Global Education, Squared

Anh Do in China.

Anh Duc Do ’19 

Anh Duc Do ’19 is an international student who came to Dickinson from Vietnam and is currently studying abroad in China. After taking a first-year seminar called Ouija Boards to Big Data, Do was recognized for writing excellence when he received the FYS Excellence in Writing Award. He discusses his favorite class, studying abroad and his post-graduation plans for building a career in Vietnam.

Majors: 

Economics and mathematics.

Clubs and organizations:

Dickinson Economics Club and the Norman M. Eberly Multilingual Writing Center.

Honors/scholarships/awards:

The John Patton Memorial Prize, Dickinson First-Year Seminar Excellence in Writing Award, Dean’s List and John Dickinson Scholarship.

Favorite class/learning experience:

My first-year seminar (FYS). It was the first time I experienced such an open and discussion-based learning environment. During class time we sat in a circle and talked about the books we were assigned to read, which sharpened my critical thinking and text analysis skills. Also, my first-year seminar class gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with college-level writing and independent research, which helped me a lot in other classes at Dickinson.

On studying abroad:

Right now I am in Beijing, China, for a semester. The highlight of the experience for me was definitely the day I met my classmates at Peking University. My class has 13 people, coming from an extremely diverse set of countries: the United States, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary. No matter where we come from, we all share a common language, Chinese, which is the third language for most of us. Our Chinese is nowhere near perfect, yet every day we strive to communicate with each other through this language. Despite the language barrier, as each day passes by, our bond only gets stronger. The fact that 13 people from eight countries got to know each other and became such good friends is, to me, pretty cool.

Post-Dickinson plans:

After graduating from Dickinson, I wish to come back to Vietnam and start my own business. I believe that my experience at Dickinson and in China will prove to be helpful. However, the future is always a mystery and life takes unexpected turns, so I cannot really say for sure. It may sound cliché, but I hope that no matter what I do in the future, it’ll be what makes me happy.

Favorite book:

Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom by Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez.

Favorite movie:

Primal Fear.

Favorite place on campus:

The Quarry, first floor, the table right next to the door.

Favorite Dining Hall food:

Banana Chocolate Cake!

If I could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, it would be …

… Ryan Benjamin Tedder.

Proudest accomplishment so far:

Last fall semester, I learned HTML and CSS by myself during my free time. It was fun.

In a perfect world …

life would still be imperfect.

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Published December 5, 2017