After 2 connecting flights totaling 22 hours, 7 hours of layovers, 2 movies, 4 episodes of Black Mirror, pages after pages of some books, and a plethora of airplane meals, I have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. And, not surprisingly, it is quite, quite different than Pittsburgh.

One of the most obvious cultural differences I noticed is the traffic. If you look at a street in this city for 5 seconds, you will see more motorcycles than you probably have ever seen in your life. On a deeper level, the locals I have met, particularly the very welcoming and kind UEF students, seem to be very intentional and thoughtful with their words. In our conversations, they rarely said anything just to say it, and seemed to be genuinely interested in my life.

Globalization is readily apparent. I see it in the store signs that have their name in both Vietnamese and English. I see it in the non-Vietnamese brands like Louis Vuitton, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Prada, and Balenciaga that have staked their claim in HCMC. The presence of these multinational firms and the different languages being shown demonstrates this country’s development.

One unique custom I have noticed is the serving of meals. We went to a restaurant for both lunch and dinner, and the meals were served with the various small courses as opposed to one larger entree that is common in America. Overall, it was a hot, humid, and amazing day. I improved my chopsticks skills by countless orders of magnitude and have started to form connections with the UEF students that I feel will last a lifetime.