By Vinh Nguyen
Throughout my life, I have always struggled with making friends. I was a weird and quiet kid. When I did make friends, they turned out to be some dumb bullies who picked on other kids or who robbed them of their money. I was an idiot for hanging out with those type of people, but they were the only people who I knew and considered as friends, even if they were not people I should have been around.
A few years after first grade, I was walking down a dark path. One of the people who I was hanging around with was named Q, he was my boss, and he had influenced me in a bad way. He was smoking and might have done some drugs every now and then. Before I knew it, I was doing the same thing he did: vandalizing stuff, bullying other kids, stealing, but luckily I did not smoke or do any drugs. It's not that I hate him. I know he has gone through hardships and ended up like this. Despite that, I know that I have to abandon this path I have walked.
When my family and I moved to the U.S. from Vietnam, I did not say goodbye to my old friends because I was scared. It didn't bother me since I was sure that I would never see them again.
Life in the U.S. was hard. The problem that I had before started to reemerge; I knew no one here. Not to mention that I didn't know how to speak English, which made it harder for me to make friends. Luckily, kids here are well behaved when compared to kids in Vietnam.
Fast forward a few years, I started my first year in high school. I made a few friends but we rarely talked because they have their own group of friends, so they prefer talking to them more. One day, in my ELD class, a new student walked into our class. He had his hood on and he was awkwardly staring around, looking for a seat. “My name is Tai Pham”, he introduced himself to the class. I remember seeing myself in him. I was just as awkward looking on my first day. I thought to myself that this is a great opportunity to make a friend so I invited him to sit next to me since I was by myself, in which he agreed.
Our friendship began to grow. I shared my life story to him, he shared his to me. After hearing about his life story, I learn that me and Tai are quite similar. I used to break things when fooling around with peers back when I was young and he did the same.
“I vandalized stuff while playing soccer out on the street. We all ran and split up with my friends when the owner opened the door,” my friend Tai says.
Currently, my AP Environmental Science class is going to be the most memorable experience I have had. This is important because I struggle a lot in this class and Tai being there just helps me feel a bit more at ease. I have gained a lot from Tai over just a few years.
From him, I was able to make more kind and trustworthy friends that helped me in school and stable myself. One of them is named Andy Le. He’s super smart and he carries both of us through APES. From Andy, I was able to know and talk to more people, and before I knew it, I had a little group of friends.
AP classes, combined with all of the other things I had to deal with during this school year is sickening, but without him being there, it would have been a lot more different and difficult for me to get over my depression. This school year, my third year in high school is definitely the most stressful year of my life.
The experience I had with Tai indicate that he and I are both very alike. I like watching anime and so does he. We like the same game, sometimes music, and other interests. This relationship has affected me deeply, mainly because I had a hard time making friends, good friends. By knowing Tai I was able to pinpoint who exactly I should hang around with.
Tai and I have a lot in common. For example, we like the same anime and games, we dislike the same subject in school which is history. “My cousin was watching anime and I find it very interesting and that’s how I got into watching anime”, Tai said. There’s little to none on what we disagree on.
Ever since I was exposed to this little group of friends, I started to feel more confident opening up and talking to people. I was a quiet person, I had trouble maintaining a conversation with people, especially strangers. However, now I'm able to talk and share my interest without feeling ashamed because I know my friends are also sharing the same interests, so I don't feel so left out.
According to Happify, a web app created by scientists and game developers that helps you live a happier and fulling life, [happy people compared to least happy people are] highly social and had the strongest relationship ties. In fact, good social relations were a necessity for people to feel happy. Similarly, other psychologists have written that the need to belong is fundamental.”
I can’t express how grateful I am for the needs that my friends have fulfilled in my life, especially Tai. I hope our friendship lasts beyond high school. What I have learned throughout this journey is that if you allow yourself to be vulnerable and open yourself to others, chances are, they will do the same. This concludes my story of how I met my best friend.
Throughout my life, I have always struggled with making friends. I was a weird and quiet kid. When I did make friends, they turned out to be some dumb bullies who picked on other kids or who robbed them of their money. I was an idiot for hanging out with those type of people, but they were the only people who I knew and considered as friends, even if they were not people I should have been around.
A few years after first grade, I was walking down a dark path. One of the people who I was hanging around with was named Q, he was my boss, and he had influenced me in a bad way. He was smoking and might have done some drugs every now and then. Before I knew it, I was doing the same thing he did: vandalizing stuff, bullying other kids, stealing, but luckily I did not smoke or do any drugs. It's not that I hate him. I know he has gone through hardships and ended up like this. Despite that, I know that I have to abandon this path I have walked.
When my family and I moved to the U.S. from Vietnam, I did not say goodbye to my old friends because I was scared. It didn't bother me since I was sure that I would never see them again.
Life in the U.S. was hard. The problem that I had before started to reemerge; I knew no one here. Not to mention that I didn't know how to speak English, which made it harder for me to make friends. Luckily, kids here are well behaved when compared to kids in Vietnam.
Fast forward a few years, I started my first year in high school. I made a few friends but we rarely talked because they have their own group of friends, so they prefer talking to them more. One day, in my ELD class, a new student walked into our class. He had his hood on and he was awkwardly staring around, looking for a seat. “My name is Tai Pham”, he introduced himself to the class. I remember seeing myself in him. I was just as awkward looking on my first day. I thought to myself that this is a great opportunity to make a friend so I invited him to sit next to me since I was by myself, in which he agreed.
Our friendship began to grow. I shared my life story to him, he shared his to me. After hearing about his life story, I learn that me and Tai are quite similar. I used to break things when fooling around with peers back when I was young and he did the same.
“I vandalized stuff while playing soccer out on the street. We all ran and split up with my friends when the owner opened the door,” my friend Tai says.
Currently, my AP Environmental Science class is going to be the most memorable experience I have had. This is important because I struggle a lot in this class and Tai being there just helps me feel a bit more at ease. I have gained a lot from Tai over just a few years.
From him, I was able to make more kind and trustworthy friends that helped me in school and stable myself. One of them is named Andy Le. He’s super smart and he carries both of us through APES. From Andy, I was able to know and talk to more people, and before I knew it, I had a little group of friends.
AP classes, combined with all of the other things I had to deal with during this school year is sickening, but without him being there, it would have been a lot more different and difficult for me to get over my depression. This school year, my third year in high school is definitely the most stressful year of my life.
The experience I had with Tai indicate that he and I are both very alike. I like watching anime and so does he. We like the same game, sometimes music, and other interests. This relationship has affected me deeply, mainly because I had a hard time making friends, good friends. By knowing Tai I was able to pinpoint who exactly I should hang around with.
Tai and I have a lot in common. For example, we like the same anime and games, we dislike the same subject in school which is history. “My cousin was watching anime and I find it very interesting and that’s how I got into watching anime”, Tai said. There’s little to none on what we disagree on.
Ever since I was exposed to this little group of friends, I started to feel more confident opening up and talking to people. I was a quiet person, I had trouble maintaining a conversation with people, especially strangers. However, now I'm able to talk and share my interest without feeling ashamed because I know my friends are also sharing the same interests, so I don't feel so left out.
According to Happify, a web app created by scientists and game developers that helps you live a happier and fulling life, [happy people compared to least happy people are] highly social and had the strongest relationship ties. In fact, good social relations were a necessity for people to feel happy. Similarly, other psychologists have written that the need to belong is fundamental.”
I can’t express how grateful I am for the needs that my friends have fulfilled in my life, especially Tai. I hope our friendship lasts beyond high school. What I have learned throughout this journey is that if you allow yourself to be vulnerable and open yourself to others, chances are, they will do the same. This concludes my story of how I met my best friend.