A year ago, I never thought I would come back home right after graduation. I was studying in The Netherlands for three years and I had the right to extend my visa for another year for job searching.

Then, the pandemic hit The Netherlands around February-March and I had to work from home while simultaneously doing my dissertation. At that point, I still had no thought of returning to my country after getting my degree. It was two months after my internship and two weeks after I handed my thesis in when I grew nervous. I had been searching for…

Thank you so much for your kind words Anne! I am so glad you enjoyed this piece and yes please pay Delft a visit when you have a chance!

TRAVEL. THE NETHERLANDS

As a Vietnamese who had never set foot outside of Asia, I was pretty excited to go to my first European country, where I’d be spending my next three years of college.

Before departing to The Netherlands, I had all these mental images in my mind about the Dutch beauty that I had been introduced to by mainstream media. It’s the stunning medieval buildings, the road carpeted with yellow and red leaves in the fall, the gorgeous and tiny cafés overlooking the canals with the water shimmering under the golden sunlight.

Delft has them all.

I went to 10 cities…

“Everyone says Rotterdam is the one city that has turned the disasters of war and occupation into a triumph. For once, everyone is right.”

– Lewis Mumford, 1957 –

Rotterdam, the second-largest city of the Netherlands, has been the work of daring architects for only over half the century. After the bombing in 1940 during World War II, this city was flattened out, and it became a giant canvas for architects to sketch their original artworks. This so-called Destroyed City is the place to go if you have a great passion for astounding architecture and remarkable artwork.

It always astounds…

Courage is born from vulnerability, not strength.

— Brené Brown

In her book Yin Yoga: An Individualized Approach to Balance, Health, and Whole Self Well-Being, Ulrica Norberg explained that yoga means “to yoke” together opposites. One general platform for all physical yoga practice is called hatha yoga, in which we balance both the ha(yang) and the tha(yin); the solar and the lunar aspects of our practice. While yang yoga is a more vigorous and energetic kind that aims to create heat through movement, yin yoga focuses on being in the present. Generally, in yin yoga, most poses will be seated…

“Resilience, happiness and freedom come from knowing what to care about — and most importantly, what not to care about.” — Ryan Holiday

When I came to The Netherlands in September 2017, I experienced culture shock. It was orientation week and freshmen were handed an IT guide.

Everything was explained in detail (student account setup, linking bank card to student card, connecting our PC to the school’s printers), except for the wifi connection part, which was just the wifi’s name and a password.

The password was a combination of numbers and letters and it was unique for every student. I…

When you have lived your whole life in one place being shielded from the world’s evils, it is harder for you to detect them. For me, I only realized I had encountered a racist after sharing my stories casually with my fellow Vietnamese friends.

It was my first year in college in The Netherlands. I was having a conversation with a few classmates and we were asking what each other’s favorite subject was. There was one guy, let’s call him Matt, who told us that he was pretty good at Math. …

When I was 13, which was around 2011–2012, dance covers became a huge thing among young adults. There was one dance crew who produced great videos. The dancers wore nice clothes and danced in perfect synchronization.

Being a dance enthusiast myself, I looked up to them.

Every year, they had an audition to recruit new team members.

Every year, I hesitated. I made excuses like I was too young to join or I was not good enough yet and that maybe when I got older and better, I would have a higher chance of being chosen.

I kept waiting. Until…