Monday (05-07-2012)

Today our first day in Vietnam!  The total travel time to get here was about 30 hours, much longer than I have ever traveled at once before.  We arrived safely and I was comfortable during the flights ( I read a book and slept). It was very weird with the time change because we skipped over Saturday night so the weekend ran together.  Our flight landed in Vietnam at 12:30AM local time Sunday night.  I believe the time difference is +11 hours here in Vietnam compared to Pittsburgh.  My suitcase was lost and I was told I should be able to pick it up probably Tuesday morning.

We drove right to the hotel after our flight and it was extremely humid outside.  Luckily it rained earlier that day so it wasn't as hot as is usually is.  Our hotel is very nice is has a spa, pool and fitness center.  I showered and fell asleep very easily the first night because I knew that I would only get 5-6 hours of sleep.

The next morning I borrowed some clothes from Ricky and we drove to the University of Economics and Finance (UEF).  On the ride there we got to see all the traffic, which is complete chaos.  Almost everyone drives on motor bikes and there is no regard for any traffic rules.  There are even motor bikes that drive in the opposite direction of traffic and on the sidewalk.  It was interesting to see some of the things people would carry on their bikes, it even looks comical how much people carry.  When we arrived at UEF we where filmed as we walked out of the bus and were told we would even be on the news.  I met some very nice students at the introduction ceremony and we agreed that would would have to hang out later some night.  For the ceremony there was a puppet show and some singing.  After the ceremony we had our first language class where we learned a few basic phrases such as hello, how much, and my name is... After that we had lunch at the University, luckily I can use chop sticks pretty well from eating sushi back home but some people were not so fortunate.  We then went beck to the hotel and got ready to go the the US Consolata where we could not bring our phone or camera in.  We got a tour of the building and were told a brief history of Vietnam as well as what has been happening recently in terms of economics and US relations.  We then went back to the hotel and visited their grocery store.

Now we are about to leave to go the dinner together and probably go exploring tonight.

I'm looking forward to the next two weeks here!!