Falling in love with a beautiful Vietnamese girl at first sight, an American man decided to marry her.

(Dan Tri) - Phuong had no plans to go to the US to study for a PhD, until she met Chance - an American guy who attracted her at first sight.

At the end of a short exchange week in Vietnam, Chance Clark said he "really liked" Vu Anh Phuong, but regretted that the two would never meet again. The distance of more than 13,000 km between Vietnam and the US made Chance think that they should just be friends.

"Give me a year. I will definitely go to America to see you," Phuong said. Six months later, the Vietnamese girl kept her promise and officially started a beautiful love story with the American guy.

Promise to American guy

In 2018, Chance Clark (born 1997), a student majoring in Plant Genetics at Purdue University (Indiana, USA) came to Vietnam on a short-term exchange program (one week).

At that time, Anh Phuong (born in 1996), a third-year student, head of the English Club of Vietnam Agricultural Academy, was assigned to welcome and lead Chance's delegation.

"Chance had a bright smile, a gentle face and seemed interested in new things in Vietnam," the Vietnamese girl recalled her first image of the American guy.

Phuong noticed that when the group was talking with Vietnamese experts or teachers, if the other students were somewhat indifferent and not focused due to the language barrier, Chance was always at the forefront, listening attentively and asking for more information.

When the group visited the provinces surrounding Hanoi, Chance's eyes were always directed out the bus window, looking at the streets and scenery in Vietnam. He also proactively approached Phuong to ask about Vietnamese pronunciation or the meaning of words on billboards. At the end of the tour, Chance presented what he had learned in Vietnam.

"It was his love for Vietnamese culture and his serious attitude towards learning that made a huge impression on me," Phuong recalled.

Later, Chance told Phuong and his family that at first sight, the Vietnamese girl attracted him with her good looks, dynamism, liveliness and confidence. He said that in the welcoming group there were many Vietnamese girls, but everyone was shy and timid, not daring to talk. Only Phuong was happy and confident in chatting with her American friends.

"Phuong clearly expressed her personal views and had a relatively good understanding of the topics in the program. I had a good impression of her," he recalled.

Chance took the initiative to make friends, held hands with the Vietnamese girl, and opened up a beautiful love story (Photo: Character provided).

Chance asked to be friends with Phuong on social media, texted: "I really admire Vietnamese girls like you" and took the initiative to hold her hand.

"But Chance always thought that I "flirted" with him first because I also "turned on the green light" many times. He even gave "evidence" like I took the initiative to sit next to him on the bus, approached him to talk, and even "pretended" to fall asleep on his shoulder," Phuong said, laughing.

She thought maybe they both liked each other and "flirted" together so it was unclear who took the initiative first or later.

The day Chance returned home, it seemed like the love story had ended before it could even begin. Anh Phuong's promise "Give me a year" was like a ray of hope for the American guy.

Buy diamond engagement ring

Although Anh Phuong received a full scholarship from the US Department of State's YSEALI Government and 10 other scholarships to Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Singapore, it was only when she met Chance that she decided to orient her life, to go to the US to study and work long-term.

Every week, the female student strives to "load" 40 - 60 new words, studying continuously without breaks during summer, holidays, Tet, and weekends.

She learned from her seniors, listened to their experiences, and compiled them into her own lessons. Due to financial constraints, she only took two English courses at the center, and "borrowed money" from her parents and siblings to buy English literature books.

Phuong also balances her time with many other activities such as studying in class to get a high GPA, running the school's English Club as the Club President, participating in scientific research and extracurricular activities, finding and preparing scholarship applications at the same time.

"There were times when I studied in class, did scientific research in the afternoon, studied English and GRE (graduate entrance exam) at night, and prepared scholarship applications on the weekends. I had to drink coffee regularly to be able to stay up late and wake up early to go to school," she said.

Before Phuong returned to Vietnam to defend her university thesis, Chance bought her an engagement ring (Photo: Character provided).

After 6 months, Phuong applied for an internship to do her graduation thesis at the University of Missouri (Columbia, USA). The first time she met Chance in the US was also the first time he proposed to her. He spent almost all of his savings on a 3-day trip to Chicago.

They decided to have a long-distance relationship, with Phuong's state of Missouri being a 6-hour drive from Chance's. Every 2 weeks, he would go see his girlfriend, only taking advantage of the 24 hours on the weekend.

Before Phuong returned to Vietnam to defend her thesis, Chance spent all his savings of 2 years to buy a diamond ring to propose to his girlfriend. He took Phuong to the Botanical Garden in St. Louis (Missouri) to propose right before she flew back to Vietnam.

They dated for another 6 months before Phuong accepted an invitation to study for a PhD at Purdue University. Chance also returned to Vietnam to meet his girlfriend's family to officially propose marriage.

"Wife goes to work so husband can study for PhD in peace"

In November 2019, Phuong and Chance became husband and wife. The first year of marriage was a difficult period for them, due to differences in culture, communication style and lifestyle.

At this time, both were studying for their doctorates, and were under pressure from studying and finances, which also made their married life full of "storms".

During arguments, couples often stay silent, give themselves 10 minutes to calm down, then take the initiative to talk frankly.

"I often exchange clear opinions with my husband, without getting angry or staying silent," Phuong said.

The conversations can last 1-2 hours, they listen to each other's views and opinions. Whoever feels the other is right will take the initiative to apologize and make up first. The rate of proactively apologizing and making up between husband and wife is 50/50.

After overcoming all the difficulties with Chance in the first year of "learning to be a husband and wife", Phuong realized that if both of them truly love and respect each other, know how to listen and have an open mind, and share the same views on core values, then overcoming the challenges in marriage will be easier.

"Every time we have a conflict, we understand more about each other, adjust ourselves to become better partners, and understand more about what the other person needs from us," the Vietnamese bride shared.

Phuong and Chance agree: "Family is everything, it's the number one priority before anything else" and "Never go to bed when you're both arguing and haven't found common ground."

While Chance always says, "I'm so lucky to have you. Thanks to a wife who is ambitious and takes care of her career like you, I believe I will become a more successful man," Phuong always admires her husband's honesty, responsibility, critical thinking, and eagerness to learn.

Mr. Phuong wearing Ao Dai, holding the national flag, taking a photo in front of the US Capitol Building, November 2017 (Photo: Character provided).

Phuong and her husband currently live in Indiana. She works for a large biotechnology company and has created a Fanpage to support the synthesis of scholarship information and share her personal experiences.

She is known as the "scholarship hunter" and has helped more than 200 potential Vietnamese students get full scholarships for master's and doctoral degrees abroad.

Every day, Phuong receives 10-15 messages from people who are trying to "hunt" for scholarships like she did before.

"It's great to see that the number of students who passed different types of scholarships is very large, some students not only passed one but also three or four scholarships," she said excitedly.

Phuong currently works for a large biotechnology company, supporting her husband's doctoral studies (Photo: Provided by the character).

Chance is currently in his final year of his PhD, and is expected to graduate at age 27 with a PhD in Plant Genetics from Purdue University - the same school as his wife.

He has had 7 scientific research articles published in prestigious journals with 100 citations, such as: Nature Plants, Nature Communications , and is also the main author of an article in Applied Theoretical Genetics .

After nearly 4 years of marriage, Phuong and her husband feel happier and understand each other much better. The Vietnamese bride is very proud and has absolute admiration for her American husband.

"Chance's academic achievements are much better than mine. But what I admire most is his personality, serious attitude at work and the way he treats people around him," Phuong confided.