At the beginning of YYGS, I felt rather overwhelmed by the English-speaking community. I, for the first time, realized that English was not the well-celebrated language to master, as commonly thought in Vietnam, but merely a language that many had taken for granted since birth. Hence, there were times when I was embarrassed as I stumbled for words. Later on, I heard from other students that they also had the same struggle, even the instructors. By the time YYGS ended, I had already turned into a proud Vietnamese who is able to converse well in English, instead of worrying about judgments, and had helped some international friends overcome the similar hurdle.
YYGS inspired in me the belief that however far apart we are, technology can bring us together to make changes in the world. Even before YYGS started, I tried to apply YYGS’s online experience to my financial education project. We established an online competition based on the Cashflow game for nationwide students to raise financial awareness and share financial management knowledge. After YYGS, I decided to truly open up by recruiting members from different regions in Vietnam, and we have worked harmoniously together. I am truly grateful to YYGS because it has encouraged me to expand my comfort zone. My project, the SEAGLE Project, was recognized in the Vietnam Pedagogic E-newspapers. Having undergone the linguistic struggle in an international environment through YYGS, I had one other goal when the program ended: I needed to share more of what I learnt about English. Thus, I collaborated with my awesome YYGS friend, Shivan Kalpakovic, and ILA, a renowned English center in Vietnam, to introduce YYGS to more students and, at the same time, pass on my English-learning journey.