Day 12: No Sleep Till Newark 15.5.15

The trip so far has been incredibly amazing. I've definitely been looking forward to our long awaited soccer and basketball games. We were thinking that we would maybe lose in soccer and dominate in basketball, but it happened to be the other way around. Our coach, Bryan, led us to almost victory during our basketball game (I have no clue what the score is but let's be honest it was probably pretty close) and then he led us to another almost victory in our soccer match. Despite the loss in the first soccer match, he led the team to victory in the girls vs girls soccer match. It definitely helped that a lot of the team has played competitively before. No one really played much basketball before coming to 'Nam though. But after the games, we were all definitely way sweatier than we've ever been the entire trip.

After the amazing games, we stayed around the gym a little longer to talk to all of the Vietnamese students. There, we all exchanged gifts. Afterwards, we took our bus to get lunch. At first, the driver dropped us off at the wrong place. We walked around for a few blocks before we actually realized. Luckily, Kate found a street vendor selling really cold tea! It was really more of a bottle of honey with some tea added to it. Ms Luan got our bus driver back and we wound up showing up to the restaurant about 20 minutes late. When we were seated, we were welcomed by a sampler of a bunch of different gelatinous rice type foods. I wasn't really a big fan of all of the gelatinous stuff, but this was pretty great. We didn't even bother trying to get the Vietnamese students to explain what the stuff was, we just really wanted to get our food.

After the gelatinous rice stuff, we got served some phở that had a bunch of stuff in it. The weirdest thing there was the chunk of blood floating in the bowl. Definitely didn't eat that. Besides that, there was a bunch of other meat in it and I had no clue what any of it was, but it was amazing. After lunch, we all piled into a nearby room, still in the restaurant and were served dessert. Dessert was a drink made with coconut milk, ice, corn paste, chunks of jelly, and of course some other unidentifiable stuff.

Later on, we had some down time in the hotel. We were advised to start packing, but I took a nap (priorities of course). In the evening, we all went down to the lobby in our best attire (áo dài for the girls and suits for the guys) to take some pictures with Ms Luan and some of the UEF students.
It was pretty great being able to see everyone all dressed up. Of course, the people that were just hanging out in the lobby before we came down were staring, but we're a good looking bunch of people so it's definitely understandable.

Following all of the photos, some of us changed into some business casual outfits while a lot of us stayed in our suits and we all went out to our farewell dinner. Dinner tonight was definitely as fancy as it gets. We went out to eat on a boat and got a bit of a boat tour of the city. Ho Chi Minh City looked incredible from the river. Of course, we all had to go to the side and front of the boat to check out the view. But the food was pretty great too. We started out with a few seafood dishes plus a bunch of vegetables. Afterwards, there was a hotpot filled with some noodles, vegetables, beef, and some fish balls. After the meal, Ms Luan presented us with an amazing cake with both the Pitt and UEF logos and the caption "Plus 3 Vietnam 2015 Friends Forever" printed on it. Two guys from a nearby table came over to me and said that they had a bet to see who could get a piece of cake first. They were Canadian too which meant that I had to get Canadian Aster involved in the conversation.

Views from the boat

At the end of the night, I had to start packing. It was a struggle. Luckily Rachel brought a scale for our suitcases and when I weighed mine, it was 48 pounds, just below the limit. Later, some of us went to a nearby roundabout that had a bit of a pond in the center. We drove by it almost everyday but never actually went to visit it. Despite a few rats (GIANT RATS) it was an amazing sight. Above the water were multiple walkways and stairs and above everything was a giant metal flower. Afterwards, most of us reconvened later. No one went to sleep since we had to check out of the hotel by 2 am.

Metal flower tower in the roundabout

Of course while we were in the airport, I got stopped twice. At Cu Chi Tunnels, I bought a lighter made from old bullets. That didn't fly with the Vietnamese TSA (wow that was punny) and so I lost it. At the gate, I got stopped again because they forgot that they already took it out of my suitcase and wanted to search it again. Fortunately, I didn't get stopped again. Then we got to Newark. I got stopped by TSA on account of a bottle filled with liquid in my backpack. After talking to the TSA agent about spicy food while he searched my bag, there was no bottle (surprise). Later, I finally arrived at BWI. I was walking over to baggage claim and nearly walked by my mom who was there waiting for me. She laughed at me a bit when I started talking to her because I lost my voice on account of laryngitis (no clue how I got laryngitis). It was great to be home, but I was definitely looking forwards to my next trip to Vietnam.

Day one throwback 

Day 11: A Brief History Lesson - 14.5.15

Today's the last day that we'll be taking classes at UEF. We had the most interesting culture lecture today and it was definitely more enjoyable than a lot of the others, mostly on account of the professor that gave the lecture. He told us about the culture pertaining to meanings behind things that we deal with everyday like numbers and art. He told us how a really ugly painting can actually mean something pertaining to the creation of the world and how different numbers of flowers for example mean different things (nine flowers is basically a marriage proposal while four might mean death).

In language class, we basically had a really long "test." Our instructor really had us doing a bunch of activities to demonstrate how much of what she taught we were actually able to retain. I'm really glad we were able to do this in groups because it was a whole lot harder than I expected. First, she got us to count to 10 in Vietnamese. I didn't think it would be that hard, so I volunteered for my group. I had to get a little help from my boy Bo, one of the UEF students, because I was still getting my numbers mixed up. We had to be able to say a lot of conversational stuff as well. Gotta admit, that was a bit of a struggle too. Despite that, I'll definitely miss being in this class. Our instructor was incredibly entertaining and made every class enjoyable. Afterwards, as usual, we went to what would be our final lunch at Kent International's canteen.

After lunch, we visited the Xá Lợi pagoda, a nearby Buddhist temple. This wasn't just any ordinary Buddhist temple, this is a temple that was used as a gathering place for Buddhist monks protesting the Southern Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War. This isn't a place that many tourists would go to since it is out of most people's way. We were greeted at the door by an elderly monk. Before entering, we had to take of our shoes and put on robes and aprons to cover up. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a huge Buddha in the back, as well as giant carvings depicting moments of his life. Afterwards, we went to the Venerable Thíc Quảng Ɖức Memorial. Behind the statue of him self-immolating, there is a carving of him self-immolating in front of a huge crowd of monks.

From the memorial, we walked to the War Remnants Museum, formerly the Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes. The museum primarily contains exhibits pertaining to the American War. A lot of these really show the Americans in the country as being pretty evil. Regardless of my views on the war, I couldn't help but to feel bad, especially when I walked into what I called "the orange room." At first, I was slightly drawn into the room on account of the dim lights and the bright orange walls. Then I realized why everything was orange. It was an exhibit to display the effects of Agent Orange on the country, both during and after the war. Although the exhibit was shown in a way to favor the Vietnamese like all of the others, it was still very upsetting to see just how the chemicals used in the war still affect the country. I was definitely glad to learn more about the war from the perspectives of those affected the most.

Somehow I wound up back at McDonald's. It was so good round two was definitely necessary. Akhil came with us and he made some friends.

Day 10: Fine Dining and Breathing - 13.5.15

Chefs Pete and Akhil

The day started late today with our bus leaving around 9:45 instead of the usual 8:45, so I was pretty excited to sleep in. We also kind of got to skip class today (which was awesome). Instead of the usual cultural lesson followed by language class, we had a cooking class. We went to an amazing five star hotel, and first took a brief tour of it. Afterwards, we reconvened next to their kitchen. There, we were taught how to make spring rolls. So it wasn't really a cooking class, as much as it was a rolling class. After we finished rolling, we had lunch courtesy of the hotel. They provided us with a buffet that was amazing. A lot of us were immediately drawn in by some amazing bread and a variety of cheeses. We were sure to stuff ourselves with as much food as we possibly could. Afterwards, I could definitely see why they're a five star hotel.

We also had our last company visit today! This visit was to Saigon Newport, the leading terminal operator in Vietnam. This basically means that they have a shipyard. They offer terminal, yard, and warehouse services, so they aid in the importing and exporting of goods to and from Vietnam. I think the most interesting thing about the shipyard is the fact that it's ran by Vietnam's navy. While we were there, we got to go into the control tower to see how everything's done (it didn't help that everything was in a different language) and we also got to take a bus tour of the facility. This was definitely really interesting, being able to see one of the major sites that provides Vietnam with their goods and also exports for the country.

Saigon Newport

After Saigon Newport, some of us went back to the Bến Thành Market to get some stuff that we missed the last times we went. Of course, we're going to end up going back again Friday. But this time, I managed to bargain a lot more and got some good gifts for my folks (if you're reading this (which you better be) I promise it's not knockoff stuff (or at least I hope it's not)). While we waited for the vendors to transition from their indoor shops to their outdoor shops, we went to get dinner at a nearby place with our friend Vy, a student at UEF. After we blew all of our money buying everything that looked cool, we headed back to the hotel. AND THEN I RODE A MOTORBIKE AROUND HO CHI MINH AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!

Motorbiking with Vy!

Day 9: Cutting Class Part 3 (kinda) - 12.5.15

Today, there was no class at all! Instead, the day started out with us going straight to our two company visits. Even though there were two companies, we only went to one place, and that was VSIP, Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park. The other company, II-VI which is headquartered in Pennsylvania, currently has a facility in one of VSIP's parks.

The first company that we were briefed on was VSIP. They told us all about their parks and their plans for expansion. The whole purpose of the park is to house different manufacturing companies. They have their own power grid and they also offer logistics services to their partners, providing them with a lot of benefits and making them more appealing to companies looking for places to house their facilities. They made sure to be a better option for companies deciding between utilizing an industrial park or setting up factories and finding land on their own.

The other company, II-VI, deals primarily with laser optics and thermal control systems. This briefing was definitely a lot more interesting to me as it allowed su to see an engineering company in action. During our tour of their facilities, we got to see lenses being made by hand (lenses that are even used in laser eye surgery), as well as the manufacturing of a variety of chips used in their thermal cooling systems. It was really amazing getting to see a few of the processes that we've learned in school applied to the actual development of these thermal control devices. After the tours, we got lunch at a restaurant near the park. It was pretty amazing, and definitely one of the first lunches we've had that wasn't served with white rice (there was fried rice instead).

Unfortunately, we weren't permitted to take pictures of most of the facility

Day 8: Cutting Class Part 2 - 11.5.15

Today, I woke up to Akhil asking if I was dying. I was coughing like no other. I went to ask Bryan if he had any DayQuil or anything similar, and wound up going to the clinic. In Vietnam, the only place to actually get meds is at the clinic or any pharmacist. So Bryan took Aster and I to a nearby clinic, which was actually a lot nicer than I expected. There were quite a few doctors there, all from different countries, but they were all trained in the States. It turns out that it's a place frequented by a lot of people, both Vietnamese and foreign. Also, going to the clinic meant that I would get to miss class again! Unfortunately, this class is where we would learn to barter, and afterwards would go to Bến Thành Market, a huge marketplace in Ho Chi Minh City.

After getting meds from the pharmacist at the clinic, we went back to the hotel to get ready to go to our company visit. This time, we'd be going to an NGO called VinaCapital. We basically learned a bit about how the company functions, as well as how VinaCapital Foundation, a charity agency, functions. VinaCapital basically just invests in a bunch of smallish businesses. VinaCapital Foundation is a charity agency with a goal of providing medical aid to those in need, as well as funding education of girls living in poverty. The reasoning behind only funding girls was pretty interesting. They said that if one man is educated, then he won't educate anyone else, but if a woman is educated, then she will educate everyone around her.

Later on in the evening, a few of us went out to McDonalds, just to see what it would be like. And it was amazing. I never knew mcnuggets could be that good and I definitely never knew I would see a bun that actually looked as round and perfect as the ones in the commercial. My McDonalds experience will never be the same. After that, we all went out to a karaoke room. The room was a lot more fancy that I expected. Singing karaoke with everyone was definitely a lot of fun.

Look at that bun though

Day 7: Surfin' Vietnam - 10.5.15

The day started a lot earlier than usual. The bus left at 7:00 instead of the usual 8:45. Of course, I didn't get out of bed until 6:40. And of course, this bus ride was longer than yesterday's. Three hours. Twice. So of course, I napped. We drove out to what we call the South China Sea, otherwise known as the East Sea, but before we went to the beach, we made a pitstop.

Me and Danielle plus Jesus

What Jesus sees all day

We had to climb up I think a little over 800 steps to get to where we were going. This was definitely made a lot more bearable by the awesome rice hat that I had just bought. I didn't realize where we were at first, since I was asleep on the bus, but we wound up going to visit Jesus. We went to Christ the King, of Vũng Tàu, a statue of Jesus that was completed by the Vietnam Catholic Association in 1993. Once we made it up the steps, we got to go inside of the statue and climb all the way up to the top to stand on his shoulders to get a view of the city and the water.

Gazing out over yonder with Jesus

Afterwards, we climbed down the stairs to head to the beach. We spent the rest of the day here swimming, playing games, and relaxing. We also had some awesome food in a fancy restaurant in the resort that we were by. There was a bunch of amazing Vietnamese food, a lot of which we've seen before.

Later in the day, for dinner, some of us were craving some good ol' burgers. Instead of going to McDonalds, we went to a place called Soul Burger at the recommendation of Bryan, one of the faculty members on the trip. It definitely seems like a Bryan type of place. We had to go upstairs in an alley to get there. And above the burger place was a tattoo parlor. This place was in an amazing location. One we walked in, we were welcomed by some amazing soul music. And the burgers we ate really healed the soul. They were beyond amazing. Before leaving, the owner came out and talked to us about his time being an expat living in Vietnam, working at a burger joint. This was definitely a great way to end an amazing day.

I know you got soul

Day 6: Tunnel Rats - 9.5.15

Today, we had the longest drive ever. We had to sit on a bus for two hours. Twice. Two hours. What did I do? Nap both times. We were on our way to the Củ Chi tunnels, a network of connecting underground tunnels in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City. These tunnels were the Viet Cong's base of operations during the Tết Offensive in 1968. The tunnels began as bomb shelters and then expanded into something much greater. The expansion began during the attack from the French, and then the tunnels began to expand a final time during the attacks from the Americans. At this point, these tunnels were basically underground cities.

Before we got to the tunnels, Dr Berman gave us a spiel on the history of the tunnels and the war, and then we watched a video that was made in 1968 from the perspective of the Viet Cong. The video was pretty crazy. Of course, the views expressed in the video were completely different than those expressed in America. The narrator was sure to emphasize how peaceful the village was prior to the American attack, in order to portray the Americans as savages. I think it's safe to say that we all felt pretty weird when we heard "American killer hero" over and over again.

Rachel and Akhil going in

I didn't think he would ever come back up

Once we made it to the tunnels, I was pretty excited to hear that we would be able to crawl through them. The first one started off as a reasonable size. But later, they got a lot smaller. And apparently, they were meant to support two way traffic. Fortunately, there were rooms every now and then and these were pretty large. There were also a lot of bats, so it was basically the Vietnamese bat cave. Seeing us struggle to squeeze through these shows how different in size we are form the people that were using them originally. Of course, the Vietnamese that used to live in these would've had no problem and definitely wouldn't have been as bothered as we were.

During the war, the American military had people who were required to traverse these tunnels. They called them "tunnel rats" and they would've been the shorter soldiers (5'5 and shorter). Speaking of the American soldiers, it was pretty strange walking through the jungle and seeing giant craters caused by American bombs. If I had to guess, I'd say they were 20-25 feet deep and they were scattered everywhere.

Vietnamese Memorial

After traversing through the tunnels, we went to a memorial honoring all of the lost Vietnamese soldiers, as well as some American soldiers. We were all reminded of the memorials in DC. They were definitely pretty similar. Afterwards, we went to the cemetery where all of these guys were buried. It was nice to see some pictures of the fallen soldiers, as well as their tombstones which allowed us to learn a little bit about them, like their age, where they were from, etc. It was however a little awkward seeing the soldiers regarded as heroes, since all that meant is that they killed a lot more than everyone else.

Despite burning up outside and in the tunnels, it was an amazing, informative day. Plus there was some awesome food.

Praaaaaawwwwwwwwwn

Behind the memorial

Day 5: Back in the USA 2: Merica - 8.5.15

Today, we started the day off with more school. We had another culture lecture, this time on the different religions of Vietnam. There were definitely a lot more than I expected. There was even one called Caodaism, which basically seemed like a religion that included a bunch of deities from different religions, such as the Hebrew God, Buddha, etc. In language class, we learned how to count on Vietnamese. We'll be using the few numbers that we remember when we go to the market on Monday so we can try to bargain.

In front of the US Consulate

After lunch at Kent, we went over to the U.S. Consulate. We finally made it back to U.S. soil. It was pretty amazing to be able to stand right where the Tet Offensive took place. After being briefed by some representatives from the Cobsulate on what happens there, we were given a tour of the courtyard. Afterwards, we had our picture taken in front of the well known flower beds that were made famous by LIFE Magazine after the war.

During our talk with Nate, Gerard, and Malika (who's basically my sister that I've never met before), we learned a lot about how the consulate is dedicated to strengthening the bonds between the Americans and Vietnamese. They're clearly doing an amazing job. The students here all love us, and so do a lot of the other people that we come across. We even wind up with a lot of people taking pictures of us and with us wherever we go.

Speaking of Vietnamese students loving us, we went to the American Center, a place for Vietnamese students from nearby universities to hang out, and basically love American culture. The last time we were there, we saw a group of students studying and watching Friends. We went into a pretty large room and a few moments later, a bunch of Vietnamese students piled in. Gerard introduced what we would be doing, which was really just talking to the students, asking and answering questions. And boy did they have a lot of questions. This was really the best part of the trip. Being able to interact with the students, see their views on my own culture, their culture, and whatever else was a really amazing experience.

It all started off pretty awkward. Gerard put us into groups, two American students to a lot of Vietnamese students, and didn't really give us anything to talk about. In hindsight, I'm really glad he did this, since it allowed for more authentic interactions with them. At first, it was pretty silent, so I decided to start asking general, introduction questions about where they're from, their majors, etc. It turns out that quite a few of them are English majors and many of them really wanted to go to the States.

Once the real questions started flowing, I began to learn so much about these students, their lives, and their love for my own culture. I knew that a lot of the Vietnamese students at UEF loved us, but I didn't realize until this point just how much the UEF students as well as students of other universities loved us. They definitely weren't afraid to ask the personal questions either. One kid asked me how many wives I had (I guess I look like the type to be married already) and another persistently asked what kind of girls I liked. After some of the awkward questions, and one kid saying I look like Derrick Rose (probably said it since I ball like him) we got to talking about more general culture. We were talking about sports, and I realized they don't know quite a few of the sports we have in the states. I had to explain to them what lacrosse is, and I'm just convinced they'll never know what football is. Whenever someone says football, they think soccer, no matter what. I was definitely surprised to see how well they knew American movies. That really showed me just how interested they are in the English language. After about two hours of talking to the students, we finally took some pictures with them and left. Realizing that these kids are exactly the same as me despite speaking a different language was really an amazing way to end the day.

'Nam Squad

Big Bird

Later on in the day, we ate small (cooked) birds.

Day 4: Back to Cutting Class - 7.5.15

Today, I woke up feeling pretty bad, and so did my roommate Akhil. Wound up skipping breakfast too. But before I forget, yesterday's title might've seemed a little odd. On the bus to UEF that morning, the Chicken Dance song started playing and someone suggested to include that in the blog, and then not explain it at all. I don't know what you thought about it, but I definitely thought it was pretty funny

We started the daily routine off a little differently. First, we went to visit a Daoist temple. It was amazing, but it was in a pretty strange location. It was in a crowded alleyway. I don't think too many people would expect to see a temple in any alley, especially this one. But despite it's location, it was a really beautiful temple. Even the dozens of giant pigeons and the pond of turtles added on to the beauty of the temple. And so did the giant prehistoric turtle, he was awesome, even if he was asleep.

After the temple, we went to class. Today's lecture was on how fast the guy driving Akhil and I back to the hotel could really go. We wound up skipping class (definitely not something we would ever do back at Pitt) after realizing that we really didn't feel well enough to stay. So I wound up taking a three hour nap in the middle of the day - pretty much what I do back at Pitt. Later, we got changed into some biz cas attire so we could go to our company visit. Of course, the company that we were going to visit, Glass Egg Digital Media, is the company that Akhil and I were responsible for. This means that our group was required to initiate discussion between the company's representatives and the students. That means it would've been pretty bad if we skipped the visit too.

I'm really glad I didn't skip the visit to Glass Egg, even though I was still feeling pretty crappy. Glass Egg is a game development and art production facility. They basically make a lot of cars and environments for a lot of popular games. So they're pretty popular. Going in there meant that I wouldn't be able to take pictures due to their work being pretty classified since these games are all under development. But it was definitely awesome being able to see how certain parts of video games are developed, especially video games that have yet to be released.

Afterwards, some of us got fitted for tailored suits! The suits here are of amazing quality and a lot cheaper than the ones in America (one of our faculty, Bryan, got four made).

Day 3: Back in the USA - 6.5.15

I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck so I shake my butt.

It's day three and people are dropping like flies here. Everyone is getting sick, either from some food, or the heat, or maybe even both. This is something that I really noticed in class, when I saw that there weren't too many people there. But in class, we had a lecture on the rural development in Vietnam. Our lecturer spent  a lot of time talking about the Mekong Delta and how it affects the city and Vietnam as a whole, mainly because he was from there. The Mekong Delta is the region where they farm catfish, and it's been killing the US catfish game. After class, we all ate lunch and since there were a lot less people, there was a lot less food. And the food was amazing.

In the afternoon, we went to Diamond Plaza to see the US Commercial Service. We were back on American tiling! The US Commercial Service acts as a consulate for American business in Vietnam. While there, we talked to Pat Wall, the head of the department, who told us all about what he does there (and how he isn't appreciated enough for his work). He basically told us everything that we would need to know for when we want to start businesses and work with the Vietnamese government, so I'm definitely feeling pretty ready to take on that adventure now.

After meeting with Pat, we all went back to the hotel where some of us headed up to the pool to relax. Of course, it started raining slushballs and dogs while we were up there. Afterwards, our friend Kate Ngoc, a UEF student, took us all out to dinner at a place called Broken Rice Restaurant. Kate's basically been our tour guide this entire trip. The food was pretty awesome, but even better than the food was a kitten that we think lives there, that we named Slushball. Slushball enjoys playing with plastic, running around, and being praised like the slushy king he is. Even though he had to paw at some legs to try to get food. Afterwards, we headed out to an awesome cafe that was in a slightly sketchy alley, but it was amazing. It also didn't really have a roof. It was a bit of a paradise. Actually it was a lot of a paradise. There was so much nature and there was even a breeze which is perfect when you're in Vietnam. But after coffee (I don't know why we drank coffee before bed), we went back to the hotel to end the day.

Day 2: Braving the New World - 5.5.15

Jet lag's definitely the worst part of the trip. I'm not 100% sure what day it is or what time it is, but I do know that we wound up going into the future after traveling (I think) all day Saturday and Sunday. So that means that I wound up exhausted at 10 pm the night before and woke up at 3 am the next morning, wide awake. So what did I do? What anyone would do at 3 am in a foreign country: play on my phone until I could fall back asleep since I had no clue what else to do.

Later in the morning, we went back to UEF to start our lectures. This lecture was all about the urban planning and development of the city and we spent a lot of time listening Dr Phuoc Tan, a chair from the Department of Urban Planning and Development in HCMC. He told us all about the current state of the city, and increasing population, the future of public tranportstion, etc. We made use of this time to learn all about what makes this city great, and he even made sure to tell us about the city's flaws as well. Speaking of the flaws in the city, Dr Phuoc told us all about the plans for Vietnam throughout the next 10 years. The most notable improvement to the city mentioned was pertaining to the public transportation. Currently, the people in the city travel using predominately motorbikes. This is definitely visible when outside. Despite all of the Mercedes-Benz and Audi dealerships that are all around the city, motorbikes are still just as prevalent, if not more prevalent than Toyota Camrys and Nissan Altimas are in the states. In fact, our advisor Dr Berman wound up getting hit by one while walking down the sidewalk a few years back.

After the lecture, we had a short break and were allowed to do whatever we wanted, be it inside or outside the school, as long as we were back to class on time. This was amazing because it allowed us to get a little more of a feel of what it would be like going to college in Vietnam. A few of us all went to a nearby cafe and got some much needed cà phê sữa đá, aka iced coffee (see? almost fluent!) So far, all of the coffee I've had here in Vietnam is so much better than coffee in America. After the coffee, we went back to another language class and learned more about the tones of the language, as well as some greetings. This was definitely a little different than language classes in America. Here, we had to get up to the front of the classroom with a partner and hold small conversations directly after being taught new material. Having only just learned the phrases made communicating that much more difficult.

Later in the day, after changing into some business casual attire, we all went to visit a development company called Phu My Hung. PMH builds business and residential complexes that they call city centers, as well as a few buildings laced throughout the city. The city centers are like small cities really. They really seem like attempts at making utopian societies for all of the expats and Vietnamese that choose to live there. Speaking of which, only half of the people living in the residential developments are expats from Australia, Korea, and Singapore, while the other half is composed of the Vietnamese. Many of them are foreign investors with stake in Vietnam.

After we toured the Phu My Hung facility, we had some downtime to chill in the hotel and explore the city. In the evening, we went out to dinner with some of the Vietnamese students. They took us to an amazing phở restaurant called Phở Hòa and I finally had some amazing Vietnamese phở. I got the phở nam (even more fluent than before) which is pho with well done beef flank. At first, I had no clue how to eat it, especially since there was a spoon plus chopsticks at the table, along with a plate full of what I thought was just random leaves. Luckily, there was a native sitting across the room who guided us, motioning what to do with the chopsticks and spoon. He even communicated to us that we should put some of the leaves in there, as well as all of the sauces that were there - I have no clue what the sauces were either. The phở, even after all of the random additions, was amazing. Afterwards, we wont out to find some street food, which was all amazing. The only thing that I knew the name of was the fried corn which was definitely my favorite. So all in all, it was an amazing day filled with a lot of amazing food!

Beth's phở (mine was almost gone before I remembered to take a picture)

Phu My Hung

Day 1: Almost Fluent - 4.5.15

Xin Chào!

Today was the first day of the Plus3 program! We started off the day by going to breakfast in the hotel. This was definitely a lot different than any breakfast that I have ever had. There wasn't really any typical American breakfast food present, except for a LOT of bacon. Turns out bacon is super addicting everywhere. But besides that, there was rice, phở, and a lot of different meats, none of which looked familiar at all.

After breakfast, we were ready to go to school. During the trip, we'll be attending various lectures and introductory Vietnamese for foreigners classes at the University of Economics and Finance (UEF), a local university. But before leaving, we got some awesome UEF x Pitt shirts that I definitely wish I could wear all day everyday. Once we arrived at the school, we were welcomed by a group of UEF students who were all incredibly excited to meet us. They greeted us at the entrance of the school with huge hand made flower necklaces. Afterwards, we all met up in their auditorium to be welcomed to the school. This was definitely an amazing experience. A lot of students put together multiple dances for us which seems like something that many students at other universities, especially in America. During this ceremony, we all received gift bags as well. The bags had the same Pitt x UEF shirt, an awesome UEF tie, and some reading material for our classes.

The best part of the day was definitely our Vietnamese language class. Our teacher is clearly really invested in helping us learn the language and makes the class really entertaining when she is going over all of the different words and sounds that we need to know. She always uses a lot of emphasis with every word and phrase we learn, which even makes it easier for us to learn the language. So far, we've only learned a few really basic things, such as the alphabet and how to say "hello" and "bye." After that class, I was feeling pretty fluent in the language, ready to start conversations that I wouldn't be able to finish with any native Vietnamese speaker.

After class, we went to the Kent International College for lunch. Kent is an international Australian college in HCMC. This food was really amazing. We got to experience some authentic Vietnamese food for the first time out of the hotel. There was rice of course, chicken, beef, and pork, all prepared in ways that I had never seen before in America. The meats were all packed with loads of flavor and there were a variety of different sauces to compliment them. This is where I saw how communal Vietnamese meals are generally served. We were given small bowls and in front of us were a bunch of plates with different food on them. I'm not completely sure, but I think we were supposed to put the rice in the bowl first, and then grab different meats that we wanted with our chopsticks to put on top. Even if that wasn't the right way to eat the food, the food was incredible.

Afterwards, we went to another college, HCMC University of Technology. We were at this school listen to their Vice President speak about his experiences as an engineering professor working in Vietnam. He told us quite a bit about himself, saying that he studied in Berlin and despite being a strong believer in experiencing different countries, hadn't been to America until he was 35 years old. Besides hearing about his personal philosophies on community and travel, he told us a lot about the school and what made it so great, specifically its internship program.

Later in the day, we all went to get dinner at an amazing restaurant. I was so excited to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant that I never looked up to see that sign and figure out what it was called. The best part about the restaurant, besides eating the food, was getting to see how some of the restaurant's popular meals were prepared.

Live snails with what they're fated to be to their left

Afterwards, we went back up to our room which was specially reserved just for us and we saw a lot of amazing, unfamiliar food waiting for us. In fact, the one thing that was best known was the crayfish, and even that's something that we don't see often in America. Along with that, there were amazing summer rolls along with some form of chicken with what seemed like small plates made of rice, some more chicken, and some soup. There was also some stuff that I just didn't know the name of and had never seen before. There were even these whole shrimp, shell and all, encased in dough. This was definitely an amazing way to end an amazing first full day in Ho Chi Minh City.

30 Hours Later - 3.5.15

We've finally managed to survive the craziest day of the trip: the first one. It started off with having to be ready to leave Pitt by 6:00 AM. After a night in Tower C, on the same floor that I lived in all of last year, we all met in Towers Lobby with all of our bags, ready to go. I definitely wasn't looking forward to the bus ride. I assumed we would be taking a Port Authority 28X to the airport, which would take an hour, but I was so glad to be wrong. We walked outside to see a huge coach bus waiting for us, which was so much better than any Port Authority bus.

After a 30 minute ride, we arrived at the Pittsburgh International Airport. After checking our bags, we managed to take a secret shortcut through the airport. At the airport, there's an alternative security checkpoint that never has a line. This was perfect since it was so much faster than the regular security checkpoint would've been, especially considering how many of us had to go through. Once we made it to our gate, we had two or three hours to spare. Luckily, I managed to use that time to finish my individual report of Vietnam that was due that day before we had to board. After a few hours, we finally boarded and were off to our first destination: Chicago.

When some people think about Chicago, especially the people that love food, they think about deep dish pizza and Chicago-style hot dogs. Fortunately when we got there, we were hungry. The first thing that we thought to do was get some deep dish pizza. Unfortunately the pizza there wasn't the really popular Chicago deep dish with the sauce on top instead of the cheese, but it was still a deep dish and it was still amazing. After that, we were ready to board our first international plane to our second destination, Hong Kong. While we were boarding, I was stopped for the first time. Why? Because they thought that I could've been some guy who leaked some of NSA's secrets on account of us having the same last name. Luckily, I don't really look that much like Edward Snowden, so there wasn't much of a problem.

Once we made it onto the plane, we had a 16 hour flight to look forward to. At first, I thought it would be alright and I would be able to sleep through the majority of it, but I was so wrong. It turns out that I was pretty dehydrated during the flight. I didn't realize this until I passed out. I had got up to go to the bathroom and while I was waiting, I started to feel really weak and lightheaded, of course accompanied by a really clammy sweat. So while I was standing there, I passed out, hit my head, and had to be helped up by a nearby passenger. I came to after a few seconds with a weird headache and didn't remember a thing; he had to tell me what happened. That was definitely the weirdest part of the day. Afterwards, I realized that the best way to get through the remaining nine hours of the flight would be to watch nonstop movies. Fortunately, the plane came stocked with a bunch of movies that I didn't have the chance to see back home. After four more movies, we landed in the Hong Kong International Airport, with a few hours to spare. I was really looking forward to trying some Chinese food and the first thing that I ate there was an authentic chocolate chip muffin from the McDonalds McCafe in the airport. After the wait, we boarded the next plane for a two hour flight to our final destination: Ho Chi Minh City.