Well, we survived the first day

It's day two in Vietnam and I think I'm finally beginning to adjust to the time change. An eleven hour difference is kind of hard to get used to, but I'm a lot less tired than I was yesterday. We woke up early again for breakfast, which once again consisted of a lot of rice. I also think I'm getting more used to the food finally and am beginning to really enjoy it.

We once again went to UEF to take classes in the morning. We were fortunately enough to have a presentation in the morning about Urban Development Planning to gain a better understanding for our company visit to Phu My Hung later in the day. The presentation was really interesting and it was cool to be able to see just how much Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City have changed within the last 20 years. It went from being a country with absolutely no foreign trade and a terrible economy to a country with one of the fastest growing economies in the world, a large part of that due to Ho Chi Minh City. After that presentation, we had another language class where we reviewed what we had learned the day before and learned to count in Vietnamese (một, hai, ba, bốn, năm, sáu, bảy, tám, chín, mười!) Even though I can now say that I can count in Vietnamese, it may be a while before I attempt to use my skills to bargain with the locals at the market. I'm not quite that good at Vietnamese just yet.


After another great lunch at UEF, we headed directly over to Phu My Hung Corporation located in South Saigon. They are an urban development company, and have done wonders for Ho Chi Minh City. Their company essentially expanded Ho Chi Minh City to the south by building hundreds of modern buildings, including many apartment style residence homes, several schools, and a HUGE mall (which the shopaholic in me fully appreciates!). One really cool thing about the area in South Saigon that Phu My Hung designed was the amount of green space it has. Unlike the center of Ho Chi Minh, which is really overcrowded, this part of the city is spacious, green, and absolutely beautiful. After the presentation, we were allowed to go onto a balcony overlooking the city with the most amazing view of Ho Chi Minh. The city is definitely not what I expected, but I'm glad my original thoughts about Vietnam are being proved wrong.

 A view of Ho Chi Minh City from South Saigon

Emmy and I at Phu My Hung

Tonight the students from UEF are taking us out for dinner. They said they are buying us smoothies and then we are going out for Vietnamese pancakes (which I'm sure will be absolutely nothing like American pancakes). I'm so excited to experience Vietnam with the local students. It should be so much fun! We are leaving for dinner soon, but I will post more later.

-Hailee