When Nguyen Xuan Huong was awarded a scholarship in 2009 to complete a master’s degree in public health at Griffith University, she didn’t realise she would make a lifelong friend along the way.
Travelling from her hometown of Ha Noi in Vietnam to Brisbane, Huong met fellow student Tran Nguyen Van Nhu within her first weeks of study on the Nathan campus. They discovered not only were they both from the same country, they had both gained scholarships to pursue their master’s at Griffith University.
‘We had such exciting experiences spending our youth studying and exploring life at Griffith University,’ says Huong.
Both Huong and Nhu graduated in 2010 and returned to Vietnam. Nhu went back to work at Pasteur Institute Nha Trang and Huong started her career as a lecturer in Public Health in Da Nang city. A new era of their friendship emerged as they shared work and life experiences.
Both were married within a year of each other - Nhu in 2010, Huong the very next year in 2011, and their first-born sons were born just ten days apart in 2012. The boys met each other for the first time when they were five months old.
Huong is now the Director at the Centre for Scientific Research and International Collaboration at Phan Chau Trinh University. To this day, Huong and Nhu take any opportunity to visit each other. In 2022, their two families met – now both with two boys each. Earlier this year, they seized on the chance to see each other again at the Griffith Alumni reception in Ho Chi Minh City.
‘Griffith brought us together, now we are lifelong friends’ beams Huong.
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