The new day in Vietnam was marked by the abnormal presence of police vehicles barreling past the Victory Hotel.  As their sirens wailed down the street, us students sat together to reminisce upon the previous day’s events. Our interactions with the host Vietnamese students had definitely brought us closer as friends as we shared stories and opinions on food, classes, and Ho Chi Minh City in general. We discussed our, mostly, collective first times having Banh Mi, the struggles of learning the Vietnamese  language, the terror of crossing the street as pedestrians in Saigon, and the presence of the confounding boiled corn water being served at the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast (I would later found out that, not only is the beverage served warm, it tastes almost exactly like one would expect it to: as if drink straight out of a can Green Giant golden corn Niblets). We moved on to UEF where we received a lecture on the history and development of Saigon and southern Vietnam into the modern Ho Chi Minh city we saw today. As a country, Vietnam itself has a long a storied history of rebellion against its occupiers, it being a prime target to many foreign nations who looked to the productivity of the Red River Delta in the north and Mekong Delta in the south. As history moved on, and leading dynasties within the area formed alliances, the country would form slowly itself into the Vietnam we know today. The occupation of the French would lead to Saigon’s early development of infrastructure, giving it the platform that the surrounding areas would not have to later become an urban center. Many remnants of French occupation are still present today such as the city hall, opera house, and the general presence of roundabouts which now serve more as inconveniences to the already hectic morning traffic. Due to the roads and highways built by the French, the city’s several districts became interconnected and accessible to one another, another important factor that would allow for the city to grow in the future.

Later, the French ended its occupation due to a Vietnamese uprising supported by America which was quickly followed by the beginnings of the Vietnam War as North and South and as that conflict ended, the exit of American soldiers and lack of support left Saigon in ruins as it soon was transitioned into Ho Chi Minh City. It was not until 1995 when all conflicts between China and Vietnam had ended and Ho Chi Minh City was finally free to resume its development. Since Vietnam is a small nation in general, it cannot compete on the global scale against its other South East Asian neighbors nor against western countries like the United States or much of the collective European Union. Though much of the rural areas rely on agriculture to contribute to the GDP of the nation, and although the nation is a strong exporter of rice, it is impossible for it to compare to the sheer volume of production of agriculture in places like India or the United States while also facing similar issues in the manufacturing industry as no nation can compete with the giant that is China. Instead, Saigon looks to jockey for a global position in technology and software, focusing on the development of Smart City strategies and artificial intelligence. Also, with help from American influences, the introduction of the Stock Market has helped make Ho Chi Minh Vietnam’s business center, allowing for foreign investment in companies that have had exponential growth in value. The lecture concluded with an explanation the dangers the city faced in technology, how trying to follow any and all trends in technology meant too many open risks that could impair the city’s further growth, and that sticking to a reliable strategy or certain area and developing it made for a safer approach.

After a quick lunch break at a three-story McDonalds having a meal of McRoyal Deluxes, we visited Glass Egg Digital Media, one of the three oldest digital media outsourcing companies in the industry. An impressive portfolio with clients such as Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft and titles such as Apex Legends, Forza, and Need for Speed, the company held departments and talent in 3D modelling, 2D concept art, environments, character modelling, prop design, and most famously vehicle design. We were able to talk to Guillaume Monier, the chief operating officer of the company. He spoke of the early challenges of convincing media companies to outsource their digital work while also talking about the current challenges it faced as a company in Vietnam competing against the dime-a-dozen, cheap Chinese companies that have become the default for the industry. He stated how Glass Egg’s consistent good work, low turnover percentage, and most importantly general word of mouth of the company’s quality had allowed it to stay in the running as a company in fiercely competitive industry. He praised Ho Chi Minh as a city, saying how the change of pace of the usual visit to Shanghai or Hong Kong gave them and advantage in convincing outsourcing officers to not only visit, but stick with Glass Egg as a go to source. Although the company struggled initially, being only a modelling and rendering company for mainly racing games, it has taken the opportunity to move into other fields, covering any artistic areas a video game company could ask for, even taking on projects from nuclear reactor design to real estate design and launching its own mobile game production company, Tirawa Studios. In fact, this company gives a perfect example of sticking with a product that works as Mr. Monier stated how although he believed in the future of gaming to be AR, he did not see the company moving to cover it, as the resources it would take would be too expensive and the consistent work Glass Egg received allowed for consistency and success. At the end of the visit, everyone buzzed with excitement, for many it was like meeting a celebrity, seeing the company that had helped bring to life many of the games that were a part of our childhoods and many other games that we still played today. We reluctantly left, happy to have had such an exclusive experience, yet sad for it to have lasted so shortly.