I thought with the late start this morning I was going to go to another coffee shop or bakery, however my body decided that more sleep was the better option. Had a quick breakfast at the hotel instead before hopping on the bus at 9.

Our day started off with another company visit to GlassEgg – A Virtuos Studio. The company is a game design study that makes models for different clients. This was by far the best visit yet and the models they make are so intricate and detailed. They specialize in making cars and vehicles and they are actually the number one company for them in the world. Their car division was about triple the size of their next division with 170+ people. They produce almost all the models for the Forza games and some models for Rocket League. Other fun projects they have worked on includes the characters in Lego Fortnite. For this trip we have groups for projects, and this is the company I was fortunate enough to get. We learned that they are trying to move to more end to end production, producing all of the aspects of one game. Currently they are more single model based but the market is shifting to wanting more end to end so they need to keep up with the changing needs and wants of clients. This could bring some trouble because of how specialized their company is with cars, not that they aren’t capable of producing other products, but rather the fact that they are not known for it so game developers may not recognize their other work. We got to tour the three floors that GlassEgg had in a twenty story building. The workspace was amazing with each desk being filled with personal items and fun plants. The workspace was definitely made for comfort and reminded me again of a company that I learned about in Organizational Behavior. This part was also so awesome because we could see a lot of the designs the employees were working on for projects and games that are not even released yet. Which is sad because I wanted to take pictures of how cool the office looked but we had a strict rule of no pictures. There was very little interaction between designers in a collaborative sense, but one of the things that makes GlassEgg one of the world’s best is division of tasks. They give each individual their own project instead of a team working on it making it more efficient. 

After this we went to lunch a Pho Sol where I got to have my second bowl of pho on the trip. This one had a very good flavor and all the other food served with it is amazing. I also got to practice more with my new revolutionary chop stick technique. I moved one finger to a new position after watching another student and it has changed the whole game for me. Maybe now I won’t crack under pressure like the first night. The drink for this lunch was none other than coconut water straight from a coconut. I think this was my first time ever having coconut water and I will say it was delicious. 

We then made our way to a boxing gym where we were trained by a professional boxing coach. We had a workout and a lot of punches were thrown (at the bags of course). But I will tell you punching those bags is a crazy hard work out when you aren’t used to it. Some of our group also went in the ring to lightly spar with one of the boxers at the facility. After we were exhausted and drenched in sweat it was time for the team relays. A team always consisted of half Pitt and half UEF students so we could work on communication and teamwork skills. Unfortunately, my team lost the game that we were in, but I think I was able to juggle the shuttlecock fairly well after getting dizzy from spinning. This part of the day was fun just to hang out with the UEF students and have a good laugh during some of the games. 

A group of Pitt students signed up for a TED event that we went to after a quick stop at McDonalds after the boxing facility. The event was really cool, and they gave these mini cans of coffee which I can’t wait to try tomorrow. We were accompanied by two of the UEF students and it was funny to see when they got excited when a speaker was announced. For example, Mickey was shocked when Davos Lingo, a content creator with over four million followers, came up to talk. Luckily all the speakers spoke in English, which was good because if they didn’t, I would have picked up on 0% of their speech. It was also fun to take pictures, but it almost felt like paparazzi with all the pictures they wanted before and after we were at the event. This isn’t all too unfamiliar with us because it has kind of been like this the whole trip, but it just felt a little more excessive tonight. I didn’t mind it though because the venue was really cool (it was called the Diamond Place). The TED event was a fun experience and an opportunity that is not so readily available, so I appreciate UEF hosting us during the event. Can’t wait for the Mekong Delta trip tomorrow!