Today I did not wake up to go for a run. I woke up at the alarm and turned it off to fall right back to sleep. However, there are plans to go tomorrow with other people so that will be motivation to actually get up. I am definitely less tired today than yesterday which is good because we have more exploring to do.
Our first stop of the day was UEF where we had a class on Buddhism. It was very interesting and I loved the discussion question at the end asking if Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion. The professor brought up some great cases to say that it is a religion, and I don’t think that there is one way to describe it, but it feels more of a way about thinking of life than a religion. Also, the fact that there isn’t really a reason for creation apart of it makes it feel more like a philosophy. The pagoda was pretty cool though, at least the architecture part of it. The outside with all the greens and sculpting is always cool to see the art of creating those spaces.
We then had lunch at a vegetarian place and most of the guys didn’t like it and were constantly talking about going to McDonalds to get a big mac. I actually really enjoyed it for what it was though. Some unique dishes and the coolest plated dish I’ve ever seen. I was trying to figure out why people don’t like to at least try some of the new stuff, but I guess it is because we are brainwashed with our comfort foods in America. There are also a wider variety of flavors here so it’s harder for people to justify how it will taste.
After this we made our way to the reunification palace, and it was really cool to see where a lot of history had taken place and where some important figures during and after the war lived. The architecture on this building was awesome, and the rooms inside often used beautiful red and golds to bring everything together. I also got some coconut coffee which I was a little worried about because of how sugary it looked when it came out. However, the drink was truly amazing, and I love how all Vietnamese coffee doesn’t really have that much sugar and instead just has really good flavor.
Then we went to the War Remnants museum where we got to see perspectives of the war we definitely don’t get in America. Seeing some of the birth defects from agent orange were horrific and a little saddening. Also seeing so many pictures was cool to see a lot of what was happening and what it was like during this time. Getting this exposure and history from both sides of the war has given me insights into good and bad things both sides had done during the war, which really just shows that sometimes neither side is right or wrong. This type of history is so important because we are limited by our country to how much knowledge and insights, we can really have on any world event. How other sides tell the exact same world event allows for the full/complete stories to be understood.
