Tôi thích vú sữa! (I like star apple!)

Ratings
Overall
5
Academics: 4
Support: 5
Fun: 5
Housing: 5
Safety: 5
Review

Being part of GEI Vietnam crew on January was a thrilling experience overall. As I come from Turkey, a country culturally different than Vietnam in many ways, I was stoked to be there working with Vietnamese colleagues throughout. I would define the uniqueness of GEI Vietnam experience in a single word "eye-opening" in terms of its cultural interaction, international management and permanent influence features.

In academic terms, the program allowed me to learn how to manage International colleagues with different cultural dimensions. Working with Vietnamese participants helped us discover that we would need to adapt and adjust to a new business environment we faced. As we worked on the project, we were quite astonished by how Vietnamese do business, how much their communication manners differ and what priorities they do give to certain traits, as such Vietnamese value on formal greetings.

I would define the GEI Vietnam experience as influential, mainly because we had a tangible effect on an environment we would never have a chance to influence as individuals . As "influencers", we assessed the feeling of embrace and empathy for Vietnamese culture and society. GEI Vietnam experience was a like real life experiment, in the sense that we had the chance to observe how Vietnamese live, what they do in daily life and what they value. We watched a Vietnamese football match with our colleagues, did karaoke (pretty big thing in Vietnam!) and had some quality local food. I would say my favourite memory was celebrating the achievement of Vietnamese football team, who got 2nd in Asia Cup. We spent the whole night on the streets after the match, with flags and banners in our hands and rejoiced with Vietnamese crowd. The moments when we had high-fives with motorbikes passing by and seeing their smile on their face were quite emotional and timeless for me. As a result of 2 weeks with unique memories and challenges, I would certainly recommend this experience as a life-time opportunity to broaden one's mind.

Would you recommend this program?
Yes, I would
Year Completed
2018
Media
Photos