Augsburg grads will have their date nights far, far from home

Now that they've graduated from Minneapolis' Augsburg College, Heidi Le and Jens Olsen are gearing up for the possibility of a long-distance relationship, something pretty common among young couples these days.

They're just relieved it's not a looooong-distance relationship.

Le, 22, learned in March that she had won a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study and teach in Vietnam, beginning Aug. 1. Olsen, 22, found out the same news -- three tense days later.

"I was screaming and crying," Le said when she found out they'd be sharing this grand international experience. "I was just kind of drained and happy," Olsen added. "It was a good day."

They know that they might not land in the same city. Being in the same country is good enough. "I hope we get placed together, but they have great public transportation," Olsen said. "An hour apart wouldn't be too bad."

Le's parents were born in Vietnam, but they emigrated to the United States before she was born. She graduated from Kennedy High School in Bloomington, taking courses at Normandale College during her last two years of high school. Like many children not from here, she struggled with her identity.

Her real name is Kieu, "but I never wanted anyone to call me Kieu," Le said. "It was pretty embarrassing. I didn't want friends to come over," fearing they would hear her parents speaking in Vietnamese, a language she never mastered. "I hated Vietnamese so much," she said.

By the end of high school, she was reconsidering. Her appreciation grew for her mother, who managed to also graduate from Kennedy before working in a pie factory and raising her two children, and for her heritage, which she said, "is pretty important."

Because she had no idea how to apply to college, a friend suggested Augsburg. "It was close to home, small," Le said. "The University of Minnesota was too big."

Le double-majored in biology and chemistry, spending nearly four weeks in Thailand in 2008 on an Augsburg-run program. While planning to go straight to pharmacy school after graduating, an adviser suggested that she take a year off and consider a Fulbright.

She knew just where she would go if selected: Vietnam. "I wanted to do something for the kids there, give them the education my parents never received."

First, though, she felt obliged to run the idea past Olsen. The two met during their freshman year in chemistry class and studied in a group every Friday night for three years. Last summer, they began dating and have been inseparable since.

"Would you be mad if I applied for a Fulbright to Vietnam, too?" she asked him. "Are you kidding? I'd love for you to apply," he said.

Olsen, 22, grew up in tiny McGregor, Iowa, the middle of three children of educator parents. From ages 3 to 7, Olsen lived with his family in Kathmandu, Nepal, where his parents taught at an international school, and the little boy was introduced to harsh realities, including "houses made out of plastic bags and brickyards where children worked."

In high school, he played football and basketball, played guitar and sang in a rock band. "I was a typical Iowa teen boy," he said, but he never forgot that early experience. A biology and pre-med major at Augsburg, he spent four months in Can Tho, Vietnam, in the spring of 2009 studying ecology, with a side project on dengue fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease. After his older sister won a Fulbright, he decided to apply, too, hoping to take his dengue research "deeper than a superficial level."

In March, Le went to her mailbox and found "this huge envelope." She rushed to Olsen's mailbox. Nothing. "Oh, man," Olsen thought. "I was pretty crushed." His Fulbright package came three days later.

A Fulbright spokesman said Monday that he had no idea how many dating couples end up on the international exchange program together. "It makes a good story, but we don't track that kind of information," he said.

The couple will work until they leave; Le at a pharmacy and as a waitress, Olsen at a hospital. He's also studying for the medical college admission tests he'll take on July 17. They'll spend August in Hanoi for training, then will be placed for the academic year.

Le is excited about the food, the sights and the people. Olsen is hoping for an occasional date night, too. He sent an e-mail to the Fulbright committee, asking them kindly to place the couple in the same city.

"I'm not sure if it was very professional, but it was worth a shot," said Le, who nudged him to do it. "They're considering it."

Gail Rosenblum • 612-673-7350 • gail.rosenblum@startribune.com