Thursday (05-10-2012)

This morning we had our usual breakfast at the hotel and then we headed right to UEF where we had a presentation on the history and culture of Vietnam.  It was very interesting and we talked about some of the places that we are going to visit later in the next week.  I found out that 40% of the people in Vietnam are named Nguyen because during the Nguyen dynasty many people changed their names so they could get favor and a higher social status.  After the cultural presentation we had Vietnamese language class and we worked on greeting conversations and numbers.  II tried University flower seeds as a snack and they tasted a little like beans.  After language class we had lunch at the University and then we waited in the library because UEF planned a surprise for us. 

UEF had us all break into teams and we played a few competitions.  The first competition was a dance competition where we had to copy the moves of a dancer and then they voted for the best group, my group came in second place for this.  Next we all played charades and then we had a sheet where we needed to pick up out the cultural differences between Vietnamese and Americans.  The next game was catch the pig.  They caged a baby pig in and the first one to catch wins.  We found it interesting because this would never be allowed in the US.  Next we had a game where you needed to throw balls into a hoop to get points then a game that is similar to twister.  They then announced the winners (which was my group) and gave us all prizes.  In the prizes they had dragon fruit, rambutan fruit and some Vietnamese snacks.  All of the gifts in the present where very good and we still have a lot left over for the rest of the trip.   We then had a dance party and took a lot of pictures with the University students.  The tailor even came to the University so he could measure our suits again.

After all of this we went to the hotel to get ready to go to dinner with the University students again.  This time we all went out to get pho which is a Vietnamese noodle soup.  It was similar to very good ramen noodles and I thought it was delicious.  It does seem like I am more adventurous with trying the different food because I enjoy it much more than many of the other students from Pitt.  After dinner some students rode with the UEF kids on the motor bikes for a tour of the city. But because they didn’t have enough seats I went with a few students to explore on our own.  We ended up at a place that was on a rooftop and could view some of the city, we had a great time.  I am having so much fun on this trip and I and even starting to dread leaving in a week and a half because I know I will miss everyone.