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.