It’s our last day in Vietnam. I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed… I do not want it to end at all. I have seen and done some incredible things and I have made friends that I will have forever. These two weeks have been some of the best weeks of my life. 

We start off the day with a presentation about the trade between Vietnam and Pennsylvania. It was interesting to see just how involved and connected the countries have become this quickly after the war. I was very intrigued by this presentation but all that was on my mind was the upcoming language class and cumulative test. After the presentation was over, I continued to practice my pronunciations and learn and memorize all the words and phrases I had learned. Our UEF friends joined us in the class and helped us to make sure that we would do well on the test. After I finally felt comfortable and had basically memorized everything I needed to, it was time to get up in front of the class and speak. I was partnered with Alex and we were instructed to have a conversation asking each other our names, how we were doing, what we did last night, and where we went last night. I thought it went very smoothly. Next, I had to talk about myself and give information about myself in Vietnamese. It was going very well until I stumbled and forgot a word. I couldn’t think of it so I had to sneak a peek back at the board. I guess that was my only mistake because my teacher gave me a 9 out of 10. We took pictures with our teacher and the whole class. It was all starting to hit me that we wouldn’t be coming back. I did not like it. We had lunch at the UEF canteen for the last time. I no longer needed instruction on how to eat with chopsticks, including rice! I absolutely plan on using chopsticks when I get home too. After lunch, we drove to the soccer field for the UEF-Pitt game. We were very excited and hoped that all of our hard work and long training sessions would pay off (actually just a few minutes on the beach in Vung Tau). It was so hot. I don’t think I have ever played in heat and humidity like that. I was dripping sweat less than five minutes after starting. The sidelines were packed with UEF kids looking to cheer both teams on. I made sure that our UEF friends were ready to cheer loudly for us. My promised me that if she didn’t play she would be chanting “TIM TIM TIM” from the sideline. The game was very fun. The teams were pretty evenly matched. In the end, we won 3 – 2! It was an excellent team effort from Team #YOLO. Once the game was finished we continued the festivities with some more games. First was a potato sack race. We had to pair up one girl and one guy, one UEF kid and one Pitt kid. I paired up with My, we were definitely the clear-cut favorites going into the competition! In the first heat we took second place after a hard-fought race. I started off and had us tied for third and then My took over and hopped herself into second place! This meant that we would race in the finals. The final heat did not go as well as we had hoped but it still provided plenty of laughs. Before My could finish she tripped while she was hopping. After the potato sack race, where Tam and Alex brought home the gold, we had yet another dance off. The Vietnamese surely like to dance, but I am not complaining because I love to dance too! We set up in three lines and followed as a few of the UEF kids showed us how to do a traditional yet modern Vietnamese dance. It was extremely hard to follow but very fun. Once the festivities had ended, we exchanged even more gifts. My and I won a duck for our fourth place finish in the potato sack race. Even as I sit on the plane, the duck reminds me of all of the fun times we had with our Vietnamese friends. I’m also finding that this journal is becoming increasingly more difficult to write. It’s really upsetting me to think that I won’t wake up in the morning in the Victory Hotel with a whole day of classes, business presentations, and hanging with the UEF kids.

When we got to the hotel, we all showered and a group of us headed to the co-op one last time. I bought my last bun… these buns were delicious. After a quick stop at KFC it was back to the hotel to start packing and then get ready for our farewell dinner. Just as we were about to gather in the lobby for the dinner, we discovered that all of our flights had changed drastically. The flight from Hong Kong to Chicago had been delayed meaning that we would be unable to catch our flight from Chicago to Pittsburgh (or Newark in my case). We all freaked out. Some of us were going from Hong Kong to Newark. Others from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Newark. And even some were going from Hong Kong to San Francisco to Denver to Pittsburgh. The whole thing was extremely screwed up. We had to stop thinking about it and enjoy our last night here because there was nothing we could do until we got to the airport. The dinner on the boat was beautiful. It had an open deck that was light up and had tables and chairs set up on it. We headed towards a large table towards the front of the boat. Equipped with dramamede I felt prepared to enjoy this farewell dinner. The food was great! And although most of it was seafood which is not my favorite thing in the world, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the last time I would have true Vietnamese food. The dinner was bittersweet though. After we had finished we had to say good bye to the incredible people in UEF that made this whole trip a huge success. It was the beginning of many more goodbyes. Did I mention that I hate good byes? Back at the hotel, the UEF kids were waiting for us. They are truly some of the nicest people I have ever met. They agreed to stay with us until we took off, some of them even driving to the airport to see us off. We hung out in our hotel rooms for the night. It felt like we had known them for our whole lives, we all got along so well. Once again, showing just how unbelievably nice they were, each of them had gotten all of us gifts so we would never forget our time in Vietnam. I will now be reminded of each of them wherever I go because of the many things they so graciously got for us. As it got closer to our time to leave, I had to try harder and harder to not think about the goodbyes I would have to say. I talked with My for awhile. We exchanged emails and I promised her I would message her and email her as much as I could. She wants to come to Pittsburgh in July through UEF. I really hope she can so I can see her again (before next summer when I get an internship at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City!). None of the other UEF kids can go though which really sucks. The time had finally arrived. The group of Vietnamese kids drove their motorbikes to the airport while I packed up some of my last belongings. As we were walking out of room 326, Eric and I said a small goodbye to our home for the past two weeks. Once at the airport, the emotions really hit me. Alex was the first one to start crying and once he started I knew I was done for. These last few goodbyes were some of the toughest things I had to do. I said good bye to Tam and Dang and Nang and Tuan and all of others that accompanied us to the airport. I could not even express in words how grateful I was for everything every single one of them had done with us.  I said goodbye to My last. This one was the hardest because I had gotten so close to her over the last two weeks. I did not think it was possible to get to know someone so well in such a short period of time especially with a pretty significant language barrier. But it happened with My and I. I told all of them that there was no way I was not going to come back. I am determined to get that internship with the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, but if not I would do everything in my power to find a place to volunteer or even shadow next summer. My last, last goodbye was for Tran. Our savior and guide on the trip. Not only did she help us navigate and survive the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh but she became a great friend too. It was just as hard saying goodbye to her as it was saying goodbye to the others. Walking away from every single one of them really hurt and I struggled checking in my luggage and going through customs and security. Surprisingly they did not charge me for an overweight bag even though I was 2 kg overweight. The flight from Ho Chi Minh to Hong Kong went smoothly. But now Team #YOLO had to split up. Although it was not nearly as sad as saying good bye to our Vietnamese friends because we would see everyone the next three years possibly more, it was sad parting with the best Plus3 group out there. Brice, Hailee, Huyen, and I rushed to our gate and boarded almost immediately. Although the rest of them have more flights left, I have on direct flight left to Newark, New Jersey. For a brief second I was super excited to go home and see my family and friends but then I remembered what I was leaving behind and it quickly disappeared. Don’t get me wrong, I really missed everyone back home but Vietnam was an incredible experience that I will never forget.  

As if I have not been sappy enough, I have more to add. But before I begin, I just want to take this time to recognize and thank someone for their help throughout the trip. Our trusty program assistant, mother, commander, chairman, and new friend Brice. Without his help I’m not so sure some of us would have made it. From “finding” life-saving medication to his guidance and support, without him this trip would not have been possible. Cam On (Thank You) Brice! Now for the waterworks… I wrote this while sitting on the plane and I can pretty much say I have been crying pretty consistently through it all. I know I probably have said this a million times and you may even be getting sick of me saying this, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to even put it into words the things that the UEF students did for us. I think it is safe to say that the Vietnamese kids we met and befriended have become more than just our friends, they really are like family now. So I guess this is it. My last journal entry. I hope you have enjoyed experiencing my Vietnamese journey alongside me. I apologize for not keeping up but as you read my entries I’m sure you’ll understand just how busy I have been. Alright well as they say in Vietnam, XIN CIAO HEN GAP LAI! Good bye and see you later! 

Cu Chi, Tay Ninh, and Bargain Hunting

Today was an early start. We were day tripping to the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh. The Cu Chi tunnels were really amazing. Although once again having to deal with listening to the Vietnamese side of the story, they were very fascinating. We started off by each of us climbing into a tiny hole in the ground. Once the top was covered with leaves you became invisible, it was like you were never even there. We walked through the jungle where American soldiers had clashed with the Vietcong. Our guide showed us the huge network of tunnels that allowed the Vietcong to not only survive but to defeat the Americans. We were allowed to walk down into a tunnel. I could never have stayed down there for long periods at a time like the Vietcong did. It was very small and there was only enough room to crouch. We made it to the next entry/exit point. A group of us thought it was too cool that we had to try it again. Our guide showed us another tunnel that we could walk down. This time the journey through the tunnels was longer and the tunnel got to a point at times where it was too narrow and too short to fit through without going sideways and crawling. Dr. Berman and our guide told us about many of the stories that occurred here. It was pretty cool being at a place that held so much history.

Next up was another long bus ride to Tay Ninh. Tay Ninh is the Vatican of the Cao Dai religion. It is the headquarters and origin of this small, historic religion. The temple was amazing but at the same time slightly disconcerting. It’s hard to describe in words. There was plenty of colors and figures everywhere. The large hall had an eerie feel to it. At the end of the hall was an altar to which the worshipers of Caodaiism prayed. The top of the altar featured the all-seeing eye. The picture of the eye just added to the strange overall feeling the temple gave off. We stayed to watch as the monks (I’m not sure exactly what to call them) began their daily worship. It just added to the eeriness of the place. They all lined up on the ground and would bow their heads every time a gong went off. It was a very cool thing to watch. We left Tay Ninh and stopped for lunch at a place to eat on the side of the road. It was a bit sketchy but it turns out the food was pretty good.

After getting back to the hotel around 3:15, the UEF kids took us to Ben Thanh again to test our bargaining skills. I was eager to bargain as I had not bought much our first time there. While I was buying a souvenir for my sister, I was attempting to get the price to 40,000 VND. But the lady would not budge. As I was walking away she made the final price 50,000 VND. I thought I could get it somewhere else for 40,000 VND so I continued walking away. As I left her shop she yelled to me “Save your 40,000 VND so you can buy incense when you die!” Apparently I really angered here LOL. I found the same souvenir at another place and tried to get it down to 40,000 VND but it was hopeless so I took it for 50,000 VND after all. I bought another item from the store in a pretty good deal after a lot of hassling and bargaining. The lady there told me I was very good at bargaining and when I took out my wallet to buy the souvenir she noticed that I had a lot of dong and asked why I bargained so much if I had so much money. I finished my shopping at Ben Thanh and headed to the main entrance to meet up with the rest of the group. We could not fit into one taxi so I just waited for My to come and pick me up. Tuan then planned to take us to a t-shirt store that sold shirts with funny sayings in Vietnamese on them. But on the way My and I fell behind and got lost. We finally made it to the store. The shirts in the store were funny. The one a few of us bought said “Not drunk, Not going home” In Vietnamese. We then walked to a European restaurant. On the way we had to cross a few streets. Crossing the streets was very challenging in Vietnam with all the hundreds of motorbikes and cars. Crossing a street in NYC is almost comparable to crossing one in Vietnam, but not quite. I thought I could do it pretty well so I decided to go solo on one of my crosses. This almost ended disastrously as I had to hurry forward to get out of the way of one bike while stopping myself from walking into another one. They nearly sandwiched me but I made it out okay! At this dinner, I was looking to try something different. I asked My about a bunch of the foods on the menu. One of the more interesting was ostrich wing, which My said was very good. But I could not bring myself to order an ostrich so I stuck with a simple plate of pasta. This dinner we refused to let any of the UEF kids pay. They had done enough for us already. We got home early and a few of us wanted to go to Lush, the club run by Glass Egg Digital Media. I wasn’t very interested in going out as I felt the trip coming to an end. I just wanted to hang out with some of the people staying back, write this blog, and talk to My, Tam, and Tuan. But I ended up going out because I figured it would be the last time that I could go to a club and order drinks for a while. Lush wasn’t anything special and I left early. I was still trying to avoid thinking about our upcoming departure. I did not want to think about having to leave Vietnam and all of my new friends. 

Communism finally, Last Company Visit, and Conveyor Belt Food

Company visits on company visits on company visits. We started off at Saigon Newport Corporation. SNP is the largest port in Vietnam and is responsible for almost 80% of Vietnam's exports and imports. There is no port of that size and magnitude in the United States! But the most interesting part was that SNP is government owned and managed. It is run by the Vietnamese Navy. This means that the government controls 80% of what Vietnamese imports and exports. I could only imagine what would happen if the United States government attempted to do that. This is one of the very few instances where I noticed the communism state of the nation. Like the U.S. consulate said, the Vietnamese are not very good at being communist. While we were there, we were shown the control room. From the control room you pretty much had a view of the whole port... it was very big. Next we were taken on a tour and shown how large the port truly is.

After a quick lunch at the UEF canteen, we headed to the Quang Trung Software City. QTSC is similar to VSIP except it's specifically built for software companies. I was not very impressed by QTSC. VSIP was much more organized and better put together. QTSC also gave me the impression that it was relatively empty. After a quick tour of QTSC we drove to TMA Solutions. TMA Solutions is a software outsourcing company that provides research and products to larger technology companies. One of the many projects they are working on is an upgrade of the Android iOs. The list of companies they service is very impressive and include some of the biggest techonology companies in the world. Once the visit at TMA Solutions was over, I realized that it was our last company visit. Our adventure in Vietnam was almost over... I don't want this to end!

Tonight, we went to another street vendor. This time we had Vietnamese ice cream. It tasted very good! It was very similar to American ice cream but I am positive that it is a lot more healthy than the ice cream I have here. In the ice cream there were parts of Chom Chom, my favorite Vietnamese fruit. It was very delicious. In the street vendor place, we finally got to sit in the tiny plastic chairs that everyone is always chilling on! I had been waiting for this moment for so long... I had almost reached complete Vietnamese chill status. Then we went to get dinner at Kichi Kichi, which is a Hot Pot restaurant. At Kichi Kichi, you order a spiced broth that you want. They bring you the broth in a pot and you put it over a hot stove. As the broth is brough to a broil you take plates off of a conveyor belt that is moving in front of you. On the plates there are a ton of different things. There is ham, bacon, pork, beef, crab, fish, prawns, squid, noodles, and tons of different vegetables. Some of the things were very unsettling... I thought at first that the prawns were alive. I could not eat something where I could look into its eyes. But My seemed to love the prawn... I was very impressed even though it was probably delicious. In my pot, I put crab, ham, pork, and tons of noodles. It was very good! Although I thought the restaurant was a brilliant idea, it would never have passed regulations in the US. Having raw food moving around on an open conveyor belt would not be considered sanitary. After a jam-packed day, it was back to the Victory Hotel for a short night's sleep.

Video Games, Street Vendor Challenge, and VIP status

This morning we had both culture and language class! In the culture class we learned about the many types of religions in Vietnam. I learned that there are a few different types of Buddhism and how much they actually differ from each other. It was interesting learning the specifics of a religion so unlike my own. Next was my favorite part of the day, language class! We learned common questions and answers in Vietnamese. My knowledge of the Vietnamese is getting bigger and bigger.. when I get back to Pittsburgh I want to take a class to expand it even more!

In the afternoon, we traveled to Glass Egg Media in District Four. We met with the CEO and CFO of the company. They took us up to the 17th floor and we were able to take picture of a pretty awesome view. How cool would it have been to have an office like that? Phil Tran, the CEO, was talking to us about the location. He said that District 4 did not have the greatest reputation, he compared it to the Bronx of Ho Chi Minh. He said there was a lot of corruption and a group resembling an American mob. Next they took us on a tour of their company. I couldn't help but think that this was definitely a place I wouldn't mind working. Glass Egg is responsible for video game production and design. They have provided huge video game companies with the cars, people, and environments in their games. They were also creating the code for a few games for the iPad. As we were walking around I was checking out the codes of some of the employees there. Most of them usual Microsoft Visual Studios... I guess we actually do use some of the stuff we learn! Similar to Tung Bach of Ascenx Technologies, Phil Tran was also a refugee during the Vietnam War. His family was forced to flee and he did not return until the embargo was lifted.

For dinner, our UEF friends took us to a "street vendor". But it was not what I was expecting. As Ho Chi Minh City has grown and modernized, street vendors have moved off the streets. We all ordered chicken and sticky rice. The food was some of the best I had all trip. Tuan also ordered me a drink that he said translates to sweet porridge. I was nervous to drink it though. It looked like an aquarium and I could have sworn there was something living in it. But when I tried it, it was delicious! It tasted like a better version of Arizona sweet tea. I'm glad I looked past the appearance to try it. After the street vendor, we went to the New York Dessert Cafe for some cheesecake. I got mango cheesecake.. it was very good. Next, some of us hung out for a bit longer at a local Vietnamese mall. Not gonna lie, I thought that this mall was nicer than most of the malls I've been to back in the US. After we said hện gặp lại to our UEF friends, we headed to Lush. Lush is owned by Glass Egg Media. Because we had talked to their CEO and CFO, they called the club manager and got us into the VIP section! It was a fun night!

cà phê sữa đá, Rack of Ribs, and Sushi!

After an exciting weekend, it was time to get back to more company visits and classes. We started off the morning by visiting VTI. Viet Thai International joint stock company owns several franchises and individual companies throughout Southeast Asia. One of their companies is Highlands coffee. The coffee there is hands down the best coffee I’ve ever had. It was delicious. It was interesting listening to them explain how they are able to manage and deal with the differences in cultures, traditions, and the societies of the Southeast Asian countries. After their presentation, and brief question and answer period, they took us to Hard Rock Café. The American food was very good and it was fun showing Tran some of our favorite foods. We had ribs, wings, onion rings, chicken fingers, and nachos. Tran really liked the honey mustard! I see where she’s coming from because I would eat honey mustard with almost everything. The food was very good and it didn’t get me sick either, which was a surprise because my stomach did not handle the American food very well. After eating we headed to the War Remnants Museum. I’d rather not talk very much about this place because it was very disturbing and unsettling. Clearly there are two sides to every story and that’s all I am going to say about it.

We met up with our Vietnamese friends for some traditional Japanese dinner. It was very good! I have never had sushi that tasty. I also tried sake, which is a Japanese wine. It was very different but I liked it. Tuan told me I should try Vietnamese wine some time. After dinner, we headed back to Snowee for some ice cream. I ordered the Oreo Peanut Cheesecake Ice Cream. I wanted to order it in Vietnamese so I asked My how to say it. But the translation ended up being so much longer than it sounds in English. It’s funny how sometimes things translate so differently. After a fun day, we all need to catch up on sleep and get ready for tomorrow!

Vung Tau, Giant Jesus, and American Food

Today we had our first day trip! Team #YOLO headed to Vung Tau. Vung Tau is a beach town southeast of Ho Chi Minh City. We took a hydrofoil to Vungtau. I did not enjoy the trip there because I have a tendency to get sea sick. Instead I caught up on missed sleep. After about an hour and a half boat ride, we arrived! The town was beautiful. If it wasn’t for the constant stream of motorbikes I would have thought I was in a tropical village somewhere in the Caribbean. The beach was so much fun. We did a lot of chilling (felt like a native Vietnamese) and played some games with everyone. We attract quite a crowd wherever we go, it’s pretty amazing. After swimming in the beautiful water for a while, we drove to a seafood restaurant. I am not a huge fan of seafood so I just ate rice. I am starting to really like rice but I don’t know if I could eat it with almost every meal like they do here.

We finished our lunch and began our trek up to a giant statue of Jesus on top of a cliff. It’s similar to the famous Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro (I think that’s where it is). The climb up was hot and tiring but it was worth it. The view from the top was amazing. But we weren’t allowed to climb to the top of Jesus because we needed to be wearing sleeves and long pants. I picked a bad day to wear my sleeveless Vietnamese flag shirt. Speaking of my Vietnamese flag shirt, Reggie and I both wore them to the beach. We got many stares as we were walking around. It must have been strange for the locals to see white Westerners wearing Vietnam colors. It was funny watching some of the Vietnamese’s reactions to our (limited) Vietnamese vocabulary. Sometimes they were shocked that we could speak and some of the time they gave us blank stares which leads me to believe that we still have some pronunciation work to do. We made the long trek back down and got back on the boat for another miserable boat ride.

Back at the hotel we all showered up (we had gotten pretty disgustingly sweaty). Next up was dinner at the Black Cat, a taste of American food. I was a little nervous though because American food had not been agreeing with my stomach. What would normally be a small meal for me made me feel stuffed. I could not even finish the burger, my diet really has changed. After finishing off the American meal, we got a taxi and went to a bar on a rooftop. It was very chill, we are becoming more Vietnamese every day. After a relaxing and adventurous weekend we start up classes again tomorrow.

Reunification Palace... It was unbelievably hot then too.

President's living area in the palace, it was so beautiful.

Me outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral (Vietnam style)

The pagoda...

And the inside of the Pagoda

Some of the guys at the karaoke bar!

Me, My, and Kathy at King Karaoke

Ho Chi Minh City tour, Bargain Hunter, and Sweet Caroline

Finally the weekend! We did not have any class today so we went on a tour of Ho Chi Minh City. We started off at the Reunification Palace. It was pretty cool seeing something in person that I had only seen in history textbooks and on the internet. The amount of history that this building is involved is pretty incredible. Once the Vietcong reached the palace and successfully invaded it, the Vietnam War was basically over. The tour was slightly frustrating though. Our guide frequently mentioned how North Vietnam was liberated and the South Vietnam was not free. I understand that there are always two different sides to everything but it still frustrated me. But anyway, the building was pretty cool. It was huge and very beautiful. After that, we headed to the Notre Dame cathedral built by the French and the Post Office, also built by the French. It was interesting seeing how much the French influenced Vietnamese culture. In the Post Office there was a souvenir shop with some very interesting gifts… but I can’t say them because I’m not gonna give anything away! Next up was a pagoda. From what I understand, a pagoda is the Buddhist equivalent of a church. However, Buddhists hold their pagodas to be much more sacred. I thought everything there was beautiful. It was quite an experience.

After finishing the tour, we had the rest of the afternoon off! We decided to finally make our way to the Bến Thành Market. There are tons of markets in Ho Chi Minh and each one is just as crowded as the next. The market we went to (pronounced ben tahn) is a huge tourist destination. At the market, there are hundreds of stalls operated by local Vietnamese selling thousands of different things. The cool part about the market is that there are no fixed prices. You can bargain and barter your way to a lower price. It takes some getting used to. I browsed with my group for a little bit before I found what I wanted. I bought a pack of chopsticks (I am very confident using them now) and I bought a sleeveless Vietnam flag shirt. I didn’t bargain very well for the chopsticks but the t shirt I think I did alright on. I bought it for 70,000 dong but it originally cost 100,000. With our limited but useful knowledge of the Vietnamese language, we were able to communicate (although very briefly) with the locals there. And they loved it! Whenever I would say sorry or excuse me (pronounced seen loi) they would smile and say xin chao (hello)! I thought that was so cool. For dinner, the UEF kids took us to a local karaoke bar. And wow was I surprised. The image in my head of a karaoke bar was completely different than what it was. Karaoke is huge in Vietnam… there are karaoke bars on nearly every street. And I can certainly vouch for its popularity. It was so much fun. We had a private room to ourselves where we could order endless food and drinks and sing and dance together. It was awesome! I would have to say the highlight of the night was singing Sweet Caroline. I told My about the Pitt tradition and how we sing it at every football game. The UEF kids were eager to join our tradition. I got chills as I looked around and saw UEF and Pitt kids together singing Sweet Caroline and chanting Let’s Go Pitt. It was simple but incredible.

View from the Starlight Bridge

Da Boyz on the Starlight Bridge... skinny arm pose everyone!

Boat People, Greasy American Food, and the Starlight Bridge

This morning we had both a language and a culture class. In the culture class, we were taught the primary beliefs of the Vietnamese culture. The concept and of yin and yang was explained to us. I thought it was interesting how they assigned yin and yang to many different things; like numbers and directions for example. Language class was once again awesome. We are starting to be able to hold conversations in Vietnamese. We can now say how are you doing, describe how you’re feeling, and a bunch of other greetings. I think I’m starting to get the hang of the different tones although there are some consonants that I cannot get (ng).

After a quick lunch, we headed to Ascenx Technology. Ascenx is a small company formed by Tung Bach. Tung’s story is pretty incredible. He is one of the famous boat people of Vietnam. He fled the country after the end of the Vietnam War. Many of his uncles were hanged for the involvement in the war. His father died on a boat also attempting to escape the country. After earning a computer engineering degree from Cal Poly (very impressive) he returned to Vietnam and began this company. Although it is not quite at the point that he wants it to be at, it has risen quickly and is continuing to grow. I was very interested in how he started his company as I am also interested in starting and managing my own engineering firm.

Later in the afternoon, our UEF friends decided to take us to Domino‘s Pizza. I could not wait because normally I am a huge Domino’s fan. I ordered a large sized Hawaiian style pie with Nino. I could not even finish half of it and afterwards my stomach was killing me. It’s ironic that the food that got me sick was the American food that I have been eating my entire life. I guess my stomach had already become accustomed to fresh, non-greasy Vietnamese food. Then we decided to explore more of South Saigon. We went to the Crescent Mall and the Starlight Bridge. The area that we were in was so much nicer than most of the places I’ve been in the United States. My told me that the Starlight Bridge was a popular place for Vietnamese couples. The Starlight Bridge is bridge in the Crescent area that lights up. It’s pretty cool. We took a ton of pictures and probably made complete fools out of ourselves. After a pretty eventful day, we were all exhausted and I was so ready to go to bed.

New friends from UEF!

Pho!

Tam and Alex on the motorbike tour.

Slightly blurry picture of Ho Chi Minh City from the bridge


I have tons of videos but I have yet to figure out how to upload them to this blog.. hopefully I'll figure out soon

đội ngũ tuyệt vời, Phở, and the Tour of a Lifetime

Once again the day started off early with breakfast at the hotel and a van ride to UEF. We had our first Vietnamese history and culture class. We learned a lot about the people and land of Vietnam. The Viet are low-landers, meaning they prefer to live in the lower elevation land close to water (in Vietnam there are two river deltas). Then we had another language class… today we were learning the different vowels and tones of Vietnamese. There are 10 vowels in Vietnam! And unlike English, Vietnamese words can differ based purely on tone. This, along with some of the vowel and consonant sounds, are giving me the most trouble.

After a quick lunch, we got together with some of the UEF kids for a cultural exchange! They split us up into teams. Our team was called đội ngũ tuyệt vời (which translates to Team Awesome) and we were clearly the best team there. In the first activity, we were given a sheet of paper and we had to talk about how certain topics differed in the US and Vietnam. I thought there were a ton of interesting ones. In Vietnam it is not acceptable to kiss in public. But our team told me that if a couple wants to kiss they go to the park in the evening. Maybe the United States should copy Vietnam… enough with the obnoxious PDA! The next game we played was basically copycat. Two guys from UEF did two different dances and the teams split up and had to copy each one of them. Ours was pretty difficult because none of us could really moonwalk but I thought we owned it when it was our turn to dance. Next we played a game like charades. I went up first for our team. But I didn’t get one point for us… I blame it on Jackie, she was definitely cheating. Next up was a strange game where you had to spin someone else on your team around your body. It was actually really funny to watch. Next up was a game where we had to catch a pig! It was crazy. I am not so sure that would have gone over well in the states. But I went first again for our team. I didn’t get the pig on the first try but I got him on the second try. The next game was simple, just sling a ball through a hoop. It turns out it’s a lot harder than it sounds.

Next we all gathered for a gift exchange. The Pitt kids gave their UEF counterparts key chains, magnets, and t shirts. And we got bags full of cool stuff from the UEF kids. After the gift exchange, we had a sing a long and dance party with the UEF kids! It was so much fun. We all exchanged our names so we could become Facebook friends! Funny how the world is changing… it’s awesome that we’ll still be able to keep in touch with our new friends even after we leave. I also tried a fruit that I’ve never even heard of before. It’s pronounced chum-chum (I think) but I have no idea how it’s spelled.

Next up was dinner with some of our UEF friends. It was the dinner we’ve all been waiting for. They were planning on taking us to a Pho (pronounced fa) restaurant. It was the first Vietnamese word we learned and finally we were getting to eat it. It’s a soup with rice noodles, vegetables, and some meat in it. The UEF kids picked us up on their motorbikes and took us to the restaurant. I really liked the Pho! I’m also starting to get better at using chopsticks. After dinner, our friends offered to give us a motorbike tour of Ho Chi Minh. I was super excited. I rode with my driving buddy, My, for an hour! It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I got to truly experience a culture completely different than my own. We drove over a bridge where we had an awesome view of the bright lights of Ho Chi Minh City. It’s really an amazing place. It still hasn’t fully hit me I’m in Vietnam. I’m so lucky to have been given this experience… I don’t want to leave!!

I'm not sure if I've posted a picture of the traffic in Ho Chi Minh yet but here is just a small sample of a side street, can you even imagine a big busy street during rush hour!

The entrance to VSIP

Master of Chill. This happens everywhere in Vietnam, it's pretty crazy.

A few of us at Barbecue Garden. I forgot to mention in my blog that I tried goat! It was similar to pork but slightly chewier.

All of us outside Barbecue Garden!

Statue outside of Notre Dame Cathedral with the cathedral in the background, very pretty.

Straight Chillin', YOLO, and Late Night Tours

This morning we decided to wake up early and hit the gym. Eric, Elliott, Jackie, and I went to a small, sweltering hot room. It was easily above 80 degrees. I did some small workouts but I could not do anything more because it was so unbelievably hot. I ran a little bit more than a mile and I was so lightheaded and sweaty. We took a dip in the pool and then got ready for the day.

 VSIP or Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park is something that the United States does not have. It’s a giant self-sufficient area that services businesses and industries looking to move to Vietnam. It offers everything that a business needs to operate. There are four industrial parks throughout Vietnam that host a bunch of countries from all across the globe. After a presentation from a marketing employee there we headed to II-VI, an engineering company based in Pittsburgh. The tour was pretty cool! We got to see how the company operated and how the made all of their products. The guide was also very informative and I felt like I was able to relate to him. He not only explained the workings of the company but he also elaborated on how being based in Vietnam affects their business and how they deal with it.

 After more much needed relaxation, we were picked up by our friends from UEF and brought to Barbeque Garden. It was definitely the best food I’ve had so far although I’m pretty sure the place was meant for foreigners and tourists. I learned so many phrases when Alex and I were talking to the UEF kids sitting near us, it was awesome! Although I’m pretty sure I will have forgotten them all by tomorrow sadly.  

Once we finished dinner, our new friends took us walking around some parts of Ho Chi Minh. They took us to the Notre Dame Cathedral and a big mall in Vietnam (can’t remember the name). The Notre Dame Cathedral was very pretty. I learned a lot about life in Vietnam when I was talking with My. I thought Vietnam would be completely different than the US but actually it is quite similar. We walked back to the hotel and crashed almost immediately after a long and busy day.  

Before I go I wanna point out something that we've been noticing. The Vietnamese have a habit of relaxing and "chilling" almost everywhere. There are always people sitting in small plastic chairs or laying out on their motorbikes on the sidewalks. We point it out everywhere we go. The Vietnamese are clearly very chill people. We taught our UEF friends the meaning of "chill" and now they're even pointing it out when they see it, it's hilarious! We have also taught them YOLO. It took awhile to explain just because it's slang and it's so American. But they eventually picked it up and I think it's starting to catch on. Hopefully they'll be saying YOLO all the time soon!

Our friends before motorbiking for the first time!

At the local Vietnamese restaurant with Kathy and My

The ice cream place with everyone.. it looks like it could be an ice cream store in the US!

A map of the development that Phu My Hung is builiding... it's less than 1/5 of the entire South Saigon new city that is being built. Incredible!

Phu My Hung and Motorbiking

Once again, another early morning. We went to breakfast and had the usual… fried rice, biscuits, beef or beef noodles. But once again I had several cups of the passion fruit juice. It is so much better than the orange juice. Once again we rode to UEF. Today we were hearing from a PhD of urban studies. He talked to us about the urban development of Vietnam. It was very interesting the changes they were planning in Ho Chi Minh City and the rest of Vietnam.  In language class we learned how to count from one to one million and more. Similar to English, they use a combination of words to form different numbers. It took me awhile but I think I may have mastered the number system. Although large numbers (like 123.456.789) take me a long time to say… I’m pretty sure I sound ridiculous saying it. I used periods instead of commas in the number because that’s how the Vietnamese typically do it; at least I think it is. We also now know enough to be able to bargain in the market, but I still don’t feel comfortable with a ll of the pronunciations. We again had lunch in the UEF canteen, I can use chopsticks pretty confidently now although rice troubles me. At lunch our Vietnamese friends told us that they would take us out to dinner on the motorbikes tonight. Although I am feeling slightly hesitant about it, I feel like it’s gonna be a great experience.

After lunch, we traveled to Phu My Hung in South Saigon. South Saigon is a newly built part of Ho Chi Minh City. It’s very nice and comparable to a Floridian town in the tropics. A lady at Phu My Hung gave us a presentation about the work they’re doing in South Saigon. I was thoroughly amazed. The city of Ho Chi Minh is incredibly overcrowded so the government is looking for a way to decrease this. They asked a group of companies to expand. The resulting work is unbelievable.  Phu My Hung, along with a few other companies, are, in effect, building an entire city. They began in the early 90’s and still have decades of work left. But what they have done is mind blowing. The size of the operation is unlike anything I could have imagined. There are residential areas. There are commercial and retail areas. There are industrial and working areas. There are new mega highways, metros, and sewage systems. I am still in shock about the magnitude of it.

After coming home from Phu My Hung, we had short time to rest before going with our new friends to dinner. We took the motorbikes to and from dinner. This was absolutely the highlight of the night. After driving through the streets of Ho Chi Minh in the van, I was eager to experience it from the other side. I loved it and I can’t wait to do it again!

Although I am very interested in trying as much food as I could, my stomach was not feeling very good so I decided that I would pass on the food. The name slips my mind right now, but the food was some kind of pancake wrap almost. It’s hard to explain but there were mixed feelings about it; some of us loved it while others did not. I guess you get that with all foods, even those in Vietnam. After eating dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant, our new friends took us to get ice cream. I got apple pie and it was very good! It absolutely settled my stomach. I did not have a very healthy dinner but hopefully I’ll be feeling better at dinner tomorrow.

Because we had found out that getting suits tailored for us is much cheaper in Vietnam, Tran talked to one of her friends and brought a tailor to the hotel. Several of us decided that we wanted to get suits. I don’t really need a suit but I did want a sports jacket. A personally tailored sports jacket is sooo much cheaper here than it is at home so I figured that I might as well make an investment in a sports jacket.

That’s all for today. I know that there will be even more fun and excitement tomorrow!

Our welcome sign! (P.S. that's also Tran to the left of the picture in the white dress.)

The great puppet show the students put on for us.

The supermarket near the hotel

Wrap and Roll restaurant... that's Tran talking to Alex!

Xin Chào: Welcome to the Chaos of Ho Chi Minh City

I forgot to mention in my last post that we also met our lovely Vietnamese guide Trân. So this morning was an early morning made even more difficult by the fact that we had slept very little in the past three days and our bodies were still on Pittsburgh time. I woke up at 7:45 am after a very restless sleep. The mattresses are not the most soft and forgiving mattresses in the world. After Eric and Elliott had finished showering and getting ready. We headed down to get breakfast.

Sidenote before I tell a quick story: It is respectful to pass and receive things with two hands (i.e. business cards, papers, tickets, pens, etc…). We had learned this before and were told this many times.

When the three of us walked into the restaurant, we were asked for our free breakfast tickets. For some reason the whole pass things with two hands ritual slipped our minds. We handed the host our tickets with one hand and I’m sure we looked like the typical disrespectful Westerners… oops. Anyway, the breakfast was not as I expected. There was your stereotypical American Chinese food with a Vietnamese twist. I had beef and potatoes in a soy-like sauce, fried rice, dumplings, bananas, and some toast. A very diverse meal, I know. The highlight of breakfast was absolutely the fruit drinks. I fell in love with the passion fruit drink. It is so good! When we all finished breakfast, we got into the van to head to UEF for the first time. This would also be our first time traveling the streets of Ho Chi Minh in the daylight. I could not wait to see the chaos.

I’m going to try to describe an average street to you but I will not even do it justice. Hopefully my pictures will paint a better picture.  The sight was everything I expected and more. Literally, the Vietnamese have no regard for traffic laws and safety. The motorbikes dodge in and out of traffic coming mere inches from disaster. The motorbikes form a giant swarm that fill in any open space that the very few cars do not take up. We saw motorbikes we two, three, and sometimes even four people. They carried the most ridiculous things on the motorbikes too. We saw ladders, giant metal poles probably three times longer than the motorbike. People carried huge boxes and metal crates. I have NO idea how they managed to not only dodge traffic, but not drop the things they were carrying. That was just the streets. The sidewalks are almost as hectic. People are just straight-up chilling EVERYWHERE. They have their shopcarts stopped in the middle of the sidewalk without the slightest regard for pedestrians.

So we were headed to the University of Economics and Finance for the welcoming ceremony. When the van arrived, there was a man following us videotaping our every move. Apparently we were going to be on TV! We chose seats in the room and met and introduced ourselves to Vietnamese students from UEF. After we had gotten to know some of the kids, we were given a bunch of presentations and power points from people of importance at UEF. The students had prepared a puppet show and a few songs for us. They actually sounded much better than One Direction. After the welcome ceremony had ended and we exchanged gifts with them, we headed to our first language class. I was ready to embarrass myself. I sat next to two of my Vietnamese friends and they tried to help me even though I was convinced it was futile. Vietnamese is a tonal language which means it relies on fluctuations in your voice to convey what you’re trying to say. This makes it very difficult for Americans to pick up. In this class, our teacher taught us the many ways to introduce ourselves and to ask others what their name is. She taught us how to ask “how much does this cost?” and how to say please, excuse me, and sorry. In order to do this and show us how to pronounce each inflection she would move her hand as she taught us. This made it easier but I am confident that I still thoroughly embarrassed myself. After language class we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap before we headed to the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh.

At the U.S. Consulate, we met three American employees there. They first took us to a conference room and told us all about Vietnam. They talked about the politics, the economics and even the social life. They also talked about the United States’ relationship with Vietnam and how it has changed since the war. It is pretty amazing to think just how connected and close the two countries are despite the fact that they just recently fought a war on opposite sides. The employees talked to us about the history of the U.S. Consulate in Vietnam and what they do. They then took us on a tour of the grounds. They showed us the original flag post from when it was the U.S. Embassy before the war. They also took us to the plaque commemorating those who died defending the embassy from the Vietcong during the Tet Offensive. Many famous pictures from the Vietnam War took place at the U.S. embassy.  

After leaving the embassy and returning to the hotel, it’s safe to say that most of us are once again exhausted. However, we decided to venture out of the hotel and explore a little. We went to the local supermarket and bought some snacks and drinks. We came back to the hotel and were taken to dinner at Wrap and Roll, a local Vietnamese chain restaurant. The food was interesting. My favorites were the pork rolls and the beef rolls. However Tran did make me eat many of the different things they served. The food seemed to be unending, they kept bringing more and more. But I didn’t mind because I spent most of dinner, along with some other people, talking to Tran and getting to know her and the Vietnamese culture better. It was so interesting! After sufficiently stuffing our faces at dinner, we headed back to the hotel. We decided to stay in tonight and hang out in our rooms. Then it was bedtime as we prepared for another early morning.

Pictures from the Journey

My view from the plane as we traveled over the Arctic Circle... so awesome!

Beers with Eric and Jackie at the Hong Kong Airport!

The van that picked us up from the airport... also my first taste of Vietnamese air.

The room! Not as bad as I thought it would be

15 Hour Flight Part 2 + the Hong Kong Experience

Now for the second half of the 15 hour flight, the layover in Hong Kong, and the last leg to Ho Chi Minh City. The rest of the flight was relatively uneventful. Instead of taking a direct from Chicago right to Hong Kong, we flew north above Canada and the Arctic Circle. As we were looking out the window, all we saw was white. Miles and miles of uninterrupted snow. We stared out the window during one of our many laps around the plane… can’t sit in a seat for 15 hours. Me and Alex also met and became friendly with Winston our neighbor. He worked for the US Department of Energy and was headed to Beijing. He was very nice… and very generous. I spent the rest of the time on the plane reading Game of Thrones, falling asleep while reading Game of Thrones, and eating the wonderful airplane food (that was sarcasm, it was far from wonderful). The rest of the flight actually went surprisingly quick. We arrived at Hong Kong International Airport. And for the first time I saw what a Far-Eastern country looks like. It was eye-opening. The volume of people was so much greater than anything I’ve seen, even a NYC street during the holidays. The airport was not only huge but it was so much cleaner and nicer than Newark International. We found our gate, put our stuff down, and went off exploring. We headed to a Chinese restaurant. We ordered traditional Chinese food, not the Americanized stuff you find in your local suburbia. We also learned that the drinking age in Hong Kong is 18. We decided to legally order our first beers! They didn’t even ask to see our ID, it was very cool. After finishing our food and drinks we headed back to our gate and waited the rest of the five hours for our flight. When we boarded the plane, there were very few passengers. Most of us had gotten little sleep in the past 24 hours and were dead tired. I did not even make it to takeoff before I passed out. I only woke up to use the bathroom and to get a drink. We finally arrived in Vietnam! Most of us were still exhausted but we were excited that we had finally made it. I went through customs without any problems and headed down to collect my luggage. Thankfully my luggage was not lost but Nino and Hailie’s luggage was left in Chicago. After Team YOLO (name courtesy of Chairman Brice) was assembled we took our first steps out into Vietnam, basically on the opposite side of the world as tiny Whippany, NJ. I have yet to wrap my head around that. Although the humidity was absurd, the heat was not as bad as I had expected. But Dr. Berman soon informed us that the temperature was unnaturally low because of the recent rainstorms. This did not bode well for the next two weeks. We drove to the hotel, checked into our rooms, unpacked, and proceeded to pass out immediately.

15 Hour Flight Part 1

I woke up at 5:45… bright and early. After showering in the Towers communal bathrooms (never want to do that again), we took a quick trip to Dunkin Donuts for some liquid energy. We traveled as a group to the bus stop and got on the 28X. We soon arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport! Everything went smooth through security and we were soon waiting outside of our gate. We encountered no problems as we boarded the plane. However, on the plane, one of the travelers (a foreign man who spoke little English) was causing some problems. First, he refused to put his large carry-on bag in the overhead compartment. After finally forcing him to store the bag, he promptly took out his phone and held a loud conversation with someone. The captain had already instructed that all electronics be shut off for the remained of the flight. The flight attendant quickly told him that he had to shut his phone off. He acquiesced and it seemed like everything would go well. But then he decided he needed to continue this important conversation. So, he once again whipped out his phone, turned it on, and continued his loud conversation. This time three flight attendants had to ask him then force him to turn his phone off. He played dumb until they threatened to remove him from the flight. Once he agreed, the rest of the flight went smooth. We landed in Chicago and walked to our next gate for a quick 2 hour wait. The group grabbed food and refueled in preparation for the upcoming 16 hour flight. After waiting 2 hours, it was boarding time. We were taking a 747… the biggest airplane I’ve ever flown on. It is huge! There are two stories and a water slide (not really LOL but some people fell for that). We settled down and prepared ourselves for a long flight. On one of our many walking breaks, we met and talked to an Asian man (maybe Vietnamese not really sure) who was also traveling to Ho Chi Minh City. He informed us of some of the smaller things about the city and the country that we had not yet heard. Like the 5 cent pork sandwiches and the ziploc bag cups. And that is where I am now… 8 hours in, about halfway done! Time for some reading and sleeping now. I will continue this later.

My view for the next 15 hours......

So It Begins...

The first day of our adventure began with a Plus3 overall meeting in Sennott Square. We sat with our groups and were given a short task. We were told to create a brief skit detailing the particular customs and rules that the Vietnamese follow in their business dealings. After we showed the rest of the group the respectful way to act, we all gathered in a room and were given last minute instructions by Brice… NO HOOKERS. Then, we made our way to Fuel and Fuddle for some dinner courtesy of the University. Obviously, we engaged in some serious eating. Not only did the broke college kids not have to pay for dinner but it was one of our last chances to have a true American meal for a few weeks. After a brief stage of food coma, we all recovered and made our way back to Towers. The whole group gathered in one room as we talked about the seats we had for the different flights. After much deliberation and discussion, we decided to play cards. We headed to the floor twelve lounge and all engaged in a good old-fashioned game of mafia. After making some errands to Rite-Aid, we all split up and decided to pack it in and go to bed. We had an early morning tomorrow!