A dream come true

Today at our weekly meeting I learnt the most amazing news; I will be joining the team in Vietnam! When I first heard the news, I was in shock. I just smiled and thanked our teacher sponsors Chris Carnovale and Stephanie Wells. As the night continued the news started to sink in. I was going to go to Vietnam! While writing this blog post I have cried, danced around my room and smiled like an idiot. I am so happy and excited. It is a dream come true. I am so honoured and thankful to have been chosen to be part of this project.

In February, I discovered that Capilano University was accepting applicants for the CBT Vietnam Project. I applied but I was doubtful that I would make it because there were so many amazing applicants. At the end of February, I learnt I had made it into the project team as the backup. I was super excited for such a life changing opportunity. However, after last night's announcement, I have had to dramatically change gears. Planning, rescheduling and preparing have taken a new priority.

Last year, I went to an information session at Capilano University for the Tourism Department. The reason I went was to learn a little more about the Outdoor Recreation Management Program I had just been accepted into. At first, I didn't pay to much attention to the other presentations but then a video came on about a community tourism training project in Vietnam. The video blew me away. After just 3 minutes the project stole my heart.

Emily is a first year Outdoor Recreation Management student at Capilano University. 

Correspondence from another Continent

I just love how this project connects people from all over the world! 

A few weeks ago I made a new Facebook friend named Ashley (Thuy Anh Pham). Not only does she live in Hanoi and is interested in volunteering with the CBT Vietnam project but she is a student at Vietnam National University Hanoi majoring in English. Although we have never met, we are both very excited about our new friendship and all the great things the PATA funded CBT Vietnam project is doing. 

We plan to meet each other for the first time this August, when I travel to Vietnam as one of the Capilano University student volunteers continuing the ongoing work of the CBT project. Ashley is excited to help me learn about her culture and recently told me about the Tet holiday which marks the Lunar New Year that they are celebrating right now! This festival is about purity and renewal and the celebrations can be compared to our Western Thanksgiving, New Year's Day and Easter all in one Vietnamese New Year.

This new friendship has really got me thinking about how social media connects people from all over the world. I am really looking forward to learning more about the Vietnamese culture from Ashley.

One day to go until NEW CBT Vietnam video

Tomorrow the CBT Vietnam project will launch its second video. The Capilano University project, funded by the PATA Foundation, had Kyle Sandilands come to Vietnam to shoot a video in the Spring.

Kyle, a Capilano University grad, has said that he is very excited and is planning on working late into the night to have the new video ready for tomorrow.

The music on the new video was composed by Luke Dunn from Capri Studios.

Here is the first instalment, "When the tourists come" filmed and produced by Kyle in 2011.

 Kyle is also working on a third video that was shot on the most recent October trip. Stay tuned!