Monday, May 13

It was a huge surprise when I first arrived in Vietnam, mostly due to the total chaos. As I drove to the hotel, I was amazed by how many motorcyclists there were crowded aside one another. The motorcyclists drove and swerved from lane to lane seemingly not following anything remotely similar to traditional American traffic laws. We arrived at the Victory Hotel, and I quickly found my way to bed after 25 long hours of travel. The next day, we enjoyed breakfast at the Victory hotel, mostly fried rice, dumplings, and pho. Eager to try new foods, I was delighted to enjoy a breakfast full of carbohydrates. We headed to the University of Economics and Finance after, meeting our friendly host students. I was very happy in the amount of interest the Vietnamese students had in us. They asked us many questions about our lives at home, and education at Pittsburgh. I also asked the Vietnamese students many questions about their lives; I was delighted to find that the Vietnamese students were interested in American sports. One studuent, Huang, was a huge fan of Kevin Durant and hoped to go into the banking industry so he would "have lots of money to buy every shoe in the Kevin Durant shoe line." It has only been a very short time since arriving here in Vietnam, and I have already seen so many new things and customs of Vietnamese. I look forward to learning more of the language, and become more knowledgable of Vietnamese culture.