“Guide to discovering Nghe An” by Vinh University students urges you to “pack your backpack and go”

The Eploring Vinh handbook was jointly produced by students.

“It is now 1pm. Most places are closed. Shops, restaurants and even schools are deserted. It seems like everyone has disappeared from Vinh city. Walking on the street, you can only see a few motorbikes moving from one place to another or an old man taking a nap on his motorbike under the shade of a tree. But suddenly when the sun goes down, the streets and even the cafes and shops in Vinh return to their daily routine…” -“Exploring Vinh” begins briefly with the emotions and first impressions of Vinh city by Sonja Lepannen and Roosa Isokaanra, exchange students from Finland; who also came up with the idea of ​​making this travel guide.

With a length of only 24 pages, introducing 10 destinations to explore in Nghe An - a rather modest number of tourist attractions in the province, but this can be considered a special travel guide when it was made by Sonja Lepannen and Roosa Isokaanra together with 10 students from Vinh University.

Sonja Lepannen said she learned about Vietnam through her Vietnamese friends studying in Finland. “It was the good things about Vietnam that Roosa and I heard that inspired us to come to Vietnam to experience it for ourselves. We did not choose Vinh, Vinh chose us. When we registered for an exchange program in Vietnam, the SJ Vietnam association mentioned Vinh University and we agreed immediately,” Sonja shared.

After arriving in Vinh city for a few weeks, Sonja and Roosa were surprised because Vinh has a very special beauty but there are too few articles about this city, especially in the tourism field. From there, the two proposed the idea of ​​​​making a travel guide and received enthusiastic support from teachers and students of Vinh University.

Unlike other travel guides about Nghe An, “Exploring Vinh” is a book that is literally understood as “Discovering Vinh”. Without introducing too much about history, “Exploring Vinh” indirectly helps readers visualize and explore each destination specifically through the feelings of the writers themselves, who are young students.

For example, at Vinh market, besides being a trading address, visitors can buy any gift for their relatives, students also introduce the cuisine here. For example, Foam Coffee has existed for more than 20 years - an interesting discovery address for foreign friends.

Or like the destination Cua Lo, the article only provides some information, the rest is the writer's feelings and emotions. Not too much but not too little, it's just enough to make the reader eager to go and feel.

Group members conduct field surveys at tourist attractions. Photo: NVCC

Nguyen Thi Thuong, class 56B1 English Language, one of 10 students of Vinh University who made the book “Exploring Vinh”, said that all members were excited to start implementing the idea with Sonja and Roosa, especially when this is a handbook to introduce tourism of the province to young people and international friends.

Thuong and the group officially started working together at the end of September 2017. It took the members more than a month to complete the handbook.

“In the first working sessions, 10 students will each suggest locations for the group to discuss and agree on 10 places to visit and explore to include in the handbook. After that, each week the members will arrange to visit 2 places to experience, take photos, and write articles,” Thuong said. Each of the 10 members will be assigned to write about 1 tourist destination in both Vietnamese and English.

It took more than a month to complete the book Exploring Vinh. Photo: NVCC

The biggest difficulties in the process of working were the funding and the weather, added Ho Thi Thuy Tien, class 56B1 English Language. Because they were all students, the funding for the work was mainly paid by Sonja, Roosa and the remaining members themselves. In addition, the month of the field trip was rainy, so there were many places where the group could not take photos as originally planned.

“The members’ schedules are different, so we cannot always gather together. However, all members try to arrange their time to participate. Because in each field trip like this, we learn a lot from the communication, teamwork, and scientific thinking of Sonja and Roosa,” Thuy Tien shared.

By November 25, the group's final product was released and shared on foreign communities and social networking groups under the name "Exploring Vinh". The guidebook quickly received support and response from young people, especially foreigners who wanted to learn about Nghe An.

Mr. Le Minh Tan, Secretary of the Youth Union of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Vinh University, said that the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​is very proud of the product “Exploring Vinh” which was created by exchange students in collaboration with the university’s students. Although it is not possible to include all the tourist destinations of Nghe An in the handbook, the achievements that the students have achieved are very encouraging.

With young and new ideas, the students have brought a bilingual travel guidebook that is close to the audience. Mr. Le Minh Tan himself hopes that the book “Exploring Vinh” will have an impact on the tourism industry of his home province.