Today was the first full day in Vietnam and it was an absolute blast. The food here is amazing, I ate something from every station of the breakfast buffet bar, had a clean plate for lunch, and at dinner I felt like a king when the courses kept coming. I also felt like a king and very welcomed at the welcome ceremony at UEF. Getting the flower necklaces and teddy bears was also nice. I felt like a celebrity walking into the university. Coming off the bus with all the cameras, the martial arts performance, group photos, dances, and games we were all treated like royalty. I met one UEF student Mickey who could not contain his excitement for us being there and it was so nice. I never felt so special especially because I never knew about this place or the students until I showed up at the front door. I noticed Vietnam’s culture is very welcoming and generous. I heard that Vietnamese were kind even to Americans, but not this amount of kind. It was very clear that they were genuinely excited to host us. There were more culture shocks that I experienced today that are also worth noting. Mainly the traffic and the motorbikes. It was insane to see how no one bothered yielding or stopping. Twice I saw a woman walking around a five-lane highway in no particular direction and not getting hit by 30 passing motorbikes. This number of bikes on Forbes Avenue at Pitt would be unimaginable. The last one worth noting was the communist billboards everywhere. This place has a Vietnamese flag on every corner and the stereotypical art that Lenin, Stalin, and Kim Jung Un have/had with the soldier saluting and the family all smiling with the communist hammer and sickle. It was so fascinating to me being a crazy history and foreign culture buff. Mickey also explained to me when I was looking down at the grounds surrounding UEF that the trash dump and concrete rubble that was there was bought up by the government and new buildings will be built by the government. In America a rich person buys an empty lot and builds a skyscraper or something not the government so that side of Vietnam was interesting to see. It is not completely communist but also not completely capitalist. They have somehow found a perfect balance to skyrocket their economy the way it has.