Discovering Da Lat

The past few days have been absolutely jam packed with chaos. Da Lat is the most peacefully crazy city, and it is for that that I have fallen in love with the city. Its quiet chaos hidden inside the mountains has given me a whole new look on Vietnam.

I think being in Da Lat has really made my learning come to light. When texting a friend back home, she asked me how my classes were, and to be honest, I wrote back “what classes?” We have had so few sit down classes it seems as though we aren't even learning. But I think that is most amazing part of this program. We have not had many classes at all, besides our Vietnamese language classes. Yet I feel like I have learned more in my life through very few classes. The type of learning we have here is so immersive and so powerful, I have learned more about the country, development, and myself than I ever have.

Friday was a really amazing day. For the morning, we visited an organic farm. Now, as a humanities major, farms, agriculture, and sustainability are not the most riveting subjects to me, but I tried my best to be (or at least act) interested in what we were learning. But as mundane as something like an organic farm can be, it still is far and above more interesting being in Vietnam, and than being in any classroom setting.

Once we got back from the farm, we had a Vietnamese language quiz. This week, we learned numbers and foods, the two most crucial components of our lives in Vietnam (food and money). It was really fun learning how to speak to people at restaurants and shops, and being able to understand a lot of what they were saying. It makes us feel all the more like locals.

Once that was done, we went to a monastery on the most beautiful mountain. We got to speak to a monk who explained to us what “zen” meant, and the purpose of meditation. He was talking about the concentration and focus it takes during meditation to not let your mind wander, and while he was explaining, I am ashamed to admit that my mind was also wandering (oops). After he was finished speaking to us, we were privileged to be able to go into where the Nun’s live and meditate, and there we put on robes, took off our shoes, and they taught us how to meditate.

It was an extremely moving and humbling experience being able to sit with Nuns and learn to meditate, despite the fact that my legs fell asleep within the first 5 minutes and we were meditating for probably an hour. I was also corrected on my meditating posture probably 8 times. Nevertheless, I did my best and because of that experience, want to become a person who can meditate like that more and more. It was an extremely tranquil afternoon where we learned so much from some wonderful people that I am so grateful to have met.

Once we finished meditating, it was very dark out, and the nuns so generously prepared a meal for us before we left. It was a really peaceful meal that we all sat relatively quietly and ate, and the Nuns were so kind to have prepared it for us.

The night ended in our homestay. I always value the time in my homestay because we get to learn so much about the culture through the family, another facet where I am learning more than I ever could in a classroom. Playing with the baby and little brother are also so much fun. Going to bed at the same time as the baby is also embarrassingly amazing too.

Our program is so amazing because our directors are so well connected that they have the resources that allow us to explore the country in a way unlike any tourist. And for that I am so grateful and have the ability to explore and share so many different stories.