Friday, May 18, 2012

Day 12: Final day in Ho Chi Minh

Title says it, today was our last day in Vietnam. We headed to UEF to take our oral exam for Vietnamese language. I got a perfect 10 out of 10 on it, which I guess makes me fluent on greeting people. After lunch we played the UEF students in a game of soccer. It was so hot but still so much fun, we even had a crowd forming outside the fence. We ended up winning the game 3-2. Sweaty and victorious, we headed back to the hotel to begin packing up. At 7:30 we went down on a boat for dinner on the Saigon river. I had a great time and got a good last impression of Ho Chi Minh city. Afterwards, we spent the night with the UEF students in our hotel. I could just feel it in the room that everyone was dreading the next few hours. They stayed with us all night and surprised us with gifts out of nowhere. I really enjoyed them being there with us. They left a little earlier than us and met us at the airport. Definitely one of the saddest moments of my life. Hugging them and saying our final goodbyes was definitely the hardest part of the trip. I never expected to actually make friends on this trip. They were some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life and I hope to see them all soon again one day. This flight home is going to be a long one. I'm currently sitting in Hong Kong's airport typing this, and still considering it to still be my last day since I haven't slept yet. Hopefully I can catch up on my sleep on the plane.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Day 11

Today we got up early and headed up to the Cu Chi tunnels. It was pretty cool to see the tunnels. I know I never would've been able to survive in the tunnels, main reason is because I'm way to big. We were able to crawl through one of the tunnels and it wasn't comfortable at all. At one point it was pitch black and got really narrow. After the tunnels we took a long bus ride up to a temple. I forget the name of it but it was nice to see. We got there just in time to see them start a ceremony or what ever it was that they were doing. Wish we could've stayed longer but we have to stick with our agenda. I was at least able to catch up on some sleep on the way back.

Got back to the hotel and chilled for about 20 minutes before we again headed out with the UEF students. Our first stop was at the Ben Thanh market again. I finally picked up the Non La that I wanted. After the market we went to look for some shirts before dinner. I forget what the place that we went to for dinner was called but it was really good. Nino got the ostrich and let me try it. I'll add that to the list of unusual things I've eaten on this trip. It upsetting that tomorrow is our last day here, hopefully we can make the most of it.

Day 10

Today we didn't have any classes but we still had to get up early to visit our first company. We started off the day with Saigon Newport International. They are a shipping company that owns many ports throughout Vietnam.We were given a presentation and tour of the site which was interesting. After the visit with SNP, we took a long bus ride to Quang Trung Software City. It contains many different companies, schools, restaurants, etc. We were given a tour around the city then visited our next and final company, TMA solutions. They gave us a tour around their labs and we got to see what they did. Since I will be going into computer engineering, I found this to be pretty interesting.

Once again we went out to eat with the UEF students (I'm really going to miss them). They took us to a street vendor to get ice cream. The flavor was called Longan. never heard of it before but it was really good. Then they took us to Kichi-Kichi for hot pot. This place was awesome. They gave us these pots that we put on a burner and food came by on conveyor belts and we grabbed what ever we wanted. Never had anything like that before. 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Day 9

Started off the day with our last culture class. Even though we all struggled to stay awake (cause we all have to stay up late to finish these blogs) we learned about the religions in Vietnam. In language class we learned some new phrases like what you did and where you are going. I hope I can have everything down before our test on Friday.

After lunch we went to visit Glass Egg, a digital media company. They showed us around, letting us see their employees designing characters and models for games that will be released in the future and their presentation was very informative. I thought the company was really interesting and I was excited to be there. They even found a way to make our visit even better. They own one of the most popular night clubs in Ho Chi Minh and invited us to come down. So after the meeting we headed out to eat dinner with the students from UEF. We first went to a vendor were we had sticky rice and chicken that was really good. Then we went for dessert at New York Dessert Coffee. One of the best cheesecakes I have ever had! We walked around the stores for a little then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the club. I had never been to a club before so I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was where we were going and that we were VIP. All I'm going to say is I had a really fun time with the group and I hope we can do it again.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Day 8

Today we meet with Highlands Coffee and members of Viet Thai International, the company that owns Highlands Coffee and many other franchises. Our meeting took place in a Highlands Coffee so we were able to get free drinks. The smoothie I got was amazing! Viet Thai also owns the Hard Rock Cafe in Ho Chi Minh so we went there for lunch. It was my first time in a Hard Rock Cafe in years and the food there was also amazing. We all ate so much and Dr. Berman was so happy to eat ribs. After our food coma we went to visit the War Remnants museum. It was a very eye opening experience. For dinner the UEF students took us to a Japanese sushi restaurant. I've never had sushi before so I wasn't sure what to expect. It wasn't that bad and I actually ate a baby squid. Afterwards we went for ice cream once more. I'd have to say my stomach has been pretty happy with me lately. In other news, this trip has gone by way too fast. Only 4 days left :(

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Day 6 and 7: Weekend Adventure

Finally got a chance to hang up the business casual clothes for a few days and return to being comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. We started off Saturday by visiting the Reunification Palace. It was a really interesting building. Definitely very retro and very hot! Not sure how they could live here without air conditioning. We went to the Notre Dame cathedral but it was closed so we headed across the street to the Post office to pick up a few souvenirs. We went to a Buddhist temple after. It was really cool inside of it, it was nothing like I've seen before.

Once those planned activities were done the rest of the day was ours. We went straight to the pool for about an hour then over to the Ben Thanh Market. It was hot and smelled weird but I picked up a tank top and a bowl for souvenirs. Later we and the UEF students went out to a Karaoke bar. I didn't sing but I had a good time.

Today (Sunday) we took a boat and traveled down the Saigon River to Vung Tau for a day on the beach. Had a real good time swimming in the ocean and playing soccer on the beach.Wish we could've stayed longer but we had to fit everything in before our boat left. We hiked up a mountain side to a huge statue of Jesus. we couldn't go inside though because weren't allowed to wear shorts. We made it back just in time for our boat and I got a bunch of pictures of the river on the way back. I've barely eaten anything all day and can't wait to go get dinner.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Day 5


Breakfast again at the hotel again, nothing new there. We went to the University and had a culture class again where we learned about the religious history of Vietnam and some more of the cultural differences.  After this we had Vitenamese class and we learned some common phrases. At lunch today we had omelets which were really good.


We left UEF to visit ASCENX technologies. The CEO of ASCENX is a Vietnamese war refugee who went to America when he was young. He gave us a brief history of Vietnam and how he started his company and what they do. Afterwards he treated us to Highland Coffee, which was awesome. I got a cookies and cream milkshake, I think it was one of the best ones I ever had. We definitely need to go back before we leave.


Students took us to get pizza for dinner on their motorbikes. Riding on them is never going to get old. After pizza we visited the starlight bridge, which is a bridge that glows at night and is a popular dating spot in Vietnam.