The course has given me a chance to engage in a truly learning environment ever in my life. Interaction with Scandinavian students in a diverse Development Studies course to grow up as a critical thinker has been the best opportunity for me to be inspired and push myself harder.
Why this is my first time ever to see the real purpose of learning?
Development Studies allows me to have the right to ask questions, interactively communicate with friends and lecturers, have practical experience to understand the new knowledge through field trips, group discussion and presentation. It promotes self-studying awareness and equips essential skills for individuals: proactively and critically reading and analysing texts. The course taught me how to summarize and present the text and the learnt lessons based on time limit. The program is intensive but accompanied by super diverse extracuricular activities such as weekly football, cooking class, bike tours,... that did leave me meaningful memories in Hoi An ever.
At the end of the day, I understand that education is to realize the potential of the learners, and learning is to develop ourselves into a better version rather than into a set format or to become anyone else, learning is to understand and apply the knowledge into the daily life, not try to remember to new concepts and forget the aim of learning. Learning is to raise the personal awareness about the communities and world around to see the problems and have responsibility for our actions and for building a better world.
Never in my life, every single day went through like a blink of an eyes as my schedule got filled by continuous tasks left no pressure or stress on my mind. I appreciate every minute I had with people embracing diverse mindsets from diverse backgrounds in the world to come and grow up with me. I never felt alone among a bunch of Scandinavian people because we respect each other and always enjoy time together no matter where we come from.
Lessons
Connect the dots
The 10-week course in Hoi An taught me to strongly pursue what I deserve to have and learn in life.
Academic and cultural knowledge
I engaged in Development studies through an ideal intensive curriculum and interacting with Scandinavian peers in Southeast Asia context. I was exposed to learn about agent, theories, arena, history of development, followed up by economic growth, politics, sustainable development, poverty, environment, migration, urbanization, government, civil society and so on. I got to grasp new knowledge deeply thanks to directly reflecting with independent western friends and instructors. I see how different between Eastern and Western culture in the way we grow up, think and live.
Critical thinking
During class time, there were many questions asked beginning with why, how come, what happened,... that the interacting time between lecturers and learners accounted for around 1 third of the whole lessons. Student-center approach and field trips were implemented in the course curriculum that I had never experienced in my university. I learnt how to think critically in also daily context. For example, “what is the political ideology of this person?” is the question raised most by Norwegian people for the first time meeting. I got used to asking many cool questions about different aspects of a topic like art, politics, healthcare system,...Especially, my friends inspired me to dig into philosophy and psychology, setting me a ground to strive more to learn those practical knowledge.
Leadership mindset
I figured out the definition of leadership through discussing and experiencing with my friends: the combination of individualism and collectivism based on two outstanding cultural style of Europe and Asia. Having leadership mindset is to lead myself first and be a part of the community then I can connect the community together through building trust and collaboration. Since my first teamwork time impressed me that my Scandinavian friends never need to vote for a leader in a team who is assumed to be unnecessary. Without a leader, every member could be responsible and devote all of their best to the team or everyone is a so-called leader!
Somehow, this discovery connected me to new concept called "collective leadership" meaning everyone can contribute to achieve a shared goal of the team. On reflection, my current self has been created by all the dots that we have been through.
I received strong encouragement and support from all European people to draw an important decision of my life: take a gap year to do what I like, switch my current school and apply for Global Studies of Social Entrepreneurship in Thailand. It’s high time to live a worthy life, live for myself not for others’ expectation. Learning is a life-long process and myself is the most important being...