Today our group went on a river tour of the Mekong Delta and it had to be the most fun day this trip. Being able to relax and enjoy the Vietnamese food and culture with everyone was amazing. It’s going to be hard to leave Vietnam in just 36 short hours. The Mekong Delta is…

Today our group was able to visit the Cat Lai Terminal in the morning and then visit the Reunification Palace in the afternoon after eating at a food court for lunch. The Cat Lai Terminal is a shipping port that handles the customs process and the loading and unloading of all cargo. What was interesting…

Today was a very interesting day, with a lecture all about Buddhism in the morning and a visit to a Buddhist temple immediately after. Then, we were able to eat at an amazing Vietnamese food court that had more food options than I ever knew could exist. Later, we went to VinaCapital and were able…

Today was a very long day with an early start of 7:30 am and two site visits during the day. Our group visited the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park and II-VI today because II-VI is actually located on the industrial park. I really enjoyed both site visits because VSIP is actually my company so it was…

I can finally say that I conquered my fear of the Cu Chi Tunnels. The last time I was in Vietnam, I went to the tunnels and did not make it more than two steps into the first tunnel before I ran backwards screaming because a bat flew into my face. Today, though, I made…

After 5 days of professionalism and fancy dresses, today was a day where we could finally dress casually and go to Vung Tao (beach day!!). Waking up at 5:30 am may not have been the most fun experience, but the day overall was amazing. The 3-hour bus ride to the beach was interesting because for…

To break out of our routine of having classes in the morning then a site visit in the afternoon, today we visited the US Consulate then went to classes afterwards (big change, I know). Visiting the US Consulate was very interesting and being able to talk to people who have not lived in Vietnam for…

Going into today, the group thought we would be learning about the Vietnamese history, culture, and language in the morning and then going on a site visit to VinaCapital in the afternoon. To our surprise, though, as we all waited in the VinaCapital conference room, we were informed that the presenter was not actually there…

Working our way through the week, today was a day almost identical to that of yesterday, with a lecture about rural development in the morning, a Vietnamese language classes immediately following, and then a site visit to Glass Egg Digital Media company in the afternoon. Glass Egg is an interesting digital company that designs cars,…

Today was a shorter day than yesterday, with a lecture in the morning about urban planning and development, a Vietnamese language class after, lunch at a sushi restaurant, and a site visit to Phu My Hung in the afternoon. Phu My Hung is an urban development corporation that strives to “develop a city south of…

Today our group had an exciting first day in Vietnam! In the morning, we were welcomed at the University of Economics and Finance by all of the students during an amazing opening ceremony. After, we went to lunch and ate the traditional Vietnamese “pho”. Straight from lunch we drove around Ho Chi Minh city during…