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.