When I wake up in a hotel in a new place, one of my first morning activities is always looking out the window. Sometimes it’s a boring view, and the look is not much more than a glance. Here, in Ho Chi Minh City, I think I spent more like 15 minutes looking. I kept staring at the variety of buildings, whose architecture pointed to both the history of French colonization and the increasing globalization of the city. Down below on the streets, I watched the traffic in awe. There were more motorbikes than I had ever seen, and the rules of the road seemed loose at best, but somehow, in the chaos, there were no collisions.

Breakfast was pho and potentially the best coffee I’ve ever had, and the lunch that followed featured a variety of delicious Vietnamese foods. As I ate, I noticed little differences in how food is eaten here. Everything was served in one tray to the table, and then each person could take what they wanted to eat and place it in their bowl. As each dish came to the table, our hosts went around to tell us what the dishes were and make sure we were happy and full. It was immediately obvious that warmly welcoming guests is very important here, and our arrival at UEF only proved it further. We were all immediately welcomed by the students there, and friendships were already starting to form.

We then went on a bus tour through the city. I saw more of what I noticed in the morning in regards to architecture and traffic. I had a friendly conversation with the student from UEF that I sat with as she pointed out various buildings and landmarks of the city. The bus tour was followed by dinner, which saw even more delicious food to try, and even more encouragement from our hosts. All the students from UEF seemed genuinely excited to be able to share their culture and taught us everything from how to properly use chopsticks to which sauces pair best with each dish.

Overall, the biggest standout thing to me was how overwhelmingly welcoming and excited everyone we met was.