Hello! My name is Huan Truong, but everyone spells it Juan, which is fine because I am sometimes too lazy to correct people. I am from Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia that does not have the letter J in its national alphabet. As you might expect, I am an international student. When I first arrived at UGA, I tried to find other international fellows, but all I could say was that international students in American colleges are as scarce as diamonds, so I thought it might be interesting to share my experience studying abroad in your home country.

I came to the USA in 2019, when I had just finished 9th grade in Vietnam. I came to Chapel Hill, North Carolina because my brother was an undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill, so I had to find a high school around that area. Most of the schools in the area were prohibitively expensive, ranging from $20,000 to $25,000 per year. It was not worth it for high school, so I enrolled in a small private Christian school in Durham that was significantly less expensive. I did not have any friends except for an international student from South Korea, who is still my best friend. My first year in America was a failure due to a lack of friends and culture shock. Covid-19 appeared just when I thought things couldn't get any worse. Six months of quarantine was a living nightmare. Then, in 11th grade, I returned to Vietnam and took virtual classes because there was a bad outbreak in the United States. I returned to NC in 12th grade, wishing the year would fly by so I could attend college. However, my senior year went extremely well. I made many friends, played soccer and basketball for my school, went on a fantastic trip with the boys, and created many unforgettable memories.

I have missed high school since I'm now a freshman in college. I don't have many friends at UGA, but they are all good friends, and I am grateful to have them. That concludes my journey thus far, and there will be much more to come in the coming years.