Tet holiday away from home of Vietnamese students studying abroad

While at home, people were happily celebrating New Year's Eve, in the US, international student Tran Mai Linh was hurriedly preparing for her exam; in Russia, a group of Vietnamese students in the city of Astrakhan had to break up their celebration party because of a bomb attack.

Tran Mai Linh, 3rd year student, Lycoming College(America)said that for most international students, Tet is just a normal school day. While at home, families are happily and bustlingly shopping for the new year, in the West, students carry with them feelings of loneliness and deep longing.

Having celebrated Tet away from home for 2 years, Mai Linh remembers the most the bustling atmosphere of preparing everything neatly, so that she can gather around a hot meal. During her first Tet away from home, she had a difficult History test. At the moment of celebrating New Year's Eve in Vietnam, the Vietnamese female student could only call home to quickly congratulate her family and then rush to class to prepare for the test in the next 15 minutes.

Tran Mai Linh and Vietnamese students studying abroad in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, celebrate Lunar New Year with homemade banh chung. Photo: NVCC.

On the second New Year's Eve in America, Linh and another compatriot were in Math class. When the clock had 3 seconds left, the time to change from the old year to the new year, they both turned to each other, quietly counted down and wished each other "Happy New Year". "The feeling at that moment was hard to describe. Perhaps only international students can understand it", the female student said, adding that right after that countdown, she and her friend focused on listening to the lecture again.

The consolation each Lunar New Year for Linh and many Vietnamese students in Williamsport (Pennsylvania) is the year-end party organized by the International Students Association. Everyone makes spring rolls, wraps banh chung, and cooks a pot of bamboo shoot soup.

"No one knew how to wrap banh chung, so we made it while watching instructional videos on Youtube. The product was a bit crooked here and there, but everyone praised it as delicious. While eating, the whole group turned on Tao Quan to watch, happily telling each other old Tet stories and calling their families to wish them well. Everyone was emotional and told themselves they had to study hard to return home to celebrate Tet soon," Tran Mai Linh shared.

Currently studying in England on an exchange program, the female student said that this year she will celebrate Lunar New Year with her fellow countrymen in London. The area where Linh lives has a large Vietnamese population and a Vietnamese market, so she hopes to have many interesting experiences during Tet in a foreign land.

Having not celebrated Tet with her family in Vietnam for 6 years, Dang Hoang Phuong (20 years old, Pace University Of Technology, New York, USA), misses the feeling of peach blossoms blooming on the streets of Hanoi. The 4 siblings in the family followed their parents to wish each house a happy new year and then lined up eagerly to receive lucky money. At 14 years old and far from home, the female student was moved to tears on her first New Year's Eve.

"Now I'm getting used to it and finding the Tet atmosphere in the smallest things like playing spring music, calling my family, preparing a small year-end party with friends... to ease my longing," Phuong said.

Nguyen Ha Duy has celebrated Lunar New Year in Russia for 4 years. Photo: NVCC.

4 years inRussia, Nguyen Ha Duy (Astrakhan State University) had many special Tet holidays such as: the neighboring city was bombed, the dormitory room was burned. His first Tet away from home was the coldest time of winter, with heavy snowfall. Even though when he came to class, the teacher wished his Vietnamese friends a Happy New Year and the whole class ate banh chung, nem ran... but the homesickness was still hard to overcome.

In 2015, as usual, Duy and Vietnamese students studying in Astrakhan gathered on the evening of December 30th to have a New Year's Eve party, making banh chung, nem, gio, and cha. Everyone had cleaned their rooms and cut dry branches to pretend to be peach and apricot blossoms, following Vietnamese tradition. However, when everything was ready for the New Year's Eve, a bomb was dropped in the neighboring city, and schools banned students from gathering.

"I felt very disappointed at that time because in addition to the effort of cooking for a few days, we also practiced performing arts to prepare for the New Year's Eve party a month ago," Duy said. He and two other friends then returned to their rooms to celebrate Tet in Western clothes. While they were having fun, a room of Vietnamese students in the dormitory caught fire, causing everyone to scatter.

To ease homesickness, for the past two years Duy and the Vietnamese student community from other countries have made videos sending their best wishes back to Vietnam.

InItaly, Pham Hai Yen (University of Florence) although having to celebrate Tet alone in a city with few Vietnamese people, still finds the New Year's Eve at 12 noon interesting. After spending a little time watching Tao Quan and calling her family to wish them a happy new year, the future Master of Economics "plowed" her studies because she was in the middle of a stressful exam period.

Le Thi Thu Van (yellow ao dai)dance performance with friends in the Vietnamese Student Association in FukuokaprogrammeLunar New Year 2012. Photo: NVCC.

3 years of celebrating Tet inJapan, Le Thi Thu Van (Kyushu National University) craves the feeling of choosing peach and kumquat trees with her parents and preparing the New Year's Eve tray. Vietnamese New Year's Eve often falls on a weekday in Japan, so students still have to go to school. One year, when her friends were busy, Van came up with a way to teach her foreign friends how to make traditional dishes and introduce Vietnamese Tet.My last day of the year was very happy, but as the new year approaches, it is still quiet because my family is not around," Van said.

The female student said that although she felt a bit sad and lonely, Tet away from home brought an impression of community and national unity. This was a rare opportunity for Vietnamese brothers and sisters to meet in the year-end program organized by the Student Association and the Consulate. Here, Van made more friends, shared the feelings of children far from home, and introduced the traditional Vietnamese Tet to friends from other countries.

"It is a warm feeling mixed with pride in the country's culture and the solidarity of the Vietnamese community," the female student shared.

According to VNE