Goodbye Vietnam

Starting our last day was exiting because we got to play sports for hours! Unfortunately, UEF brought their actual teams to this recreational event, so they dominated in basketball; however, in soccer we gave them a run for their money. Yes yes I actually scored 2 goals, I don't think I've done that in all my years of soccer. We were awarded the trophy for soccer and UEF won basketball (although I think they actually won both). After the games, we went for a "quick" lunch.

We had a couple complications getting to lunch, and finally arrived to eat pho from the middle of Vietnam.  It was a tasty meal, but I think that all of us would admit that we were all ready to go back to the hotel and prepare for going home.  Some of us headed to the Ben Thanh Market while others stayed at the hotel to pack.  After I successfully got all of my souvenirs for people back home, I headed back to the hotel to get ready for our farewell dinner.

First, we took many formal group pictures with the girls in their ao dais and the boys in their suits.  It was a fun time, but I think we were all ready for our fancy dinner ahead.  The restaurant was on a boat on the Saigon River with Ho Chi Minh City lighting up the one side. We ate, joked, and had a good time during dinner, then wandered the ship after.  The bow had a nice refreshing breeze when once we took off down the river.  Looking straight ahead, I saw the city lights on the one side and shacks with tiny fishing boats tied up outside of them on the other side.  It was like looking at two different worlds at one time.  I couldn't help but watch the boats putt by slowly after a long day of fishing just to get by, and I stared in awe thinking about where I was standing at the very moment.  I was standing on a nice, upscale restaurant boat where I had just eaten a large meal, while locals were just coming home to their small, hot shack on the side of the river from a long, tiring day working.  As I was called back to the table for Kate's final surprise, I couldn't help but continue to think about the different worlds surrounding me, but I still wanted to enjoy the remaining hours in Vietnam.  Kate had gotten us a cake for a final farewell, which I must admit, was good but not as good as cakes back home.  Still, I enjoyed it and the gesture and it began to sink in that I was about to leave this country full of kindhearted people. Sadly the night was coming to an end and we headed back to the hotel to finish packing up for our early flight.

All of us had decided to not even sleep the night before we left since we had to check out around 2 A.M. We ended up packing some, then headed to a place a couple blocks away that we drove by almost everyday, but never had a chance to visit.  It was a pond-like roundabout with walking paths of different levels about the water then a staircase leading up to a higher level where you could sit and look at the city around you.  Even higher than that there stood a giant metal flower that required a ladder to get to.  It was beautiful and peaceful even with the night life surrounding.  I sat on the edge looking down and the people walking the streets, the motorbikes rushing by, and the glowing lights of the city around me.  It was a nice break before the travel day ahead, which was guaranteed to be exhausting.  I could have sat their forever, but I knew that I had to finish packing and clean up before my early day.  Most of us just hung out in a room together, talking about things that happened on the trip, and discussing what our first meal stateside would be. It made us all excited to finally go home and when the time came we checked out and headed to the airport, arriving just after 3 A.M. Some of the Vietnamese students tagged along to see us off, which made saying goodbye extremely hard.  Between tears and hugs, I was less excited to go home, and more sorry to leave.  I knew that we would stay in touch, but its hard to say if we would ever see each other again and I hated coming to that realization.  Sadly, we had to leave no matter what and it would be a long journey home.

When we got to Hong Kong, we had to take shuttles to two other building until we finally found our gate for our flight to Newark Airport.  Once we made sure that everyone made it to the gate, we could relax for our 16 our flight ahead, where I found myself sleeping for only a couple of hours. I watched many movies, read some more of my book, and definitely did not drink enough water.  When we arrived at the airport, we had the most pleasant experience coming through customs because we could actually had a nice smiling conversation about our trip.  After the baggage claim, we said our goodbyes and went to find our families, and when I saw my mom I gave her a huge hug.  It was nice to finally be home, but I can honestly say I miss it there already and I hope to go back one day.

Last Day of Classes!

When the day commenced, we headed to UEF for our last day of classes. Finally we had an extremely entertaining lecturer who got so into his history and culture. After that fairly long and interesting class, it was time for our last language class, test day. We reviewed for a bit and then the test consisted of teams who had to do various things from verbally filling in the blank, to writing translations on the board to recited an entire paragraph about the things we've learned. After class, we had our last meal at the canteen and it did not disappoint.

We headed to the pagoda right after lunch, and it was stunning. The story of Buddha was lining the top of the each wall with a giant golden statue at the alter. I wandered around in awe and took in the beauty of this place of prayer. After exploring the pagoda for a good amount of time, we headed out to the memorial to Quang Duc. 

This monk protested the South Vietnamese government through self-immolation. He was followed by a precession of monks down the street while in a car, once he got out he soaked himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire while staying perfectly serene. What was captured on camera was a scene sinhorrifying that it somehow managed to be beautiful as a depiction of this mans derivation to his beliefs.  I could never dream of making a statement that dramatic and the memorial didn't fair to show this mans strength. After wandering around the memorial on my own for a bit, the group recollected and headed to the War Remnants Museum.

 

I was scared to step foot in this place because I knew that it would depict the United States in a way the a stubborn patriot like me would not enjoy, and I was right. It was a great learning experience and I know that it was also biased towards the Vietnamese just as anything we'd display in the states would be biased towards us, but the images I saw were not pleasing no matter what the story behind them was. Even worse, the tiger cage and guillotine outside was not something I wanted to think about, but I wandered and read and took it all in yo try and understand as much as I could. 

When it was time for dinner, we did one last Vietnamese place of choice where I got some amazing shrimp wontons. It was a pretty nice ending to a hard day and I am going to miss all of the students who took us out dearly.

Five Star

Yay, we got to sleep in today! And by that I mean I still woke up at 7 like usual. So after packing up some things I won't use for the next couple days, I made sure my roommates were awake for breakfast that ended at 9. After a quick meal, we left the hotel around 10 for our next stop, another hotel.

Only this one was 5 stars and the first one to exist in Vietnam. We took a quick tour of the amazing pool and terrace garden and then it was time for cooking class.  Which was more making the food since the sous chef had already done all of the prep work beforehand. We ended up making spring rolls and fried spring rolls which we proceeded to eat after making. When the class was complete it was officially lunch time.

Buffet style in a 5 star kitchen. There were desserts galore, sushi, fried chicken, salad, cheese, Vietnamese foods, and did I mention desserts? All of it tasted delicious (or all that I could eat at least). Plate after plate I finished the meal off with a cheese platter and a cup of tea and it was perfection. Sadly, reality came back quickly and it was back into the heat for our site visit. 

The Saigon Newport Corporation is a Navy run shipping/storage company. We were given a nice long briefing with a Q&A following, and then a tour of the navagation tower. From the tower, I could see every shipping container. Now this isn't a business that fascinates me, but even I had to admit that this was pretty cool. In the distance you could see the containers being picked up and placed in a different location. The thing that does amaze me about this is how does such a heavy container get transported so effortlessly? Yet it happens anyway, and we were going to get a grounds your but do to time and clearance, it fell through. 

When we reached the hotel, we changed quickly and all but ran to the Ben Thanh Market where we shopped inside before it shut down to move outside. Once it did so only a few of us stayed (we HAVE to find souvenirs) and it turned out to be a pretty productive time. Vy took us to a small place for a quick bite to eat where I had a delicious papya salad. After the refreshing meal, we head back to the market where we stayed until after 9 P.M. I was so tired when I got back to the hotel that I just wanted to call it a night, but a group was going to DQ and I couldn't miss out of that (these places are always better in other countries). Now after that trip, I did get back, clean up and fall asleep fairly early once again. 

Missing Home

Today we had two site visits and nothing else. Bright and early, we headed to Singapore Industrual Park for a briefing on what they do there. They're a place for many businesses to place themselves in order to build and expand in the best, most environmentally friendly way. During their Q&A, the representative from II-VI jumped in to answer, and continued on with our second briefing from there.

II-VI is a company named for the elements on the periodic table which the company started by using, columns II and VI. After the briefing and a short Q&A, we went to take a tour of two different II-VI facilities.  It was incredible for me to see how much one person had to focus on their job of repeating the same thing over and over. It was like a factory would look to anyone who's imagined one: one person repeating the same task here, another working the machine over there.  For someone who doesn't fully understand the working of microchips and such, it was hard to follow at times, but overall it was a cool experience.

After the tour, it was a quick lunch at this cute restaurant near by. With an array of food before me, it was a shame that I was not feeling up to par.  I did try most of it, and there was bread to much on as well, but overall I was ready for the drive back where I knew I could sleep.

When I woke up we were pulling up to the hotel.  With plans changing, Dr. Berman thought that we should all rest for a bit and not do anything majorly structured for the rest of the day.  After a couple hours of resting, I headed back to the Ben Thanh Market for some more souvenirs for friends and myself.  After getting a couple more things (yes I still need to go back again), Malik and I went to Soul Burger for a little taste of home.  I have to say that it was one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life, even though I couldn't finish the whole thing.

 

Once we got back to the hotel I decided to call it a night and read some until I fell asleep mid sentence.

Density Scares Me

Today it was back to the classroom for another language class, yet this one was different than any others we've had.  We had a racing game, where we were numbered off and had to race for tickets that tallied up to a tie in the end (it was to practice our numbers).  After that game, we practiced our bargaining, which didn't go too well, but we headed to the Ben Thanh Market anyway. 

When we arrived, we all split up to go our separate ways and find what we needed/wanted.  We were only given a couple of hours, so I didn't get much, but I plan to go back another day.  I did however get the coffee I was asked to get, which took much time because I bargained down the price and ended up getting a fair amount of it.  After wandering around for a little while more, and making a couple more purchases, I made a mental list of what else I should get and was ready to go for our company visit.

I had no idea what the VinaCapital Foundation or Group was before these briefings.  If I had known how amazing this company was, I would have been more excited for the visit beforehand.  Basically they make money from investments and then take that money and put it towards helping the society from an educational and medical standpoint. It was incredible to see business done right, like this place does.  They have many different programs for poverty driven areas in Southeast Asia that sound helpful and effective.  I was simply blown away, and to top it all off the CIO was just in my hometown no more than a week ago.  I'm finding that the world couldn't get much smaller, and even more so the more I travel.

(I apologize, I realize I didn't take any photos today, it was hectic!)

It Burns!

Bright and early and tired from the evening before, I grabbed a quick breakfast and hopped on the bus for our 2-3 hour trip to Vung Tau.  I am proud to say that I was asleep for the entire ride there and woke up to sunny beaches outside my window.  We arrive at the base of a giant hill/mountain not knowing exactly what lay ahead.  When we started up the uneven stairs, I thought to myself how beautiful the view was.  Blue ocean stretching as far as I could see, and gorgeous flowers lining the path ahead.  But the stairs were endless and by the time I reached the top the only thing I could think of was how much sweat was pouring off of me, but once I reached the top of Jesus, the view was completely worth it. There was nothing but city in the middle and beautiful beaches lining either side followed blue oceans filled with fishing boats.  If the arms of Jesus could fit more than 4 people at a time, then I would've stayed there forever.  Sadly I had a beach to get back to.

Knowing that I would burn if I didn't take proper precautions, I bathed in sunscreen and let it soak in for the proper amount of time before hitting the water.  Unfortunately, I was extremely sweaty before I put the sunscreen on, and even more sweaty once I stepped foot back in the sun.  But the water was warmer than any ocean I had ever been in before, and I stayed there almost the entire time until lunch, only to take a break by dipping in the pool.  The food at the restaurant was endless to the point where I couldn't even try it all because I was so full. And near the end of the meal, I noticed how red my shoulders were.  I guess being as thorough as I was with the sunscreen, it just wasn't good enough.  For the remainder of the day at the beach, I sat in the shade chatting with Bryan and watching our group of silly Americans make a commotion in the sand.  The games they played were entertaining to watch so I never grew bored, but when the time came to leave, I couldn't complain because I was exhausted. We stopped at a large market on the way back to the hotel where Ms. Loan bought us snacks to share for the remainder of the trip.  When we reached the Victory, I decided it was a night to relax and go to bed early, by falling asleep instantly.

The Darkest Hour

Friday night we decided to have a girls night with Kate, which turned out to best the best idea ever.  We started the evening by trying on our personally tailored Ao dai and running down to show Dr. Berman and Bryan.  They absolutely loved them, and so did we. The detail in the design was incredible and some locals at the hotel were so impressed that they asked to take pictures of and with us.  And after our 5 minutes of fame, we headed out to go shopping as stereotypical tourist girls.

With Kate by our side, we took a cab to the more touristy shops along a strip near the Opera House.  In and out of a couple stores, I only ended up buying two souvenirs (I'm planning on buying most when we go to the market).  Then Kate introduced us to the best peach tea I have ever tasted in my entire life.  The bottom was warm when she handed me the cup, but the rest of the cup was ice cold.  Once I stirred it around a bit, I found that there were real sliced peaches resting on the bottom and the rest is history.  While still enjoying our tea, we headed to an area where Kate could buy a swimsuit for our beach trip on Sunday.  Though the shops were already closed, we decided to head to a couple others and just look around, and I can proudly say that it was a success for all.  When planning what to do for the rest of the night while standing outside of a shop, a Vietnamese ABBA remix came on and we simply couldn't resist singing along...and dancing.  The next thing I know, the man outside the shop runs inside and cranks up the music, then comes back out to join us dancing.  All around our little circle, people were filming the American girls and their sidewalk dance party.  Once it finally settled down, we explored the city for some food, Kate wanted pizza, but ended up eating late night noodles in our hotel room instead.  And finally, we got to rest for the long day ahead.

When 8 A.M. rolled around, it was time to head to the Cu Chi district for our day at the tunnels.  As we headed out of Ho Chi Minh City, I could instantly see green fields of rice patties and other farms.  It was a completely different environment from the one I had been in the entire week prior, and it was about to change even more.  The site of the Cu Chi tunnels that we visited were up north a bit more, and there was a forest all around us.  When we started on the trail, our guide showed us an example of one of the tunnels by going down and closing it behind him, and popping up behind us.  From there we continued on and as I looked around I could see old bomb craters covered by thick vegetation.  Though going through each tunnel was a neat experience, bats and all, I couldn't help but feel sad while imagining the things that went on here.  If it were completely silent, with no tourists, the only sounds you would hear are the bugs surrounding you, and that is an eerie feeling.  Only the day didn't get much brighter after that.






















Once we finished our lunch with a beautiful view, we headed to the temple near the tunnels.  Inside, there were the names of the fallen listed on the walls, and outside there stood murals of the battles from the war.  It amazes me how such a beautiful location can depict so many dark things using incredible works of art.  After spending a fair amount of time wandering around the temple, we headed to the related cemetery of the fallen.  Once I walked through the gates, I didn't know how to react.  Similarly to Alrington, grave stone after identical grave stone lay, perfectly gridded into the distance.  I wandered along, trying to wrap my mind about the things that led to these deaths.  As I walked towards Dr. Berman and Arielle, we discussed the ages, villages, and saddest of all the unknown facts of each fallen civilian.  It was something that none of us needed to vocalize, but we walked together in silence for a bit, reading each headstone, and eventually sat down to a helpful conversation, after which we headed to the hotel to rest our minds.

I Stand Corrected

The day started out like any other.  After a nice breakfast, we headed to UEF in our business casual wear to start our day. With another lecture in Vietnamese culture, this one on the religions of Vietnam, done it was time for language class again.  This had me nervous because I was sick the day of the last class so I had to miss it. It didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things.  The pressure is always on when the microphone gets passed to you and you have to say the words we learned just seconds before, but it gets easier with time.  When class ended, we headed to the international school to eat a very quick lunch and then head to our next destination.

To U.S. Consulate in Vietnam we had to go through two different forms of security and you're given a fancy visitor badge.  Once inside we talked about the different things that are handled at the consulate from four different staff members. It was interesting to see how each one of them got to where they are now and the situations that they handle on a day to day basis.  The environment around me felt strangely familiar and comfortable, I guess being on U.S. territory can do that to someone who's been away for a little while.  Once we finished with the briefing, it was time to take a tour of the grounds.

The old U.S. Embassy was on this very spot and was torn down only after damage had been done.  The ground that we stood on gave me an eerie feeling as I pictured the hole in the wall ahead of me and the ghosts of the attack that occurred there.  It was a feeling similar to the one I get when I go to old battlegrounds back in the states, but I know it is much more familiar to people in my life today. I looked around and took it all in for awhile, then the tour guide informed us about a building in an iconic image from the Fall of Saigon.  Unfortunately, the building that American citizens received a rooftop helicopter rescue from will be torn down later this year.  Which means that we are the last group of Plus 3 students who will be able to see it in real life.  After taking the annual picture around the sign of the fallen, we headed out to the American Center.

Getting cleared using my passport for the third time in one day was taking energy straight out of me.  Considering the long day we just had, all I wanted was to go back to the hotel and relax for a bit.  When we sat down in the room with a bunch of Vietnamese young adults, I grew nervous because I always embarrass myself when I talk to them, but as we split into smaller groups, it gradually got better.  I ended up talking to a group of girls about various things from schooling in America to what I have been doing for the past week in Vietnam.  I seemed to amuse them along the way as I rambled on like I always do when I'm nervous.  One of the girls was full of questions for me so the conversation never really died off at all.  Another is trying to get into UVA but is worried about taking the SATs which I can say is a challenge, but not something that can't be overcome with time and practice. At one point, Dr. Berman stood up and told us that we were free to go if we wanted, but could also stay, I was glad I didn't have to stop mid-conversation.  these girls had so many questions and so many random things that they wanted to talk about that I couldn't break away even if I wanted to, good thing I didn't.  Once almost everyone had left the center, we decided we should leave, but not before exchanging information and taking a couple of pictures.  The day was a success, and though a sad moment of remembering took place in the late afternoon, it simply filled me with joy to talk to these girls for the hours that I did.

It Can't Get Better Than This

When I woke up feeling refreshed and much better than the day before, I knew it would be a good day, I just didn't know how good.  After a substantial breakfast, we headed to the Jade Emperor Temple which was incredible in detail and atmosphere.  On entry, I was in awe by the Chinese architecture that embodied this small hidden area of land.  Inside it was warm and smoky from the burning incense, and I watched as people entered to make their offering in prayer.  The experience in this small pagoda was indescribable, but I didn't know the day could get any more interesting.

We headed to UEF for our class in Vietnamese History and Culture.  Though lectures are always difficult to sit through, this one did have many interesting facts involving the different cultures in the different regions of Vietnam and how each developed. During our mid-lecture break, we were taste different Vietnamese fruits including the rambutan. I found this extremely delicious, which anyone could tell by watching me eat my fair share of them in less than five minutes.  Once the lecture finished up to resume another day, we headed to have a quick lunch and then head back to the hotel for our next discovery.

I didn't realize how much Glass Egg Digital Media would blow me away, until I walked into their work room. The walls had autographed covers on many video games they had designed cars, environments, and much more for. As we walked around where the artists were working, I stared at the immense amount of talent before me. They were mostly working on cars, but the detail they put into each step of the process fascinated me. At one station we even got to see them working on their own project that they were developing themselves. I had never seen such talent in a single room before and I swear I could've continued to walk around there for hours. When the tour was finished, we walked to the conference room for our Q&A session where questions about details of the company's operations were answered throughly. Then the stories began.

Phil Tran, the CEO of the company had an interesting past where he and he family fled the country when he was only 12 years old. His father was on the American side of the war and was most likely to be killed (as well as his wife and four children) if they had stayed. Phil described his journey to the states that happened only a week before April 30, 1975, Reunification Day.  It was incredible to hear his thoughts and near escape from death, and then Loan chimed in with her story. Loan has been our UEF connection along this journey and this is the first I've heard her speak of her past. She told us how her family left North Vietnam just before the war started to find haven in the south.  Unfortunately her father was killed in the war fighting for the Americans, and she, unlike Phil, was unable to flee the country. This meant that she had to live with being treated as beneath we those on the communist side. It amazed me that through all the struggles both of these individuals went through, they still managed to be a success and work in an industry making a difference in some way.

My Minor Setback

Today I had an adventure of a completely different variety.  When I woke up feeling feverish and sore I knew something as wrong.  I told Dr. Berman and Bryan and so once everyone left for the day we headed to the international hospital/clinic.  There I was informed that yes I had a fever, and what appeared to be a localized infection, but they wanted to be sure.  After being pricked for testing and waiting for a little while, they results came back clear and I was sent on my way with a treatment plan to "live normally." 

Unfortunately, it was decided that I should stay in and relax for the remainder of the day, so I headed to my room.  I filled the time with reading, eating peanut butter and crackers (thanks to Bryan), and sleeping, which I did for pretty much the entire day. Tomorrow I will be back in the flow of things so don't worry there will be more interesting tales to tell then!

Time to Explore

Once again, I found myself waking up an hour before my alarm would go off; yet I felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead.  We headed downstairs for yet another breakfast of champions with dumplings, pastries, veggies and what I've been dying to dry, dragon fruit.  After discussing the newspaper and corn broth (an apparent delicious drink to start off your day that I have yet to try) we headed out to the bus for our classes at UEF.

Our guest lecturer taught us about Urban Planning and Development within Ho Chi Minh City, which actually proved to be very interesting and educational. After the lecture we took a small break to get coffee or smoothies.  Of course I decided on a mango smoothie and it was probably the best one I have ever tasted in my life.  Their smoothies don't contain the added sugar that we tend to dump into ours, they are naturally sweetened by the juices of the fruits.  After our refreshments, we recollected ourselves in the classroom for our second language class of the week.  It turned out to be much less stressful than yesterday's class and I even received a couple of complements on my Vietnamese.  It is pretty incredible to see how fast we are moving along with just an hour long class a day.  And after the educational hours and a quick lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a quick change in attire.

The ride to Phu My Hung took a good while, but the sites we saw along the way simply blew me away.  We went through the tourist area with fancy hotels and dining areas, as well a more poor locations with shacks on the rivers and street food vendors.  It was all so much to take in, and I couldn't look away, especially as people recognized us as foreigners and waved profusely at us on the bus.  When we finally arrived I didn't realize how quickly my mind would be blown by this corportation.

Phu My Hung is a developing and construction company.  They basically plan, build, and manage their incoming investments.  It was incredible to see their Master Plan for expanding city centers around Ho Chi Minh City in order to make a more comfortable living area, with culture related education, entertainment, and the ability to build up a business there.  By getting a good look at the master plan and having a long Q and A session, it was clear that they had thought every detail through this process.  The idea of a very organized society can seem scary, but in a way is amazing when it comes to a comfortable living location for foreigners especially.  When we finished up inside the building, they decided to take us on a bus tour around Phu My Hung and show us all their different housing, schools, and retail spaces. After being amazed but the diversity in this city center, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for a night out with our new Vietnamese friends.

Kate arrived at the hotel a little after six with bubble tea for all of us and then some.  Since we had such a busy day pass by we decided to relax for an hour before going out for dinner and street food.  When we decided to head out, I took a cab to the Pho restaurant where I encountered the greatest pleasure my taste buds have ever experienced.  The combination of herbs, rice noodles, and beef was an art form that I can't begin to understand.  From there I had the ride of my life to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Vietnam, our street food destination.  Sadly, after that deliciously filling meal, I didn't have much of an appetite for the street food, but I tried a bite of a couple things.  The people who make these foods must have a talent to fill so little food with so much flavor.  From here we decided to take the long scenic route back to our hotel.

We walked along a strip where all the touristy, up scale hotels, including the Rex, were located.  Here we turned into children when we saw a glowing things shoot up into the air and return much slower to the ground.  As we got closer we discovered toys that lit up and were launched by a rubber-band into the sky.  We played with these for a good amount of time before actually deciding to keep moving towards the hotel.  Before we got there, we had to take one last detour by the Opera House.  The gorgeous, western architecture stood out against its surroundings in the night.  It was the perfect way to end our first evening out with our wonderful tour guide.

First Adventures in Ho Chi Minh

With my alarm set for 7 A.M., I naturally woke up and hour and a half earlier because my internal clock has no clue what it is doing.  While heading down to breakfast, I had no idea what to expect.  What did a traditional Vietnamese breakfast buffet consist of?  My question was answered when I walked in to find a room filled with an assortment of rice and noodles, pastries, meats, and vegetables.  It was unlike anything I could’ve imagined.  I filled my plate with a little bit of everything, making sure to try new foods along the way. The next step was to get ready to meet our Vietnamese sister school students of UEF. 

 

When we pulled up to the school we were greeted by a group of students holding handmade flower leis.  After multiple pictures in the hot sun outside of the school, we headed in for the greeting ceremony.  It was filled with traditional dances from North and South Vietnam along with one modern dance and a couple of speeches.  Dr. Berman gave his entire speech in Vietnamese so the student next to me translated and made it clear she was thoroughly impressed with his fluency, as was I.  At the end of the ceremony, we were presented with gifts from the school, and each of us girls got fabric for a future gift.  Once the students finished taking pictures with all of us, the real challenge began.

My first Vietnamese class ever and I knew there was a great chance that I would look and sound like a fool.  We started with the alphabet, and the student from UEF next to me was very helpful, as she helped me understand how to say each letter.  Vietnamese is almost musical in how it flows together and all of us American students sounded so monotone, but we eventually got the hand of it.  And then we moved onto a new section and had to start all over again. The students and instructor were both patient so there was no great pressure which I know, personally, made it a lot easier to just go for it. The class lasted for a good while, and it turned out to be a fun time after all. Then it was off to the international school for lunch.

We walked into a room with a long table filled with food and a view overlooking the city.  We all dug into the dishes, not quite knowing what we were trying, but it turned out to be incredibly tasty.  Following the meal, we moved into an air conditioned room with different fruits to try.  I had never had them before and I was eager to try them, but we were only in there for a few minutes when we were retrieved to get fitted for our ao dai (the traditional Vietnamese women’s clothing).  The measurements didn’t take long at all and we were soon back on our way upstairs to the air conditioning.  Only, I ended up outside looking at the city from the balcony.  The scenery was incredible; each and every rooftop not like the one next to it.  The houses seemed to be a puzzle of different shapes, sizes, colors, and heights that somehow managed to fit together perfectly.  I had never seen a view quite like it and I stared at the building and flow of traffic on the street below.  I didn’t even notice the time fly by until Dr. Berman came to retrieve us for our next stop.

 

Hutech deals with majors from engineering, to business, to the arts. We had a brief introduction from the vice president of the university, and then we split into CBA and Swanson students and went to separate rooms for a short presentation.  In the business room, we were taught about the main reasons for doing business in Vietnam: the advantages and the disadvantages, GDP and Foreign Investment.  We didn’t have much time to get into detail, but it did show how doing business in Vietnam is a great advantage when it comes to making a living.  We were told by Professor Nguyen Phan that he had the opportunity to work in Australia after studying there, but the cost of living was much too high and he knew he could get wealthy much easier back in Vietnam. After being cut short for time, we thanked the professor and headed back to the hotel.

Our welcome dinner began at 7 P.M. so we met up shortly before to walk to the restaurant together.  There, we got to see how each meal is prepped and cooked for the guests.  It made my stomach growl even more when looking at all the meals being made as we waited for our own. After walking around and getting a tour of the kitchen areas, we settled back at our table for a meal consisting of a little bit of everything.  With watermelon juice as our beverage, we dug into the shrimp and crab soup in front of us.  Everything tasted delicious, from the shrimp, to the chicken, to the pork and spring rolls.  By the end of trying a bit of each, I was stuffed and ready to head back and relax for the night.

Oh, and I am definitely improving my chop stick skills with each meal.

The Journey Begins

Starting Saturday morning off with little sleep, due to excitement and the frigid air in towers, made me realize that this would be one of the longest, busiest days of my life.  Officially beginning the day at 6 A.M. Eastern Time, it wouldn’t come to a close until over 24 hours later.  Making it through security at the Pittsburgh Airport was the first step to one long trip. The flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago was our shortest flight of the day, leaving at 11 A.M. Eastern Time and arriving around 11 A.M. Central Time just made it a bit more interesting.  After wandering O’Hare Airport, and eating half of a personal deep dish, it was time to make the longest leg of the trip. 

 

The flight was roughly 16 hours, which I found almost impossible to sleep on.  Maybe subconsciously it was excitement, but for the most part airplanes are just pretty uncomfortable to sleep on.  I read over half the book I brought with me, and watched a number of movies and music videos along the way, sleep for maybe of total of 2 hours the entire trip. Near the end I got restless, but overall I didn’t think the flight was too bad actually.  I would get up and wander a bit every once in a while, just to stretch out.  Then they announced that we were on our descent down to Hong Kong Airport.

 

This is when some more excitement hit me.  Before this, I had never been to an Asian country.  I was touching down somewhere new to me and it gave me a rush, not to mention the view was spectacular.  After finding a place to meet up, we split up to find a decent meal during our 3 hour layover leading to our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Obviously we went with something authentic, well as authentic as you can get in any airport.  The airport food court area was so packed that by the time we finally found a seat I had green onion soup spilled all over my tray, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my entrée of spicy chicken and rice noodles with their fancy chop sticks (which I proudly feel that I have almost mastered).  After being adventurous in this giant airport, we headed to our gate for our final stretch of the trip.

The flight from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City felt astonishingly short compared to our flight that lasted over half a day.  In just a couple of hours we had reached our final destination.  We landed around 11:25 Sunday night and finally made it through immigration and security a little past midnight.  Heading to the bus was when we all finally felt the wall of humidity waiting for us outside.  As the hair began to frizz up, I didn’t mind because I was taking in the environment around me.  The streets weren’t nearly as busy as I imagine they will be during the day, but even still, the amount of scooters or motor bikes that I was absolutely blew my mind.  Shops lit up much brighter than any I’ve seen in America at that hour, and they opened up entirely into the streets; not just a window, but the entire wall overflowed tables and stands from inside the shops to the sidewalks before them.  It didn’t feel like a culture shock, rather and experience that made me smile the entire way to the hotel, and I can honestly say I cannot wait to experience more.