Leadership Development & Doing Business in Vietnam

With the services provided by ABROADER, I felt it was really helpful how they picked me up from the airport and took me to get my accommodations and phone figured out. It would’ve been extremely difficult to try and figure that entire process out on my own. I don’t think there is anything that ABROADER could’ve done better. They gave me all the support I need to get through my Social Work Internship in Vietnam. My Internship in Vietnam was with the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender – Family – Women and Adolescent (CSAGA), a non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the rights of women and children who are vulnerable to violence and discrimination in Vietnam. It was pretty unclear at the beginning what was expected of me, however, I gradually figured out what was needed as the days went on. It was no problem at all. My supervisor was very sweet and so nice to me. She always asked me what I was doing on the weekends, and with my free time, and has offered me advice on different things about Vietnam. I felt that I was given everything I needed to perform my job here at CSAGA. My work seemed to be important to the agency since I did a lot of research for important proposals CSAGA was writing. The host organization had been very helpful and accommodating to anything I needed while here. They always asked if everything was going ok and if there was anything I needed to help make my time here more successful. I don’t think there was anything they could’ve done better.

I had a blast with the remote internship with ABROADER. The cultural sessions were exciting and informative of the way of life in Vietnam. What made this unique for me was the staffs engagement with me and the other students. I liked getting to talk about the differences in cultures and similarities. The staff was always excited to see me and liked talking about my interests as well. I really liked the food cultural sessions and the opportunity to make Vietnamese food in my own home. I think any future participant would like this program if they wanted something outside their comfort zone. It was an entirely different world from the US to Vietnam and I enjoyed every second of it. What was your funniest moment? The funniest moment was when I was caught laughing at a video during a cultural meeting. The video was a music video and had hilarious content and I got called out because the host of the meeting saw me laughing. I thought this was not just funny because the video but also because the hosts were glad I was enjoying the cultural session.

Overall the people have exceeded my expectations, and they are really what’s going to help make my experience in Vietnam a great one. I’ve always loved leaving my country (the US) and having new experience, so I wanted to do an internship abroad. Having already spent a semester in Europe, I wanted something really different. My mom was born in Saigon and lived there before coming to the United States with her family. So I felt like a good way to get in touch with my culture and my roots would be to spend three months living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In my internship in Vietnam, I have helped with various marketing efforts by giving ideas or designing things. I have learned that, of course, there is a different way of doing business here compared to the United States. Things are run differently, there’s a different office culture, there are just always many cultural differences to keep in mind when doing business in a different country, and Vietnam has not been an exception. The people ABROADER have set me up with have been beyond wonderful. Coming to Vietnam on my own seemed very daunting and intimidating, but ABROADER has helped make the transition smooth and seamless. They helped take care of everything I would need during my time here and have gone above and beyond to assure that things continue to go smoothly. I am very appreciative of their support, and it makes the whole thing a little less scary. My local buddies have been so helpful for everything, and I really feel like they are becoming genuine friends. I am generally pretty shy, so it was nice to have friends before even arriving to help introduce me to more people and get me out there. Overall the people have exceeded my expectations, and they are really what’s going to help make my experience in Vietnam a great one.

The study tour was a fantastic program full of cultural and fun experiences in both Vietnam and Singapore. Before the trip both of these places had been on my travel list, so when the opportunity for this trip came up I couldn't say no and I'm so glad that I did it. The buddies, the people I travelled with and the organisers made the trip even better. Industries in both countries were super helpful and our visits to these factories was one of the highlights. Networking with these companies, the food, cultural exposure, the people and the organisers made it a beautiful way to study our university course!! The most unfamiliar food that I tried was definitely chicken feet! Sugar cane drinks were also unusual but they tasted awesome! Thank you!!!!

I just wanted to say a Warm Thanks to the ABROADER team for creating an amazing experience for Zach. Kasia and your team went above and beyond and should be so proud of bringing the amazing experience of living in Vietnam to my son. Your buddy program was amazing and we met his Buddy several times. He even came to the airport at 7 AM this past Saturday as Zach left Vietnam. Zach learned so much about Vietnam this summer - about its amazing culture, food, how people live and of course Grab, and the crazy life of the traffic. This family has fallen in love with Vietnam.