Hello fellow travelers! My name is Lucas Yonda and I am a student at the University of Pittsburgh studying industrial engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering. In a few short weeks, I will be hopping aboard a plane and flying around the globe to the incredible country of Vietnam. Over the course a fifteen day experience, I will study the culture and business practices of a place vastly different from where I have grown up, and hopefully form some of the best memories of my life.

Despite growing up in a relatively boring town outside of Philadelphia (Berwyn, PA) I have been fortunate enough to have left the country several times in my young life, due to my parents love for travel. However, while I have had some opportunities to explore the world, I have never journeyed as far as Vietnam, and I have never travelled without any close friends or family. Furthermore, after the academic portion of this trip ends (May 6 – May 20), I will be spending a week on my own in Ho Chi Minh, simply to explore and enjoy this amazing city. I can’t wait to board the plane and kick off this adventure, even if the first day will be spent suffering from a massive amount of jet lag!

-Lucas Yonda