Day 10: August 30, 2014

Today was our first free day since we stepped off the plane about eight days ago. We all began our day later this morning than we have since we've been here, and at noon we headed out for lunch. We had street food and it was my first time trying phở (pronounced "fa"). This dish has noodles in it, but I ate most of it because I was so hungry.

 

After lunch we headed out to explore the city. We met up with Nhựt (aka Alex) so he could help us bargain if we bought anything. Our first stop was Ben Thanh Market where we just looked around. Everywhere we went people yelled out "Would you like a shirt, Miss?" or "We can make your size, Miss!". There were stands selling t-shirts, fabric, bags, food, fresh meat and vegetables, drinks, or offering services like tailoring. Basically, if there's a chance they could make money off of it, they were selling it.

 

When we were done perusing the stalls, a few of the girls headed off to get pedicures while the rest of us went to some other nearby stores. We stopped at Saigon Square, which is where the locals are more likely to go to shop for clothes. It was a little less crazy than Ben Thanh, but still insane! There weren't really any stores but instead just stalls owned by different people. It was chaotic and soon we found ourselves leaving to escape the close quarters.

 

Our group met back up downtown where we checked out a few other stores before heading off to get Wonder Buns and try a donut shop, which was not nearly as good as those in the states. Still exhausted from yesterday's adventures, we came back to the dormitory to do a little homework before heading off to the Mekong tomorrow.

 

Since I will be in the Mekong for the weekend, I won't be posting again until Tuesday or Wednesday. To make up for it, I'm sharing some of the photos from yesterday below. Enjoy!

 

Statue at the Museum of Vietnamese History.

Wonderful view from a balcony.

A very old mummy from the Museum of Vietnamese History.

Overlooking the gardens.

In front of the Reunification Palace.

A replica of the tanks that brought down the gates at the Palace.

A poster showing opposition to the US in Vietnam during the war. The War Remnants Museum showcased posters like this from all around the world!

My delicious corn with pork rind and mini shrimp.

Day 9: August 29, 2014

Although we didn't have classes toady, it was a busy schedule with our history tour of HCMC. We started the day at 8am and by 9am were at the first museum. Our first stop was the Vietnamese History Museum. This was the most dull of the three visits because our tour guide just took us through the different rooms explaining all that happened since Vietnam was formed as a country. There were a lot of sculptures to look at, however, so it wasn't all bad. Very few of the items were behind glass, which seems odd because of how old they were. I feel as though all museums in the US have their exhibits behind some sort of protection! We got to see different pots used, representations of gods, and it ended with us viewing a mummy.

Our next stop was the Reunification Palace, which is where the Vietnam War officially ended when northern tanks stormed the building. We got to see the inside of the building and the different rooms used by the president and his staff, but the most interesting was the bunker. There were radio rooms, rooms with typewriters, and a special bedroom for the president. After we were done there, we headed to the Central Post Office of Vietnam before going out for lunch. Lunch was ate at a nice restaurant with all of the Loyola students and our partners. I ordered passion fruit juice and pork with rice. One of the few times since I've been here that I've ate everything on my plate, but I think that's because there wasn't any noodles!

After lunch we headed to the War Remnants Museum, which was by far the most interesting place visited. There were three floors and an outside, each of which featured different things from the Vietnam War. The first floor had all kinds of Communist propaganda and posters from different countries telling the US to get out of Vietnam. There was also a special section that featured photographs of children affected by the toxins from the war. As we climbed the floors, the exhibits got harder to look at. The second floor showed pictures of the war crimes committed by the US. It started with the excerpt from our Declaration of Independence that states all humans are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Since all of the photos were the exact opposite, it made the US look absolutely horrible. There were pictures of dead and mangled bodies, soldiers torturing civilians, and countless stories of the deaths that occurred. The captions made the US seem absolutely ruthless, and the portrayal of the US was so different than anything you would see back in the states.

Another exhibit featured different machinery used by troops during the war while another featured photographs of those affected by Agent Orange. The pictures were gruesome but told so much more than any textbook. They also had fetuses on display to show the affects of the toxin.

Thankfully, that was the worst of the museum and the third floor featured photographs of the rebuilding that had been done. Outside were different pieces of equipment left by the US as well as a replication of the jail where prisoners were held. This was also tough to go through as it almost felt like you were a prisoner. There was a guillotine displayed as well as other weapons of torture.

When we were done with museums, half of us headed to OU because our environmental science class was held today as a makeup. I got corn from a vendor outside, and boy was it good! It was fried in oil with pork rinds, shrimp, herbs, and a sauce. While we were ordering the corn, we also met some people from the English Club at OU and they asked us to come speak with them so they could practice their English with native speakers. While we waited for class we sat in a circle with them, introduced ourselves, and just talked. Unfortunately, since we don't usually have class on Friday, we probably won't ever be there for their club again.

The environmental science class seems very interesting and it's probably the one I'm most excited for. We have four professors and they rotate who lectures when. It seems as though we will be going through a lot of information, but almost all of the classes feel that way. We only met two of the professors tonight, as they are the main ones, but the Vietnamese professor was much easier to understand than any of the other ones I have had contact with so far. Her husband is the other professor, and he is Caucasian, so that might be why she speaks louder and clearer.

Day 8: August 28, 2014

My first and only class this morning was Vietnamese at 8:00am, so I had to get up much earlier than I would ever like to. In order to make it to class on time, we leave the dormitory around 7:15, so I had to be up at 6:30. This class is every Monday and Thursday, so those days will definitely be tough for me!

The taxi that took us to campus was trying to get as much money from as possible. He took us way out of the way before we went to OU. But since none of us know Vietnamese, we weren't sure what to say and just let it go. A cab ride that should cost us 80-85000d ended up costing 140,000d! When we got to campus the five of us who are in the class (Cate, Summer, Alex, and Tori) headed to a bakery to get breakfast. I got a green muffin for 8000d. Don't ask me what flavor the green is because none of us know, but it was good!

After class we met up with the partner students and had lunch (22,000d) and ice cream (5000d) from a street vendor. I had rice with green beans and pork and it also came with soup. It was good but not my favorite. The meat here is very fatty so it's kind of hard to adjust. I also wouldn't consider myself a picky eater but I find myself leaving more food on the plates here than I ever have before.

Lunch for the day. A little soy sauce adds a lot of flavor.

When lunch was over, we headed back to the campus to get something to drink. Thao knows that I enjoy eating corn, so she told me I should try corn milk, which is apparently a very popular drink here. I opened the lid and the smell of sweet corn overcame me. I was nervous to taste it, but it tasted just like corn. I'm pretty sure you could make this drink anywhere as long as you corn, a blender, and a strainer.

Corn milk served with ice.

The partner students also bought durian fruit for us to try, which is famous for its awful smell. Once they brought it to us, I recognized the smell from the streets. All this time I though the dumpsters we passed just smelled awful but it was the vendors next to them selling the fruit! It smells like very over ripened fruit. I hesitatingly tried it, and it was not good. I thought it would taste like papaya or mango but it has the consistency of cheese and is not sweet.

As we walked around today, we went through a park where there were quite a few people exercising. I didn't expect to see the Vietnamese exercising because I associate exercising with a class of people who have free time to do so. I'm sure it's not the street vendors who are exercising but instead those with a little more money and possibly cars. It's just bizarre to walk through one neighborhood, on one street, and see cars, motorbikes, street stands, people exercising, and people sorting garbage. All of the social classes seemed to be represented everywhere we go.

After everyone was done with classes and back at the dorm, a group of us headed out for supper. Note to self: Vietnamese do not eat at 7:00. We walked around the streets for a while looking for a vendor that was still open, but they all must have been sold out of food. As we wandered around, we went through a few alleyways where there were little restaurants with people drinking beer and having snacks. At one of them, a guy asked us where we were from and wanted us to sit and chat with him. Our hunger took over, however, and we had to decline as we looked for a place to eat.

We eventually found a place to eat that was serving something like a Vietnamese-style chicken noodle soup. I'm learning very quickly that noodles are not my favorite food, so I just ate the meat. As we were beginning to eat, all of the lights on the entire block went out. None of the nearby Vietnamese looked surprised, so it must happen quite regularly. I've decided that because the fruit here is so good I should get lunch with the partners everyday and just eat fruit for supper. That way I won't get too sick of noodles and rice and can still enjoy the fresh fruit!

Not sure what the proper name is, but I call it Vietnamese-style chicken noodle soup.

When the lights go out, all you can see are the headlights from the motorbikes!

Other things noticed today: I have horrible bug bites. I'm not sure what they're from, as I haven't really seen any mosquitoes around, but it's possible that I'm getting them at night since the ants are pretty bad in the rooms and there isn't any glass on the windows. It does make me a little nervous for trips outside of the city, but I'll just have to bring along bug spray! Also, the Vietnamese don't necessarily use toilet paper. In the bathrooms at OU, there is a spray handle that you are supposed to use. Kind of weird, but most of the Loyola students just carry around toilet paper. I tried the bread Thao gave me yesterday, and it is great! It's a French bread that has been toasted and there is a layer of butter and sugar on the bottom. Sooo good!

Tomorrow is Friday and that means it's the start of the weekend! We will be going to a few museums tomorrow with our partners with OU, Saturday is free for ourselves, and Sunday we leave for the Mekong!

Day 7: First Time on a Motorbike!

I followed my routine of the past few days and had pizza again for breakfast. (Why not?) My first class today was history at 10am, so we left around 9:15 by taxi. History is not my favorite subject, so this class may be a little difficult to get through. The professor is obviously very excited about history, but she also reads directly from her PowerPoint slides. Today we covered all of the pre-modern Vietnamese history.

On Thursdays I am supposed to have another class at 1:30 but it was cancelled today because Julio, who is the professor, is in the Philippines. I met Thao for lunch but before we went she gave me some French bread she bought. How nice! We headed to a street stand where we had eggs and rice with soy sauce and un-ripened papaya. It was very delicious! The rice was in squares and it is more like a rice paste they put in square forms to get the shape and the egg acted like an omelet holding it all together. Thao taught me to put the papaya in the soy sauce and then put it on my omelet before eating it. It was also only 25,000d, so cheap and good!

My delicious and cheap meal!

Thao was going to take me on a motorbike ride but it was raining so we went down the street to another street vendor to get something to drink. She ordered us both something like a vegetable smoothie. The only vegetables she knew in English that were in it were green beans and avocado. Mysterious, but also good. She then went across the alley and got us each one spring roll to snack on. As we waited out the rain, we talked about our lives and compared the culture here to the culture in the states. The old woman in charge of the drink stand also asked Thao questions about me, such as my age and why I was here. Thao is very insistent that I learn some Vietnamese, which is great. We went over the numbers again and again but I still forget a few. She also tells me Vietnamese words for all of the dishes and silverware we use wherever we eat but those are harder to remember.

When the rain finally went away we hopped on her motorbike and she gave me a tour of HCMC. We went through a lot of districts and passed the Saigon River. It's interesting to see how diverse the city is. We passed people literally picking through garbage and suddenly there was a car dealer selling Porsches. We would go into the more touristy district where there a lot more tourists and then turn down a street where I would get stared at as the motorbike passed. And if you think texting and driving is bad, how about texting and driving a motorbike! The streets here are so busy but many drivers are on their phones. There is a law in Vietnam that people on motorbikes have to have a helmet on, but I'm not sure what good it does when it's buckled loosely beneath their chin. I also saw my first "accident" today. This woman on a pedal bike in front of us was suddenly on the ground and we almost hit her! Very scary, but Thao kept everything under control.

I met up with Yen for supper and she invited Kaley, Sophie, Brian, and Wilson along also so she could show them a vegetarian place. I had a type of soup with thin noodles and some vegetables in it but I didn't really like it. We came back in a downpour and played a round of cards with some of the partners.

Speaking of rain, it basically rains everyday here, but usually only for an hour or so. It has rained most of the day (it is monsoon season), so the streets are starting to fill up with water. It's actually a little disturbing, because as you are walking through three to four inches of water it is littered with garbage swept away from the street. Unsanitary but not much you can do about it. As for other weather, it is light for 12 hours from approximately 6am to 6pm. It gets dark here early, but it's not as bad as it will be when winter comes in the states!

Day 6: First Day of School

Today was the first day of classes! After I had another non-traditional breakfast of leftover pizza, I caught a cab with some other Loyolans to head off to Open University, where we will be taking classes. I only have one class on Tuesdays which is my sociology class and it goes from 10am to 12:30. We didn't do a whole lot today but instead talked about why we chose Vietnam and what we thought about it before we came here.

After class, we met with some of the partner students and they took us to a restaurant called -18° Celsius where I had seafood fried rice and a peach cream tea. It was good, but a little expensive at 59,000d. We had to take our shoes off before we could enter the room and we sat on the ground at very small tables. (Before we headed off to lunch, I was walking around and a student called me over. Unsure if I knew them or not, I headed over, only to find out that this student's girlfriend is a partner and simply told him there was a tall girl from the US whose name is Ashley. Well, he found me!) After lunch, we hopped back in a taxi to head to the dormitory.

Tori, me, Cate, and Summer at the restaurant.

I ended up having to download a VPN for my computer because my email and other website were continually blocked. While I'm a little nervous about that, I also don't want to come back to the states and have to go through 2,000 emails. Since the VPN hides what country your computer is currently located in, Google and Facebook no longer have Vietnamese on them.

After a few hours to ourselves to do with as we pleased, we went to DRD which is where our service learning will take place every Tuesday and Thursday. As part of our sociology class, we have to do a minimum of 38 hours of work with the organization. DRD is an organization that focuses on helping Vietnamese with disabilities find a way to "fit in" to society. DRD is based on building social relationships for these people and finding ways to help them contribute to society. They have English classes so the people can learn our language and we will help in these classes since they can learn English better by speaking to native speakers. There was no class tonight, but we played games to get to know the people and then had finger food and the chance to talk to them. Just like every other Vietnamese I have met, they asked how tall I was and if I play basketball. They also asked for a few of our phone numbers so that we can come along sometime when they go out on Sundays. After the socializing was over, I went with some of the students who were still hungry to a street vendor where they were able to get a bowl of noodles for 20,000d.

We finally have some trips planned for our free weekends here. It sounds like we will be headed off to Dalat and possibly Thailand for Bangkok. Of course, these trips are optional because it is our weekend to do with as we please and would cost extra money, but they all sound like a great time.

Some more information about the dorms we are living in: There are three of us to a room with our own bathroom, mini fridge, TV, and desks. The rooms get cleaned and sheets cleaned twice a week, which is a great deal and means less work for us. Each room has its own Wi-Fi, so the connection is much better than I expected. If we have laundry, we can pay to have somebody wash, dry, and fold it. There is no glass on the windows in the bathroom, just metal blinds, so we found lizards one night on the ceiling!

Day 5: August 25, 2014

Even though I didn't need to be up until 9 or 10 this morning, I woke up at 6 to the sun shining through the window and the sounds of traffic below. After mindlessly checking Facebook and emails, I decided to go explore the area surrounding the dormitory. I went one block over and, of course, managed to get lost. I forgot what street I had crossed onto and ended up walking the block twice before finding the street back to the dormitory. I passed this police officers who motioned that I had made a circle and I just laughed and nodded yes. Then a motorbike driver pointed at his bike, basically asking if I needed a ride so I just shook my head no.

We ended up bringing 7 pizzas back with us last night after the pizza party and put them in the lounge so I decided that for breakfast I would just have pizza and some passion fruit. I went with Monica, one of my roommates, and her partner student to learn how to use the cafeteria downstairs. She also showed us what the words are for chicken, fish, and pork so we can least have some idea of what we are ordering.

Since I didn't really know what else to do, I went with Dan, Brian, and Kong to a street vendor while they had a more typical breakfast of rice, fried egg, and pork with fish oil. Dan and I then went to a coffee shop and watched the traffic outside. Soon afterwards we left to attend an orientation session about classes and meet some of the other staff members of the Vietnam Center. Julio, the big man on top, explained to us that there is a lot going on behind the scenes here in Vietnam. For example, for every 3-4 police officers that we see, there is one not in uniform who is also around. We also learned about some of the cultural differences between Vietnam and the US. In the US, if you are asked to do something you do it as soon as possible because we value efficiency. In Vietnam, however, it is not as efficient and things are done on a much more leisurely mindset. It was also explained to us that Vietnam is considered more cons meristic than the US because they missed the decades during the war. Now, it is very important to them to be able to show that they have the newest phone, can afford to do things, etc. It has also been evident in our short time here that they really enjoy taking selfies and are constantly updating Facebook about where they are and who they are with, which is very different from the college age in the states.

After learning more about the culture, Julio told us that we are more than welcome at any time to come their offices either to talk with them about life in Vietnam or to get travel advice, which is really nice. We also have an updated address to send mail to, which I will post below. After getting to know more about classes and getting our first assignment (totally forgot we were to actually LEARN), we headed to a restaurant called The Black Cat for lunch where I got a sourdough burger and a blackberry, banana, and orange sorbet shake.

Lunch was the last scheduled activity we had for the day and we were free to explore District 1 which is a much more tourist part of the city. The dormitory is in District 10 where many more locals lived. Whereas we have street vendors in District 10, District 1 has shops like Loubiton and fancy hotels. We wandered around for a little bit and then hopped in a taxi to go to a spa where you can the dead skin eaten off your feet by little fish! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate because I have a blood blister on my foot but hopefully we will go back! For a 30 minute "Dr. Fish" session the cost was  210,000d. When we were done it was raining pretty hard outside, so we hailed a taxi and got a ride back to the dormitory.

French Church in District 1.

The sign at the spa about the fish

Before we ventured out for some street eats I had to go buy school supplies for tomorrow because it's the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. Each class, except for Vietnamese, meets once a week and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we do service learning. It will be very interesting to see how these classes go! Too bad we already have an assignment for tomorrow..

For supper I went to the market with Tori, Alex, her partner student Thing, Summer, and Dan. Tori, Alex, and her partner ate at one place while Summer, Dan and I ate at a different one. Since we weren't exactly sure what anything was and the people working didn't speak English, this man that was eating nearby came up and helped us, which was super nice. He asked us what we liked, if we wanted more traditional food, and then basically ordered for us. I ended up getting pork and rice, and although it was good, it did burn my mouth a little.

Pork and rice for supper!

At orientation, we were told more information about our first excursion, which is this weekend to the Mekong Delta! I'm super excited to go there because it is a rural area where the people depend on the water for their livelihood. Also, our partners from OU get to come with us, which will be a blast! There are no classes Monday or Tuesday because it is Independence Day here so we will be gone Sunday through Tuesday. We get to do a homestay, try snake, and also try our hand at fishing with the locals while talking to them and learning more from them. Speaking of excursions, I really should go through my guide book and figure out what places I want to visit in HCMC and the surrounding area.

Send mail to:
Ashley Quinlan Room 1208
KTX Bách Khoa
497 Hòa Hảo, District 10
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

or

Ashley Quinlan
SaigonLand Bldg. 4 Fl.
7 Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Day 4: August 24, 2014

This morning started bright and early at 7am. Instead of having street food for breakfast, I decided that I wanted some of the delicious fresh fruit here so I had a banana and a passion fruit. The only bad thing about wanting to eat all of the fruit that I've never had before is that I don't always know whether it is ripe or not!

My delicious but non-traditional Vietnamese breakfast.

At 8 we were on a bus and headed for Bình Quới which is kind of like a park here in Vietnam. It was very beautiful and along the Saigon River. We were given a few minutes to walk around and then we had to team building activities with both our Bách Khoa and Open University partner students. Since it is 85-90 degrees here, we were sweating in no time. As a group of United States students with Vietnamese students, we drew a crowd and soon there were all kinds of people surrounding us and taking our pictures doing the activities.

Lunch was in the park and it was a buffet. Thao led me around and told me what all of the food was. I tried to try most of it, but there was so much! Fish, pork, mouse (yes, mouse!--didn't try that one though), buffalo, and frog. Rice, spring rolls, noodles, and corn (kind of like grilled corn on the cob and tastes like popcorn). And so much other stuff that I don't even remember! Although I didn't have any buffalo or frog I did have some squid and chicken. We had iced tea to drink in very little bowls and dessert was coconut milk with fruit and jelly. I also had a sweet yam with sugar on it, although I didn't like that. It was very good and so nice that it was a buffet. Since Vietnamese eat with chopsticks, it takes me a little longer to eat than them but I am learning how to use them properly very quickly. Also, Vietnamese eat at tables that are very short. As in so short that my legs don't quite fit under them. So instead I just put my legs awkwardly to the side because they have no where else to go!

My legs don't fit under the table!



My first of many plates of food. Rice, pork, fish, noodles, an egg, and some diced shrimp on a shoot. 

Between lunch and supper we had a good chunk of time do as we pleased so I headed to the Co-Op Market to get some supplies. A water bottle to replace my broken one for 16,900d, 2 rolls of toiled paper for 20,800d, and some Q-tips for 21,400d. Since the smallest bill is 500d, they round the change they are to give you. So for example, I was supposed to receive 40,900d in change but they gave me 41,000d, meaning I made 100d. Not really a significant amount, but strange how that works.

The market is 3+ floors and each floor has different items. The first floor is groceries, the second floor is bathroom/kitchen, and the third floor is jewelry. There are checkouts on each floor because you cannot bring items from one floor to another. I explored the first floor a little bit and went back to the meat/seafood department where there are tanks of live fish and prawn. The fish were catfish and what I think were carp. Or you could buy some other kinds that were already dead at the counter. You could tell they were all very fresh! Another thing that is different is that when you buy fruit you have to have an employee weigh it for you and they put a sticker on the bag so the cashier knows how much to charge you for it.

We had supper at Chris Albright's apartment, who is the director of the program. We took taxis to get there and met our partner students from OU. We have always been told to take VinaSun taxis and I now I understand why. We left in two groups from the dormitory. One group went in a VinaSun and the other group went in a different taxi. The VinaSun cost was around 100,000d while the other taxi was three times as much! Once we got to the apartment we had pizza and talked with our partners as well as some other people from the US that now live in Vietnam. It was a great time and all of the partners are very interested in how things are done in the states. We took taxis to get back to the dormitory and brought the extra pizza with us, giving one to the security guards to stay on their good sides in case we are ever past curfew. Tomorrow we get to go Open University (OU) where we will be taking classes for our final day of orientation!

Some things noticed today: Google is set to Vietnam but I changed my results so they appear in English. The Facebook homepage is also set to Vietnamese but after I log in everything is in English. Also, when I go to an internet page often times it says it is unavailable but if I hit refresh it shows up. Might have something to do with certain pages being block here at times (such as Facebook) but it doesn't really seem to be a big deal. My OU partner also knows how much I like corn and has told me there is place outside of OU that cooks it differently than we had today. Can't wait to try it!

Day 3: August 23, 2014

One of the first things I did today was go out and buy a big jug of water so I always have it with me since it's recommended we don't drink the tap water. Thankfully, there are stations with water that is safe to drink so that I don't always have to buy a jug of water but can just refill my water bottles as needed.

My giant jug of water. Only 30,000d!

At 10am all of the students met with their partner students and we went to get a Vietnamese cell phone. It is a very simple phone but will work for staying in contact with each other and people we meet during the semester. It was kind of confusing in the store to figure out what we were supposed to get, but thankfully the partner students got things straight for us.

My awesome, super cool new cellphone with gifts from my two partner students.

We had time before lunch, so we just walked around the streets looking at everything there was around us. In lots of ways, this country reminds me of Kenya, one of them being the garbage on the streets. It's simply everywhere. Maria is an environmental engineer and is interested in waste management so today she had a lot of questions about how garbage in Chicago is different compared to the garbage we see here. For example, in Vietnam you throw everything in one garbage can and then somebody else separates everything.

Lunch was with our partner students and a few of the staff members from the Vietnam Center. We had banh mi sandwiches with Pringles and lots of fresh fruit including yellow watermelon, dragon fruit, passion fruit, and some strange fruit that was good but was kind of like a grape. After lunch we went to the supermarket which is right next door to the dormitory. This also reminded me of Kenya because it was crazy, there were people everywhere, and they sold anything you could want. We were told that when buying bath products to be careful and make sure we don't buy anything with whitening cream. The Vietnamese would rather be white than tan, so the products they buy actually make their skin lighter instead of darker!

Maria invited me to see her room so of course I went to see it. While we sleep three to a room, they sleep eight. Seriously, eight! There are four bunk beds, eight desks, and a bathroom they share. I couldn't imagine sharing a room with 8 people! One of Maria's roommates was there and even though she said her English wasn't very good we tried to communicate. She wants to continue practicing her English and said that all three of us should go get smoothies sometime.

Maria and myself.

Soon we were whisked away off to supper at a restaurant as part of orientation and we all took a taxi to get there. When we got there, we were met by our second partner students from Open University, which is the university where we will be taking classes, and some professors. Her name is Thao and she is studying English. We were told by our student living assistant, which is kind of like an RA, that he thinks we have two because the partner students from Bach Koa (Maria) are very studious and don't necessarily go out while the students from Open University (Thao) are more likely to have time to show us around.

During supper I sat next to some other Vietnamese students and even though they tell me their names again and again I have a very hard time remembering them. I think it might be because their names are hard to pronounce and their very different from what I consider the typical name. We talked about everything from favorite movies to favorite songs to what we like to do in our free time. We were served all types of home style Vietnamese including Kang Kong mixed with beef, deep-fried chicken wings with fish sauce, sautéed diced beef (with French fries), crispy fried eel, steamed shrimp (which came out whole and we had peel), bread and red cooked beef, fried rice in clay pot, and fruit for dessert. For a drink I had passion fruit juice which was delicious. The students I were sitting next to were joking that we were eating American food because of the chicken wings and French fries. The only thing that I didn't really like was the eel.

After supper Wilson took us to a backpacker bar so that we could experience the local night life. We all tried Saigon beer for 15,000d. Not a beer fan, but it was a neat experience.

Some things I've noticed while here: The only that is really getting to me so far is the smell sometimes on the street. It basically just smells like garbage. The streets are lined with trees that made it through the Vietnam War so they are a really cool historical factor. I really only feel out of place when I notice that people are staring at me--not sure if it's because of my height or my skin. But most people will wave and say hi so that's pretty nice. The sidewalks are not really for people to walk on but are instead to park the motorbikes and sell food. If you want to cross the street, just walk into the road when there is a break and carefully make your way across. Everything comes in a plastic bag. And I mean everything. Order a coffee and they give it to you in a small sack. I've also noticed that anytime I eat fruit I look around for the compost bin.

We also got motorcycle helmets today so hopefully I'll be able to ride one soon!

Goodbye United States, Xin Chào Vietnam!

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City last night with a group of Loyola students and we were all greeted by our partner students outside of the airport. They helped us get a taxi and came back with us to the dormitory where we will be living, which was about a 15 minute ride.

When we got to the dormitory, we put our stuff away and they showed us around. There is a courtyard in the middle with a soccer net and basketball hoop and some sitting areas. It seems kind of strange that it is all cement and no grass. There's also a cat that wanders around, so I'll have to make sure I spend time with it. There is a cafeteria on campus but it seems like the students only eat there if it's after curfew. The curfew here is 11pm and you have to be inside the gate by then. We each have an ID we have to swipe in order to let the security guard let us through.

We went to the cafeteria last night to get something to drink. I can tell that I am kind of dehydrated because I haven't been drinking much water. They make corn milk at the cafeteria and put it into plastic bottles to sell. Maria, my partner student, says it is very good so I will have to try it sometime. I ended up just getting a bottle of water and it was 6000 dong. Although they don't recommend thinking about prices in terms of US dollars, 20,000 dong is a dollar so the water was very cheap.

Today I am meeting with Maria at 10 to go get a phone that I can use while here. It's funny because the partner students refer to them as dumb phones since it will just be a basic phone. Orientation occurs later today starting at noon and we have activities planned until Monday with classes starting Tuesday. Everything is going very well so far!