My name Nguyen Van Hao, an alumnus of Hai Phong university. I’am taking part in paid internship program in USA of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. After a short time going to the US, I have received lots of questions from interest students about the program so I have several things to share of my job and my life with you in this post.
Participating in USA paid internship program of International Training and Development Center – Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, I interned in agriculture from February, 2015 at Farm America in Waseka, Minnesota – USA. My farm has more than 150 hectares growing corn, soybeans, buckwheat, sorghum, and raising some animals like pig, goat, horse, sheep, etc. In addition to plants, my farm also has eco-tourism service for tourists to learn about agricultural experience from the 1850s. In June, 9, the representatives of Minitry of Agriculture had visited my farm. I had opportunity to meet and talk with the Ministry officials and received encouragement from them to finish program well and improve the Vietnamese image in the international friends’ eyes.
My typical working day begins at 8 A.M and end at 6 PM, with farming activities like: Growing flowers, taking care of plants, trimming plant, cutting grass, taking care of animals. It’s fun and interesting to feed the baby cows water and feed them grass. Besides, whenever the farms has tourists, I drive the tractor and guide them around the farm.
When working in the field, I and my friends used advanced machinery system. The host instructed us to use and operate the system with full function such as: planting and medicine spraying area positioning map, parameter ( number of seed or amount of insecticide used., alarm system when something unusual happens and so on.My job is quite light and I work about 45 hour per week. I receive my salary in 2 weeks. Everyweek, we go to the meeting room , discuss and revise our last week’s activities, deploy the next week plans to ensure meeting the goal and achieving better results.
My staying place is spacious and very comfortable with modern equipments such as: a microwave oven, a cooktop,a humidifier, an air conditioner,a washing machine,etc. Every month, it only costs 150$ for all living expense ( staying place, utility, internet…). I live with a friend from Finland. He speaks English very well so I learn a lot from him. Everybody is enthusiastic to help me in the job and correct my spelling and pronunciation. When I have something confused or when I need question, I always ask them to explain again, take an example to understand easier, or even take the pen to note on the pad to examine again in the evening.
Although just arrive to Farm America, I have already joined many activities of farm and of local citizens, like watching the tractor driving contest which values the strength, speed and tractor driving skills, etc. I went to the grocery store to buy the essential things with the price is just a little bit higher than the prices in Viet Nam
In June ,2015, my farm was very honored to be documented by American broadcast channel featuring me and my Finland friend. Despite of coming from different countries with different cultures and different languages, we learn a lot from USA agriculture internship program and we share all hardship, challenges in the job to grow and advance together. You can watch the details of the interview at the following link: http://www.keyc.com/story/29252708/international-duo-learn-all-about-farming-through-ag-internship.
Life isn’t always easy, and the job always has stressful moment but keep an optimistic attitude and try your best will help you conquer all the obstacles. I think I made the right choice when joining this program. As long as you are willing to go to new land in the world, you will see your self grow up and learn many new things in your life. I wish you have best choices for yourself and there will be more Vietnamese students interning in the US like myself in 2016
Nguyen Van Hao
