1. In mid-2006, I was admitted to the Faculty of Literature Pedagogy, Dalat University. It was a “double win”, becoming a new student and studying the proud Pedagogy major. That was the major that many people dreamed of at that time because… there was no tuition fee. The students from the Central region were mostly poor, and basic difficulties were divided equally. During school days, evenings or weekends off, everyone tried to find a job for themselves. Everyone hoped to have a little extra money at the end of the month to improve their meals. Especially to reduce the burden of food and clothing for their parents. Therefore, we students at that time, either because our families in the countryside were too poor, or because of the nature of the Central region people were frugal, and could not bear to have free time. Then some went to work as tutors, some asked to hoe the land, harvest vegetables, some carried cabbage, some washed dishes, sold for hire… when they did not have to go to class.
I got a shift job at a coffee shop on the flowery mountain street, near the Dalat University 5-way intersection, with the task of looking after and arranging vehicles for customers. At that time, it was the most luxurious coffee shop in the area with a fairly steady stream of customers. In my second year, the owner transferred me inside to work as a waiter. Compared to farming in the countryside, it was a very light job, but I still earned 150,000 VND per month, enough to buy rice, spices and fuel, because at that time, students in the cold land mostly cooked with kerosene stoves.
I began to notice a special customer, who almost every morning showed up with a dusty backpack and a copy of the Tuoi Tre newspaper in his hand. He had long, messy hair that was past his shoulders and a mustache that had been neglected for a long time. After ordering a cup of coffee, he often had the habit of crossing his legs and reading the newspaper. I could tell by his expressive face whether he was happy or disappointed when reading the news and articles in the newspaper. This customer was either lonely or took solitude as a personal hobby. I never saw him sitting at a table or chatting animatedly with anyone. When he accidentally met an acquaintance in the shop, he just nodded slightly. That was the signal to say hello.
When leaving the shop, he often left behind the newspaper he had read. For me, it was a “gift” to pass the time when the shop was empty. “Reading newspapers” over and over again became a daily habit, hard to quit. One day, he didn’t come to the shop or came but didn’t leave behind the newspaper he had read, I suddenly felt regretful and angry with him for no reason.
Then the shop owner revealed that the short, worldly-looking man was Nguyen Hang Tinh, a reporter who often wrote about culture and life in a very profound memoir style. Later, just by reading the introduction of each article, I could easily recognize that it was his writing without looking at the author's note. Those articles had a very unique style, with a typical personal imprint, that was Nguyen Hang Tinh's style.
2. The newspapers he left at the coffee shop that year helped me, a second-year student, reshape my future career. I began to learn more about journalism and practiced writing my first difficult articles. Without a teacher, without guidance or introduction, I took my first steps into journalism from my own independent steps. Without a computer or a camera, I still eagerly walked dozens of kilometers to search for materials whenever I overheard someone talking about something interesting in this land.
Therefore, I was probably the first student to crawl underground, explore the secret tunnel dug by the Japanese during World War II, leading to some villas on Yen The Street, Da Lat City, behind the present-day Nam Phuong Queen Palace. All the documents were handwritten in notebooks, then taken to an internet shop, typed and printed on A4 paper and sent by post . My first article was published in the Vietnamese Women's Newspaper, followed by the Family Magazine...
Discovering that I had a passion for journalism, veteran journalists in Da Lat supported me a lot. Also during this time, joy came to me when the Vietnam Student Newspaper contacted me to sign a contract as a collaborator, supporting me with monthly money after many articles were published in this newspaper. Saving up the royalties, I was able to buy a desktop computer, an internet connection, a mini handheld camera, a tape recorder, and then an old motorbike... That was enough basic conditions for a Literature Pedagogy student to earn a living after busy hours in the lecture hall.
In 2008, the electronic newspaper industry began to develop strongly. Having a computer in my rented room, I had more access to modern electronic journalism. I collaborated with many newspapers, such as Tuoi Tre, Vnexpress.net, Sinh Vien Viet Nam, Kien Thuc... Income from royalties also gradually increased, some months reaching more than five million VND. That was a dream amount of money for students in the mountain town...
When I discovered that there was a “student journalist”, it was Nguyen Hang Tinh, who had left his newspapers at the coffee shop many years ago, who pulled me into the list of training courses in news writing and photojournalism. Later, with the guidance and dedicated instruction from my senior colleagues and my own constant efforts, I became more passionate about the profession.
Source: https://cand.com.vn/Tieu-diem-van-hoa/duyen-nghiep-voi-nghe-bao-i771802/
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