vascon3

Friday afternoon after my mind-numbing Asian Governments and Politics class, I drove to Austin--a drive which lasted over two hours since I was stuck in traffic in College Station after filling up gas. I went to attend Vascon3, the largest and only Việtnamese-American student conference that I have ever been to. Truthfully, I did not expect much in terms of content; yet, after two days of conferencing in unnecessarily formal attire, I must say that it has greatly exceeded my initial expectations.



There were a bunch of workshops on topics which included, but were not limited to: Boat People SOS, rebuilding New Orleans, domestic politics concerning the Vietnamese community, how to create your own non-profit organization, spoken word performances, a brief Vietnamese language course, Vietnamese film and media, human rights issues in North Korea, global poverty, and sex trafficking issues. Overall, the experience brought forth a new level of awareness on both domestic and global issues concerning the local Việtnamese population living in America, and those living in Việt Nam.