"Fly high, dreams that originated here!"

"Nhi, you're studying Humanities? Why study Humanities? It's hard to find a job after graduation. Nowadays, people study economics, finance, or medicine; that's where you can easily find a job and earn a higher salary...?? “

I don't know how many times I've heard similar comments from my close friends when they found out I was applying to the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

I am a stubborn, difficult, yet endearing girl, but not easily lovable. I love to explore, enjoy new things, but also quickly get bored with the old. A girl who is impulsive, passionate, and hasty like a summer rain shower. I am not a gentle, soft, delicate, and weak humanities girl…as people often imagine. Perhaps my personality is inherently different from, and doesn't fit, the typical image of a humanities girl. Yet, I have been a humanities girl for three years now, and more specifically, I am a girl of Anthropology – the field I am pursuing and passionately love.

To be honest, at first, when I went out with my friends, I was very embarrassed to say that I studied at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. I didn't want anyone to ask about the school I was attending. I hid and concealed it to avoid hearing comments like: "Humanities? It's hard to find a job," "The future is bleak," "What will you do after graduation?" I was fed up with those comments, which at the time I didn't realize were completely unfounded. I just wanted to shut it all up and shout: "I don't want to hear it, I don't want to know it!"

Then one day, the day I felt happiest and proudest studying at this beloved school, came. It was an early summer day when the first weak rays of sunlight filtered through my fingers, and the cool breezes of early summer caressed my hair. This was the summer break of my second year as a university student.

It so happened that day I met a group of international students, mostly from the US and France, at a community-based anthropology research conference. When it was my turn to introduce myself, I felt nervous and wondered if I should mention the university I was attending. But never mind, I closed my eyes and just went straight to it: “Hi everyone. My name is Nhi. I am a third-year student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. I am studying anthropology…”

For some reason, the whole group of young people gasped and looked at me with eyes full of admiration. Especially one French student leaned in and whispered to me, "Wow!!! Social science and humanities. Wonderful…"

That day I felt incredibly proud, and I was also very surprised to learn that humanities students are quite valuable.

From then on, I no longer felt embarrassed when people asked about the school I was attending. Whenever I was asked, "Where are you studying?", I would hold my head high and answer, "I am studying at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi."

I've realized that our lives aren't just measured by how much money we make each month, how many floors our house has, whether we drive a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Mercedes, or simply a legendary Honda Dream. We don't wear Victoria's Secret or Louis Vuitton fashion, or just buy no-name, no-brand items from the market. Instead, our lives are measured by what we've accomplished, what we've built, the feelings we've experienced, and the journeys we've taken…

As a humanities student, I've had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the country. Each trip, each journey, has brought me thousands of new experiences: touching stories of people in remote areas, local knowledge, new and interesting perspectives on life, or simply the warm embrace of a mother in the mountains for her distant humanities student from Hanoi—all of which are enough to strengthen me and help me move forward on the path I have chosen.

Humanities – where I learned lessons that perhaps no amount of money or large sums of money could ever buy. Someday, when all of us close friends graduate, I may not have a stable job like them, a comfortable salary, a big house, or a luxury car… But I have no regrets, at least not yet, for choosing to study at this school. This school, with its dedicated teachers, taught me what humanities are, what it means to be a humane person, and how to live a humane life. A humane person isn't someone who stands on the shoulders of the strong, trampling on others to survive. Rather, humanism is about love, about connecting people from far away. Humanity is simply about offering a warm greeting, a sweet smile, or a firm handshake.

My humanistic ideal is a small haven nurturing a grand dream: to make the lives of the less fortunate in society brighter and more worthwhile. Every day, around us, countless people are losing faith in life, lacking so much, not having enough to eat or wear, enduring the cold and harsh weather in the dark alleyways of streets bathed in light but lacking human kindness. They are the consequence of the country's industrialization and modernization process; as skyscrapers rise higher and higher, the chasm between the rich and the poor widens just as dramatically. Should we just sit idly by while these people trudge through these "medieval nights"? I must do something for them, even something small. Perhaps you will say I am too dreamy, too idealistic, that "one swallow does not make a spring," but for me, that is enough to herald the arrival of a new spring.

If children are the pride of their parents, then students are also the pride of this beloved school. This school has produced so many talented leaders of the country (...), those holding key positions in the National Assembly such as Nguyen Phu Trong..., outstanding educators such as Phan Huu Dat... So perhaps it's not an exaggeration to say that the Faculty of Humanities has been and continues to be a place that nurtures the nation's intellectual and talented individuals? What could be more prideful than studying at this prestigious school?

Goodbye to the naive feelings of those early years at university. Now I am filled with pride, confidence, and hope for life. Gently, let the dreams that originated, were nurtured, and cultivated at this beloved University of Humanities soar.