Phuong Ho, PhD Econ

WHERE I'VE BEEN

I have had a great pleasure experiencing education in four continents. I was born and spent 12 years of elementary and high schools in Vietnam. After earning a bachelor degree in New Zealand and finishing a Ph.D. degree in the US, I am now doing a postdoc in Norway.

ASIA

I was born in My Tho city. This is the capital city of Tien Giang province, located in the Mekong River Delta region of the southern Vietnam and 70km far from Sai Gon (Ho Chi Minh city). My Tho is popular for hu tieu, a type of noodle soup, as well as other specialties in the Mekong River Delta region such as boat rides, Don ca tai tu (a genre of chamber music), tropical fruits (star apple, durian, mango, longan, dragon fruit, etc.).

OCEANIA

I did my undergraduate study at Victoria University of Wellington. The university is located in the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. The city is very compact. You can walk around the downtown within one day. Yet there are a lot of special foods and activities to enjoy. My favorite thing is you can walk through the main and busiest street of the city but can end up at the top of a mountain within just 3 hours. Just start at the Central station or the Beehive (New Zealand Parliament), walk through the busiest street of all commcercial banks (Lambton Quay and Willis St), enjoy the free smell and noise of eateries, bars, and cinema on Manners St and Courtenay Place, and continue walking straight to reach the hike to Mount Victoria. The weather is wonderful except the wind. The worst day is not a winter day but a raindy and windy day. There's a favourite quote "You can't beat Wellington on a windy day." Don't bother using an umbrella here. It isn't supposed to have snow in Wellington, but I was lucky to see a rare snow in 2011.

NORTH AMERICA

I spent 5 years in Tucson to pursue a PhD degree at the University of Arizona. This was really a big move from Wellington because Tucson has a hot desert climate. My big surprise is the desert region can have a lively life with quail, tortoise, coyote, javelina, deer. I was lucky enough to easily see them when living near Saguaro National Park. My friend was even luckier to see a mountain lion and lucky enough to tell the story themself after the encounter.

EUROPE

Back to the cold weather: Norway!...

AFRICA

I had a chance to visit Mauritius for 10 days. It was the time when I attended the CPRsouth Young Scholar workshop and conference in 2012. Spectacular beach, underrated. Make me curious about other places in Africa, though I know there may be huge differences between the mainland and islands.