To start it all off, it is very hot here! When people say this country is hot, they are not lying. I felt the heat wave hit me before I walked off the plane. Some cultural aspects I spotted right away are that the country is very colorful. All the signs are mixed with different colors, and many are lit up with lights. Another thing I noticed is motorbikes are far more popular than cars. A big difference between the USA and Vietnam was the driving. It felt so chaotic and unorganized. Usually, to make a U-turn you would wait until cars are clear. But in Vietnam, you take the turn slowly even when cars are coming, because they wait for you instead of having the right of way.

We started the day with our welcome lunch. The rice was very good, and we got a few meats such as turkey, pork, and duck. Everything was great and not too unique yet. For dessert, we were given a soup-type dish which I think had leche, ice, tofu, and nuts. I was not a big fan of it, as it was a little bit too sweet for me.

As we took our bus tour into the city, there was a lot of modern development, which made the city look very modern. There were tall buildings with huge advertisements, expensive stores, and lots of buildings with cool designs. It was also cool to talk with all the UEF students we met on our tour! They pointed out many buildings that are newer.

The highlight of today would have to be the dinner. I had so many different dishes I had never tried before. We started out with some octopus, which was very rubbery. The next dish was all these different meats, but what confused me were these little rolled white things. I was told to eat them with the meat, but they just added a sponge-like texture with no flavor. So, I’m still kind of confused about the point of them. I finished off the dinner by trying one of the hot chili peppers as a palate cleanser, and that turned out to be a bad idea. Other than that, it was a very enjoyable day with lots of new perspectives on things!