Dear POSCO TJ Park Foundation,

 

Before I share my story, I would like to recommend a book I like most. Have you ever read or heard about the book named “The Alchemist”?

 

This book was written by Paulo Coelho who is one of the most famous novelists not only in Brazil but also all over the world. It tells the story about a journey to find life’s treasure of shepherd boy, called Santiago. Day by day, Santiago was living a boring life with his sheep, went from somewhere to somewhere just to find grass to feed them. But, one day he had a strange dream and it changed his life. He dreamed that somewhere is so far from his country has a big treasure. When he woke up, he believed that if he followed the dream to find out that treasure, his life could be happier and wealthier. Therefore, he decided to set out on a journey to find his treasure as the dream. Actually, it was a hard and dangerous trip, so several times on the journey, he suspected himself, wanted to give-up and regretted his decision. However, in the end and after all, he reached his goal and got a lot of things even more than his expectations. One of the main reasons helped him won himself to complete a difficult journey was one speech that he has heard from someone. That was “And when you really want something, all the Universe conspires in helping you to achieve it (through the signs and the omens you can realize if you look for carefully)”. This speech is also my best favorite sentence in “The Alchemist”.

 

I just briefly mentioned the story of the shepherd boy as above. And what is my story? Now, I will talk about it.

 

My name is Ngo Diem Hong Nga. I was selected as a POSCO Asia Fellow in autumn 2016 and got a Master's degree last February 2019 at Seoul National University, Graduated School of International studies. I am planning to study the Doctoral program in spring 2020. The reason why I studied the Master course and will study a Doctoral course is that I want to be a professor in the future. I have many dreams but to be a professor is my biggest dream. If you compare to the story of shepherd boy I mentioned above, being a professor could seem to be a treasure of my life, too. I need to touch my “treasure” to be “happier” and “wealthier” just in a way I define the value of my life.

 

Studying undergraduate or master's program could be a matter of course to someone, but not me. To be honest, 10 years ago, I was a high school girl student living in a small village and I was not sure if I could go to university in the financial situation of my family. I remember I cried more than one time just because I imagined that I could not continue to study. However, the same with shepherd boy – Santiago, I don’t want to live a boring life and I always have a strong faith that “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. Fortunately, that belief never betrayed me.

 

In 2016, my belief was right once again when I decided to apply for the Master's program to reach more closely with my dream and my treasure. At that time, many things made me be concerned and worry about it. For example is the condition of my family, adapting to living abroad, tuition and living cost, etc. But, thinking of “I want to study a Master's program, I have to get a Master's degree, I wish I can do it” was really clear and earnest. Maybe because I really want the thing, so the Universe responded to my spray once more. This time, the Universe showed me a sign of help through the POSCO TJ Park Foundation’s scholarship.

 

Since I came to Korea as a Posco Asia Fellow, I grew up and matured every day. I had a chance to gain knowledge which necessary to make my dream come true due to classes and wise professors teaching at a good university. Besides that, by living in Korean society, my Korean language skills were improved and helped me understand more about Korea. Moreover, being a fellow was a good chance helped me to be a better version of myself.

 

First, after going out of Viet Nam’s national border and studying at the Graduate school of International Studies, I was put in a new situation. I met a lot of friends from another country, I heard many stories I never have known before. It made my horizon get more widen, open my mind to accept different things and understand more other people. Secondly, it taught me how to love and thank my family, my teachers, my seniors, my friends – all of the people who love and care for me even though I can stand by them or not. It means I learned how to give and take love in a true way. And the last thing is I realized that I have a responsibility to my country as a Vietnamese resident, I knew I need to do something within my ability to contribute to the general development of Viet Nam. I think all of those changes in my mind and my soul are also the other treasures I gained by chance on the journey for the biggest treasure – to be a professor.

 

After the Master's program, I'm constantly on my way to get closer to my treasure. As I said, I am going to enter a Doctoral program next year. At a new part on my journey, I expect more good changes would happen. I will try to study more at school, hope to meet more people with good connections, learn more about life by myself every day. By trying my best, I wish someday although I could not do as well as POSCO TJ Park Foundation, I could become a small sign of the Universe’s help to other guys. 

 

Finally, I want to say that Thanks to POSCO TJ Park Foundation, my belief “when you want something, all the Universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” gets stronger. In the future, I promise not to give up my dream in any situation with my strong belief to touch on my treasure, like the shepherd boy Santiago has done.