'Life lessons' of foreign tourists on their trip to Vietnam

'I can't remember anything I learned in my final years of high school. But everything I learned after arriving in Vietnam will stay with me forever.'

Years ago, Paul Marshall, a young Australian, traveled alone to Vietnam right after finishing high school. Now, as an adult, looking back on his first trip abroad, he believes he learned more than he did in his high school years.

In the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald , Paul Marshall shared: I had no plans to go to Vietnam. I was planning to spend the summer waiting tables and playing video games, until my mother pointed out that it was extremely boring. She explained that the time off was a luxury I would probably never have again, and it would be better to spend it doing something worthwhile, instead of doing the same old things I always did.

Perhaps my mother's words reached the narrow corridors of my young mind, because soon I found myself on a flight headed to Hanoi , where I spent a summer teaching English to blind children.

Illustration photo on article by Paul Marshall

PHOTO: JAMIE BROWN

From the moment I landed, the “Australian bubble” that had surrounded me was shattered. So many simple things that I had taken for granted all my life, like everyone being able to speak English…, all disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Even something as simple as crossing the street was a challenge, a challenge I faced when the taxi dropped me off on the other side of the road from my hostel. I stood there, backpack on my shoulder, watching the endless stream of motorbikes rumble past. I wondered how I would get to the other side.

The trick is to not hesitate. Just step out confidently and go at a slow, steady pace, and the motorbikes will flow around you. It was a fitting metaphor for my first solo trip abroad. Although it was difficult to cross that road, each subsequent road I crossed became easier.

Traveling teaches you intangible things that you will never find in textbooks or classrooms. It teaches you to be open-minded, it teaches you critical thinking skills, it teaches you independence...

Go out and be grateful for what you have, and also to understand that people all over the world are basically the same, and what makes those differences can be tied together by common hopes, dreams and loves...

Tourists overcome the challenge of crossing the road in Vietnam

PHOTO: ISTOCK

If there's any downside to parents "shoving their kids out the door", it's that they can be a little grumpy when they return. They'll hang pictures of the trip all over the house or constantly correct your pronunciation of words like "pho". This is the great value of meaningful trips abroad, showing you that there's more to life than what you can cram into exams...

No one cares what school you went to, no one cares whether you’re from Sydney or Melbourne. All that matters is your character. In our quest for self-determination as teenagers, it’s moments like these that teach us who we really are.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bai-hoc-cuoc-doi-cua-du-khach-nuoc-ngoai-trong-chuyen-di-den-viet-nam-185251125145832473.htm