NTU USP is aimed at providing knowledge for its awardees in the 21st century to promote their talents and encourage global citizenship. In support of its mission, USP has offered students several global opportunities such as the upcoming TOPS trip to Hanoi/Sapa which I am participating. I believe that first, these trips are planned to expose USP scholars to life outside of Singapore, understand and put ourselves in the shoes of different culture heritage, be it in a periphery or urban country. Urban countries will be able to push us to a higher-level exposure and in-depth technological knowledge while peripheries such as Hanoi region will enable us to learn more of culture and of course, appreciate the non-tangible things which we often overlook in the busy city life we are accustomed to. Personally, these exposures are unique and more importantly, enjoyable. I always believed that experiences are far ahead of theories in learning, because I can absorb better through first hand contact and experiences themselves are memorable.

This TOPS trip to Hanoi excites me because I always love to visit less-developed countries. They offer a slower pace of life and the people are more easily contented, non-materialistically. The true value of every material is not taken for granted but instead made full use of. This trip will develop me as a person, as I mingle with people of different cultures and of course, appreciate the natural habitat I am injected into in the face of ecotourism. I think being a global citizen, a mission of USP, is not just about knowing the world but more importantly, learning about it. I value learning and applying what I learnt into my daily work in Singapore, such as how can I import the values of Vietnamese in terms of resilience into my work. Also, visiting peripheries (Hanoi) allows me to appreciate better the privileges offered to me, in terms of education and standard of living. With appreciation, I will less likely take things for granted, be it the opportunities offered to me or the environment provided for me. As an NTU USP scholar, I place a set of values which I believe should have been included in our mission statement, one such is character. Indeed, this Hanoi trip will not only build me into a global citizen through understanding how Vietnamese tour operators live, their cultural heritage and even how they uphold their values and traditions under the realistic pressure to provide income for their families. More importantly, I am looking to it in building my character as an NTU student, a need to show compassion, display integrity and of course, a sense of empathy, for the hard work of the different tour-operator stakeholders and the effort in coordination between them. Of course, my learning of these values will not be restricted to my target audience for my research study, but extended to everyone I come across in this trip. Furthermore, these are values I hold to in life, not just because of being an NTU USP scholar. I am proud to be part of USP because of the opportunities granted to me, however, I am more interested in building my character as a person through this trip, which I believe in greater effectiveness compared to classroom-bound lessons, and I am grateful for that.