Today was one of our more busy days. In he morning we returned to the Ben Tanh morning market to practice our bartering phrases we learned the day before. However during my shopping, I found myself not actually needing them as all of the vendors I interacted with spoke English. Using the strategy of starting…

Today’s schedule was a flipped around with a site visit in the morning and class in the afternoon. We visited Vinacapital, one of the largest asset management groups in Vietnam. Fun Fact: a lot of brands begin with the prefix “Vina” i.e. Vinamilk, Vinataxi, Vinaoptical, and I did at one point believe that Vinacapital owned…

Our Sunday field trip was to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong in the Cu Chi District outside of the city. The tunnels were an important part the guerilla warfare campaign during the Vietnam War. We traveled two hours outside of the city to Cu Chi, and explored…

We spent our Saturday exploring the islands and channels of the Mekong Delta via boat. On the first island, we saw how the Vietnamese coconut candies are made and even tried some fresh ones which were delicious. Then we embarked on a “Tuk-Tuk” tour of the island. The Tuk-Tuk consisted of a wagon attached to…

Day five began with the usual class at UEF, however today’s lecture focused on history and culture of Vietnam. My favorite part of the lecture was learning about the many different ethnic groups in Vietnam and their unique customs. We had lunch at the rival HuTech University where their hospitality students provided us a 5…

  Today we took the day off from classes and relaxed, allowing me to finally recover from this intense jet-lag. In the morning we took off for Vung Tau, a resort town on the coast of Vietnam. It was the first time we had actually left the city since our arrival. Along the highway, I…

We began day four with a lecture on Mekong Delta. We discussed the history of settlement in the delta, the geolgy and ecology of the region, as well as the current events that are disrupting life in the region. It will be interesting to see how what we learned in lecture and our predeparture readings…

We started our second day with a lecture at UEF about development of Vietnam and its history. It was really interesting to learn about how recent the strides in development have been made, and how setbacks like corruption can delay the country’s growth. A major player in the development of Ho Chi Minh City is…

After an entire day of travel, I have finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! Our first day began with a warm welcome from the students from the University of Economics and Finance. The opening ceremony was full of singing, dancing, icebreakers and even a marriage proposal! After our first Vietnamese class, we ate…