Arriving in HCMC

After 18 hours of traveling, I touched down in Asia on my 21st birthday, too exhausted and anxious to be excited about the milestone I had just achieved. However, the adventure I have ahead of me surpassed any gift I could have received for my 21st.

Upon arriving in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), I knew to expect two extremes: heat and chaos. When stepping out of the airport, it was almost suffocating how thick the air was with humidity. My face immediately created a coat of sweat and I quickly shed the layers I was wearing. Continuing to wipe my face, I looked around and thought to myself, welcome to Asia amy. You will now never stop sweating. The chaos ensued and I then realized the adventure I was to embark on for the next four months. Ho Chi Minh has the highest population of motorbikes in any city in the world, and you don't even need to look that up to know that. The amount of motorbikes that inhabit the streets is overwhelming to say the least. The car ride to the hotel was most definitely a shock to be in a big car, it felt like we were to run somebody over at any given moment.

The first day in Saigon was overwhelming but in the best way possible. With walking around in the heat, to trying to get to know everybody, with the awkward fact that it was my 21st birthday, to trying to get over jet lag, the adrenaline that was pumping in everybody from being in an unknown city with unknown people was overpowering all of our anxieties and discomforts.

We went for dinner to a restaurant called Mon Hue. Instead of choosing our own meals, they chose the menu for us. A little weary at first, my nerves vanished when they brought out plates of fried rice, soups, and different types of fish as appetizers. The soup and the fried rice were very good, and the fish was very questionable. I did give it a try, but that was the extent of my consumption of the fish that night. All around though, the food was very delicious.

Dinner finished that night with a little birthday celebration for me, which I was not expecting and was extremely grateful. All throughout the dinner, a happy birthday song was playing that we all found very funny, and felt like it kept getting louder and louder each time it played. We then finished with an extremely yummy cake given by our program director, Co Tahn. I was really happy that the group did such a nice thing for my birthday.

By then, it felt like midnight, and the jet lag had hit us all like a bus. However, we knew we shouldn't go to sleep at 8:30 pm, as we would then wake up at 3 am and not sleep for the rest of the night. So we decided to get drinks at the local brewery down the road. It was really nice time of night by then. The sun had set and the humidity faded just enough to let us sit comfortably outside. We talked for a few hours until we decided it was an appropriate time to actually go to bed.

The first day was a whirlwind. Everything was foreign, hectic, and hot. I think the scariest part of this city is navigating through the traffic. We have to walk through the passing cars and motorbikes, and the way to do it safely is to not stop; once you stop the motorcyclists do not know how to avoid you and it is then when you get hit. So the key is to start walking and do not stop. It is still a little bit scary though! I think with time we will get used to it.

The rest of the week is packed with orientation, learning the city, meeting our homestay families

and beginning to learn the Vietnamese language. Here's to a semester traveling throughout Saigon, and the rest of Vietnam.