7 Podcasts To Listen To Right Now

In this 7-part Series I’ll share with you podcasts by people who shared their stories on A Vietnam Podcast.

Part 5 is about Phuong Nguyen from The Blue Expat.

By Niall Mackay

Phuong Nguyen, host of The Blue Expat, was an unusual guest on A Vietnam Podcast. This is the only time that me – Niall Mackay – a Scottish expat living in Saigon got to interview a Vietnamese expat about her journey around Europe, taking her to Cyprus. 

Who is Phuong Nguyen?

Phuong Nguyen, as you may “hear”, is a very northern traditional Ha Noi girl with her accent in different languages sounding like she is singing.

Unlike many Western expats like me who come to Vietnam for the unexpected and exciting, Phuong found Europe as a place for her to seriously approach higher education and achieve more on career path.   

From Italy to Germany

Thinking that she couldn’t make a successful career as a diplomat in Vietnam because of gender barriers, Phuong took the chance to study in Italy. She took to Italy like a fish to water, or cheese to pizza! and quickly caught up with the lifestyle and also the language, although she admitted she did have to study a lot. 

Then, a scholarship brought her to Germany – the country she admits she was “not so into.”. But in an unexpected turn, Phuong met her future husband and is now married to a German man.  

Living in Cyprus

Phuong didn’t consider herself an expat anymore when she and her husband decided to settle in Cyprus.

The island is peaceful and suitable for her lifestyle, but she still complains sometimes for its boring nightlife and lack of Vietnamese restaurants. The same way us Westerners complain about the lack of food that tastes like home here in Vietnam

Podcasts bring people together 

It was a surprise when Phuong revealed she is a regular listener to A Vietnam Podcast, and it felt like we had met each other before! Phuong also quotes a listener of her The Blue Expat podcast, that it feels like having a friend in their lonely life abroad when listening to a podcast about Vietnam. How inspiring it is for podcasters like us to connect everybody around the world!     

Listen to A Vietnam Podcast now to know more about Phuong’s journey and more about her podcast – one the highest rated podcasts in Vietnam.