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.

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. 

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.

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 :(

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.

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.

Day 4

Today started off the same as every other day, waking up early and having breakfast in the hotel. Had our first history class today, found it pretty interesting. Learned about the origins of the Vietnamese and the regions they live in. Finding out they held off Genghis Khan's army is really impressive. Had another language class right after. I feel like all of our language skills are really coming together. All of our pronunciations of the tones are improving and everyone is saying we are way better than last years class.

The rest of the day was all a big surprise. They kept us waiting at the school after lunch for some time of ceremony but wouldn't tell us what was going on. We ended up splitting up into groups with the UEF students and competed with the others for prizes. The activities included games, dancing and even catching a pig. I found some to be kind of awkward but I had a really good time and I got to meet a bunch of new students.

The students took us out to dinner yet again (They are some of the nicest people I ever met). The took us to try Pho for the first time. I liked at and it filled me up fast. After we ate they took us on a tour of Ho Chi Minh on there motorbikes. They took us around the city for around an hour and we all had a really good time!

Day 3

We started off the day by visiting VSIP, Vietnamese Singapore Industrial Park. We took pictures of the models of the different park sites. During our meeting we learned about the history of each site and their purpose and some plans for the future.We then toured the site to see some of the businesses inside VSIP.

After the tour, our meeting with VSIP was done but we stayed inside the park to visit II-VI. The chief engineering gave us a very informative tour around the building. He gave us the ins and outs of the optical technology that they were working on. Even though it reminded all of us of physics (which we all hated by the way) it was still pretty cool. Don't ever want to hear about newton rings ever again though.

Came back to the hotel for a quick lunch. We ate fast and headed to the co op to pick up some snacks. IT's unreal how cheap everything is. You can get a 5L bottle of water that's worth around 50 cents! We went to UEF for our last meeting of the day with a commercial adviser. He talked to us around taking advantage of opportunities for living/working abroad.

We had the rest of the day to ourselves after for the first time on the trip. Me and a few others headed up to the pool to chill for a little before we headed out to dinner with some of the UEF students. They picked us up and took us to BBQ Garden. The food was really good. After dinner we decided to walk back to the hotel which gave us some more experience crossing streets in Ho Chi Minh.

Day 2

Today we started off the day with a presentation on urban development planning for Ho Chi Minh city. It covered the process of economic reform, background of their development, and development targets for the future. It was very informing and interesting. After a short break we continued with our language class. Today we got into numbers. Never thought it would be so tricky to count to 10.I do feel like we're all starting to get the hang of it and will be able to attempt to bargain in the market soon. At lunch we got to try even more new food. I had prawn for the first time and it wasn't bad at all. I'm also starting to get better with chopsticks. I still got a long way to go.

After lunch we met with our first company, Phu My Hung. We learned a lot about their company and some of their current projects including development of South Saigon. After our meeting we were given a tour of their development which was awesome. The buildings all looked really nice.

We have the rest of the night off so we plan on going out with the students for dinner. Should be really fun.

Day 1

After nearly 30 long hours of travel we finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh. We arrived at our hotel to get very little but much needed sleep before we begin our day. We started off the day with breakfast. It was kind of unusual seeing a bunch of food that we would normally see for dinner such as rice and beef. And I'd have to say that they really have some amazing juice. After breakfast we went to visit the University of Finance and Education. There they had a few presentations which included a puppet show and singing which was really good. After that we headed upstairs for our first class of Vietnamese. It's fun but tricky to get the tonal pronunciations right. For lunch we got to try some more Vietnamese food. I have a feeling I'm going to be eating pretty healthy these next 2 weeks and finally learn how to use chopsticks.

Headed back to the hotel for a little then visited the US Consulate. They gave us a little background history of Vietnam and our country's relationship with them as well as some history of the site which used to be the US Embassy. Some interesting stuff we learned there.

Getting ready to head out one last time for the day as I'm typing this. Hopefully by the time we get back from dinner I'll be able to sleep. It's not even 6:30 pm and I'm already yawning and can't wait to go to bed.