interested in a variety of extracurricular activities not only in research but also in Vietnamese Student Community in Korea. He is currently in charge of representative of Vietnamese Student Association at SKKU and Vice President of Vietnamese Student Association in Korea with more than 5,000 students. Taking in charge of important position in community is not an easy story. Where does his enthusiasm come from? We will find out his school life in the following interview.
Major and Wireless Communication Technology
Phúc is studying in natural campus. What is the actual reason for selecting the Engineering and Computer Science? “I had definitely thought about my goals and future accomplishments before coming to Korea. I’ve always been good at crunching numbers, mathematic, statistical analysis and especially the strong interest in wireless technology. When I was a child, remote control toy car attracted me as the first sight. I was really interested in the way of controlling a toy car without any wired connection. That is the reason for being PhD candidate in College of Information and Communication. So, I’m majoring in wireless communication and researching on 5G wireless technology, which is opening the new present age of communication technology.”
Phúc evidently shows his interest in “wireless communication” among many students who are studying in electrical technology. We are curious about the influence of his interest to his current major. “I knew that selecting the wireless communication major was the right decision. My current research teaches me about the beauty of science in digital communication and information system. It’s amazing when the communication technology have profoundly changed our daily lives every day. People are more easily, creatively and effectively using the technology in work life and social life.”
His life and impressive factors about Korea
He has been living in Korea for two and a half years. We will discover how he adapts to Korea life and how much of adaptation has been completed during two and a half years. “It’s so hard to answer since there are many impressive experiences in Korea such as public transportation in Seoul, nature within city borders, many kinds of food within one meal and ppalli-ppalli (빨리빨리) culture etc… The first impression is probably service in Korea. You will eventually experience the actual word “service” as living in Korea. For example, if you are unsatisfied about the service in restaurant, and you can complain to restaurant owner and receive apology with discount from owner. I spend almost of time for studying course work and doing research. On the free time, I try to learn Korean language and culture understanding. Besides, joining social activities in Vietnamese Community in Korea have gained me many different skills such as team work, event organizing and soft skills.
There are many attractive places in Seoul where I had many good experiences with my friends such as Namsan Tower, Namdaemun Market, Dongdaemun Market etc… It’s amazing as living in country with four seasons. We can enjoy one beautiful place with four different feelings.”
He is experiencing an amazing life in Korea. Phúc has strong enthusiasm for his motherland, so what is his reason for studying in Korea? “I had been studied very hard to pursuit my dream of study abroad in developed country like American, EU, Japan and Korea. But Korea was my final decision since not all developed countries have such impressive economic, their own smartphone products, premium motor brand, many top companies over the world. Korea is also leading country in contribution to the world knowledge with many prestigious journals, and patents. Inaddition, Korea’s graduate system is powered by a network of strong profiles professor (as my Prof. Jitae Shin and especially in my major of wireless communication) which almost graduated from well-known university in USA and extremely enthusiasm in publishing research papers.” He also shares his active impressions about Korea as follows. “Korea is very well developed country. The street is very clean, the convenient transport system, and Korean is very polite and friendly. I do love Korean food (“hue”, and “samkethang”, “cold noodle”), and Korean drama.”
Daily lives are definitely not as comfortable as at home when studying abroad. What are your uncomfortable experiences? “Language is always the first barrier. It will be fine if you stay inside the campus. Your Korean friends can speak English very well. Outside campus is totally different story. We have so difficult time in finding renting house, house contract, health care document, etc… Thanks to my great Vietnamese Student Community by sharing information, experience as well help from my dear Korean friends and IOA office. I am a bit surprise at first since our labmates are very hard working. They stay very late to do research at night or event weekend. I often go home earlier in my country. But I have learned how to work hard from them and now I even go home after my friends.”
The cultural differance betwwen Korea and Vietnam
The difference about culture between two countries must be discussed in the story of this foreign student. It is easy to see that there exists the difference between two countries. But Phúc said his thought has been changed afterward. The first difference is probably the weather. “There is no snow in my country but Korea has a lot and very cold in the winter. I live in the Ho Chi Minh City with tropical climate, living in thick clothes and heater is my interesting experience.” Additional, food is second different thing. “Vietnamese people prefer hot food and do not eat much raw fish. I did change my view to love Korean food such as “hue” and “cold noodle”. On another hand, the similarity is respect, politeness and reason. “We do pay a lot of respect to our teachers and professors. This relationship, however, is much stronger in Korea.”
Phúc think that there are no impressive experiences from cultural difference. “I don’t have any impressive experiences from cultural difference. Korea is closed to Vietnam in both geography and culture. As East Asia countries, we share a lot of common things: both using chopstick, eating rice as main food, the traditional event in the full moon, lunar new year etc… We even have many similar words or similar foods like Kimchi, Macolli in Vietnam.”
Through the interview, we experience his love for Korean culture. “I joined several cross cultural awareness programs. For example, I really enjoyed the CICE trips to Suwon old Palace which gave me very impressive look on Korean material art, the old living style of the royal family. Experiencing the Korean traditional acupuncture, enjoying the drinking tea. I was almost slept during the acupuncturing and did learn many rules in drinking tea. Temple stay is another great experience with fresh air, fresh vegetable and understand the valuable of food as well as experiencing the difference in Buda religion between the two countries.”
Goal with enthusiasm
Apart from researching in school, he is currently in charge of two positions: representative of Vietnamese Student Association in SKKU (more than 100 members) and vice president of Vietnamese Student Association in Korea (more than 5,000 members). His goal is: ““For a better campus life” is our favorite slogan in community. We intend to do anything for the community to make the easy life for new comers as they study abroad. We try to help Vietnamese students for daily life problem such as coursework registration, health care, housing information, as well as organizing sport and culture events and operating a radio channel for students to express and sharing their emotion. For Vietnamese Student Association in Korea, I’m responsible for developing the connection among Vietnamese students in science and technology. I hope that the good knowledge and vision will lead us to the future in developing the big and strong connectivity in science and technology community. In the near future, we also plan to host a conference for Vietnamese students in sharing their research, and strengthen researcher communities in Korea. Especially, nowadays, there are increasingly business activities between thetwo countries with many Korea Companies coming to Vietnam like Samsung, LG etc… I would like to be a part of this process as bridge to connect Vietnam and Korea through technology transfer, to strengthen our relationship as well as to give me a chance to work in good international company. For personal point of view, I will prepare good knowledge, skill which helpful for my carrier, do something that would leave good impact for the future. For example, I would help the younger generation by provide them better information (e.g. scholarship, which school, which professor etc…), guild (e.g. how to apply, how to prepare etc…). Last but not least, I would like to say thanks to my friend Nguyễn Cảnh Thướng who is always be with me in all activities and goal in life.”
Vietnamese Student Association
Like SKKU University, Vietnamese Student Association in Sungkyunkwan (SKKUVN) is also one of the best Vietnamese Student Association in Korea (VSAK). Founded in 2006, as a second biggest international community in SKKU, SKKUVN plays very important role as a bridge between Vietnamese student with SKKU international Office Affair as well as VSAK. It has promoted Vietnamese to attend our university events (e.g. Sport festival and Welcome Lunar New Year Eve.) and created many activities for Vietnamese students to reduce the stress after long working days. There are some annual activities of this association
Source: webzine.skku.edu
