1. Introduction
It’s been a long time since my last blog post. I’ve been incredibly busy with so many things, and today is the first real chance I’ve had to sit down and write this blog.
I’ve been tied up with personal matters and all the preparations for my master's degree abroad after I quit my job at Viettel Group. There was a point I was extremely stressed due to constant changes with my student visa interview, which delayed my plans by a month. But in the end, everything worked out.
Figure 0: UT San Antonio Graduate Orientation
2. New Chapter in the US
I arrived in Texas, to pursue my Master's in Computer Engineering at the UT San Antonio. The city is beautiful, and the university campus is impressive. The weather here is quite different from Vietnam, but I’m adapting well. I'm now halfway through the Fall 2025 semester. Along with that, there’s an immense joy, something my girlfriend and I have been waiting for for almost two years has finally happened. She waited for me for nearly two years, and I finally made it. It might not be some huge achievement, but to me, it means the world. Rereading my blog post from November 2024, when I returned to Vietnam after visiting her, I wrote, “I will be back in Texas soon” and now, I’ve done it.
Figure 1: UT San Antonio Welcome Center
Before school started, I spent time with her. We went out to eat, explored, and bought necessary things to move into my place near campus. We even attended my orientation day together. Shortly after, we took a trip to Florida with some of her friends, heading to Destin. It was genuinely so much fun. We hung out, swam in the ocean, ate, and drank together. Seeing her so happy made me feel incredibly happy. We often cook together, and it’s such a joy. All the things like waking her up in the morning, going to buy coffee together, going to work, going to the mall, grocery shopping, cooking, and watching movies at home have become our daily routine. The moment I realized I was finally seeing her life beyond the phone screen, seeing everything she strives for every day, I loved her even more. My favorite part was eating her cooking. I’m not just saying this because she’s my girlfriend, but she is seriously an amazing cook. Now I can finally enjoy her cooking every day. It’s such a blessing ^_^.
Figure 2: Movie night with her
I’m the type who can joke easily, but sitting down to seriously open up is hard. I guess I’m not good at that, unconsciously hidin’ it away I unconsciously throw all my thoughts into a black hole and you’re the first who taught me to speak what’s on my mind but sometimes when I try, my throat gets tight and my brain goes blank, it’s a strange feeling like I can’t line up my thoughts to describe, them right growing up I realized, opening up is a skill. I think my EQ’s not yet high and I’m not yet mature, every couple argues, when the tension rises, some topics will get truly sensitive if mentioned but until the very end, you still calmly listen to me telling me if I told you from the start, the storms in my head would fade, days pass, my mind feels lighter I feel happy being with you watching rain outside, I have never felt this safe and assured and we can talk for hours about only one topic. Many things to learn, I don’t need anything more than seeing you next to me when I wake up in the morning. I’m not good with flowery words, but thank you for coming into my life, and I love you so much.
She will graduate her master's this December, I believe in that day she will shine even more. One more good thing is she got accepted into Neuroscience program at UT San Antonio and become honor member of Psy Chi. I’m so proud of her achievements and can’t wait to see what the future holds for both of us. She works so hard because she always wants to be the best version of herself. I’m truly lucky to have her by my side.
3. Academic Journey
After that, I began my journey in the US. I started school and began looking for opportunities. Luckily, I adjusted to the lifestyle, culture, and food here pretty quickly. Many people told me I was leaving behind really good things in Vietnam to "start from scratch" here. But for me, what I’ve already accomplished will always be there. Moving to a new environment isn't starting over; it's a new step forward, a new challenge I wanted for myself.
I’m so fortunate to have her, she always trusts me, encourages me, and is my biggest source of motivation. Even though the beginning was tough, no matter what, we’ve always been there for each other. My friends, like Tú and Sơn, have also been supportive (giving them a little shout-out here). We still keep in touch and share updates about our lives and work 🙂.
I was also got accept a talk about our open-source KusionStack at Texas Linux Festival 2025 in Austin, TX. But unfortunately, I couldn’t attend due to school schedule conflicts. But I’m grateful for the opportunity and hope to attend future next year.
Figure 3: Texas Linux Festival 2025
After settling in and starting my studies, new things began to happen. Just two weeks into the semester, I was offered a Graduate Research Assistant position at the UT San Antonio's Software Communications and Navigation Systems Lab (SCNS) under Professor David Akopian. My initial work involved developing cross-platform mobile applications with Flutter, achieving seamless RCS integration that enhanced user communication features, and managing backend server development. I also started new research with AI models, exploring ways to integrate them into various platforms and applications for different user purposes. Here's an example: Chatbots Help Texans Stop Smoking. I’ll probably write more about this in detail in a future blog post.
4. First Project at SCNS Lab
When I first joined, I was asked to research and develop an application for Android and iOS using Flutter. Coincidentally, I had used this framework back in my second year of undergraduate studies, so I got up to speed pretty quickly. I was assigned to build a demo app first to present my research. I developed a mobile application for managing Docker container environments directly from a phone, which also included an AI assistant to help users manage and monitor their container environments more easily.
Figure 4: App Screenshots
Basically, the app allows users to connect to their Portainer server, view and manage containers, images, volumes, and networks. The AI assistant, built with Genkit, helps users interact with their container environments using natural language. Here's the architecture diagram of the application:
Figure 5: Application Architecture
- Flutter: To build the cross-platform mobile application for both Android and iOS.
- Portainer API: Hosted on Tú's server in Vietnam, which he let me piggyback on (thanks, Tú 🙂).
- Firestore: To store application data.
- Firebase Authentication: To handle auth for the app.
- Genkit: To develop the AI application integrated with AI models to help users interact with their container environments.
- Firebase Functions: To deploy Genkit agents and handle backend logic.
Here is the GitHub repository for these projects:
While developing this demo app, I rediscovered my passion for front-end development after grinding away on the backend for so long 🙂. My girlfriend asked me can I make the app look prettier, so that why I spent extra time polishing the UI/UX a bit haha 😅. The app was designed with Google's Material Design 3, and it doesn't look half bad. I also got to learn more about Genkit in the process. Since I had some free time today, I redeployed Genkit to Tú's server and remade my @danchoicloud bot, which I had abandoned for over a year, converting it from Node.js to Python. Of course, my bot must be gang sta style, bro!
Figure 6: @danchoicloud Bot
Honestly, with Genkit and AI Agents, there are so many ideas for developing products for personal use or for the community. I’ll build more when I have time.
5. Closing Thoughts
That’s it for my November 2025 blog post. A lot has happened in the past few months, and I’m excited about what the future holds. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and the people who have supported me along the way. My journey is still long, but I'll keep giving it my all.
To my girlfriend, thank you for being my rock and my biggest supporter. I couldn’t have made it this far without you. No matter where life takes us, I know we’ll face it together.
To everyone reading this, thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope it inspires you to pursue your dreams and embrace new challenges.
Peace out! Catch you guys in the next blog! ✌️