Day 12

DAY 12 – Last day in Nam

This was our last day in Nam and I can honestly say it was the best day so far. We had so much fun with the soccer match with our Vietnamese counterparts and exchanging gifts was really nice. I got a gift from Hoang Thang and I gave him and 2 other people a shirt. They were all so nice to us. They destroyed us in both basketball and soccer, but the good news is our ladies soccer team won. Yay.

It was a lot of fun regardless though. We took a lot of pictures and I’ve become friends with most of my Vietnamese friends on Facebook, including Tin Tin!!

After the game was over we were utterly exhausted and drenched with sweat. It was so hot outside. I was dehydrated. We went back to the hotel, showered and rested up. For dinner we went on a wonderful boat ride. It was gorgeous. I got to see the city of Vietnam at night and just chill and talk to my friends one last time. It was the perfect send off dinner. I  really miss Vietnam already and I haven’t even left. I gained a lot from this trip. Great friendships, wonderful life experiences, and the ability to visit a beautiful cultured country with some of the most amazing people I’ve met. I’m so thankful for Dr. Berman for putting all this together for us and Mike for being a bro and helping us get through it all. It was amazing. I plan on staying touch with everyone throughout my years of college.

Day 11

DAY 11

Today we had our final culture class. I got to give a present to the lecturer for his help. I ate another delicious dinner today and had the best tasting chicken ever. It was amazing. The weather is actually relatively nice outside which is a complete surprise to me. We did some final grocery shopping for a few snacks and goodies and I’ve started packing. I’ve got to say I’m going to miss Vietnam. It’s a beautiful country and I’ve had an amazing educational and recreational experience here. I plan on staying in touch with everyone here especially Khoa, Di, and Hoang Thang.

I’ve actually gained a lot from this trip as far as developing relationships with those so different from you is concerned. It’ll help me in the future for sure. The rest of the day I plan to relax since another one of our company visits was cancelled. We’re going to go do a lot of “fun stuff” tonight so I guess I’ll catch up on a few hours of sleep before I do that.

Don’t really have much else to say today. Not a very eventful day so far, but it’s only 2 PM so the fun hasn’t yet begun. I’ve really bonded with everyone on this trip so far though. Especially Jared and Connor, our neighbors next door. I look forward to hanging out with them more at Pitt when I get back. Well, anyways, time to pack up and head to bed for an hour.

Day 10

DAY 10

Today was a really upsetting day for me. The things I saw and learned I wish I could un-see. We started the day with a normal company visit. We visited the Saigon Newport Corporation and got to witness a shipyard at work. It was really cool. I asked a few questions about how exactly such a business functions and how the government is involved in the ongoing operations.

It was after the company visit however that we visited the War Remnants Museum. Now, I’m intelligent enough to recognize propaganda when I see it. As an engineer I question all information for it’s merit and value. But regardless of the obvious propaganda, certain facts are facts. And it is a fact that America committed some heinous war crimes in Vietnam. I think I’ve mentioned before how distasteful and stupid I find most wars to be. But this may be the dumbest war I’ve ever studied. We got involved to halt the spread of a form of communism that wasn’t even harming us. We sacrificed not only thousands of American lives but took the lives of millions of Vietnamese citizens. These are people that could easily have grown up to be engineers, entrepreneurs, inventors, and leaders. As a growing bio-engineer there is nothing that upsets me more than the loss of a life that could have been prevented.

I have been raised to believe that deep down people are naturally good.  People care for one another because without something to care for, to fight for, to work for, life loses it’s meaning. The problem with our world today is that people care for different things. And when something one person cares for is taken from them, they seek to destroy whatever it is that has hurt them. It’s an ongoing cycle of vengeance. That’s why my parents have always raised me to care for not just myself, my family, or even my country, but care for people as a whole. That’s why I want to become a bioengineer. I don’t give a damn if America is superior to all other countries, I give a damn about the people that live in all these countries. I care about making the lives of these people better. That’s my cause and I really wish other people shared it. War is pointless and disgusting. It accomplishes nothing but misery. My views maybe considered childish and foolish by many, but I argue that it’s those that strive to solve problems through force that are childish and weak.

Day 9

DAY 9

Today was such a relaxing day. We basically did nothing. We woke up as usual and had breakfast and went to class.  Today we had a lecture on cultural studies and social sciences. It was not as interesting a lecture as many of the other ones. I was lost throughout half of it. Most of the time I was talking to my new Vietnamese friends and the guys on the trip about what we were going to do later that afternoon since our company visit was cancelled.

I’d rather not talk about our evening activities in my journal as these are graded… So instead I’ll talk about why our company visit was cancelled.

Of course most of us were tired from a day of hard “work” and “activities”… But the major reason was that there were protests happening in Vietnam that could have gotten a bit ugly. The protests pertained to the Chinese occupancy in the East Sea in an area where only Vietnamese should be there. The animosity between the two countries has been increasing every year as China tries to bully smaller nations into going with what they want. The protests were occurring in an industrial site with Chinese company presence. We actually planned to visit the company but the protests deterred our professor from risking a potentially hostile endeavor.

So instead it’s only the afternoon right now and I’m just laying in my bed sweaty. After I finish this journal I plan on taking a shower and then once again investing my time on a night of risky yet legal shenanigans.

Day 8

DAY 8

The morning started as usual. We had breakfast and got on the bus to go to Vietnamese class. Today we learned how to bargain and barter. I actually felt really confident with what we had learned. Right after class we went to the Ben Thanh Market.

The Ben Thanh Market is a huge market where you can haggle for prices and get really cheap stuff. To me it was more about winning a haggling battle than actually buying something. I created a method in which I would go to a vendor ask him/her what the price of a specific item was and then simply leave and find another vendor selling the same product and demand a close to 3 times lower than the price the other vendor offered. If they said no I’d simply start walking away and let them chase me down and sell me the item at the price I wanted in the end. It was fun. I made a woman cry though while I was bartering. That was sad. But I got the shirt for $1.50 so whatever.

After buying some really cool goodies for me, my girlfriend, and my mom, my friends and I went to eat lunch. We ate some Pho, which is like the Vietnamese signature dish apparently. It’s like soup but way better.

After the market we went to visit a Vietnamese temple and a memorial site where a Buddhist monk died in protest. Honestly, this was a really cool experience. Their temples, or pagodas as they call them are very similar to Hindu temples. I was fascinated to see the connections between the two ways of life here.

Day 7

Tired Atharva. Big Jesus. Awesome Beach. Greatest meal of my life.

Best. Day. Ever.

I woke up exhausted as usual and ate more weird stuff at breakfast. On the bus I fell asleep and by the team we got to big Jesus I was feeling more upbeat. I won’t lie, I didn’t care much for climbing stairs for about 20 minutes just to see a huge Jesus, considering I’m Hindu, but the experience turned out to be enjoyable nonetheless. Many of my friends on the trip are Christian themselves so they really enjoyed getting inside Jesus and taking pictures. I got to relax and enjoy the view as well.

After an hour or so we went to the beach. And oh my gosh it was gorgeous. It was the stillest water I’ve ever seen. The waves were virtually nonexistent. It was a great experience. We had a ton of fun and some much needed down time. I made a really good Vietnamese friend named Nguyen. He plays soccer extremely well and we were actually playing on the beach with Jared and Scott. It was a lot of fun.

I’ve become close with everyone on this trip so far. We’re a really tightly knit group of people now and really enjoy hanging out with every one of them. I’m really excited about how this trip is shaping up so far and I can’t wait for next week. Today was a nice break though. Feeling rejuvenated and ready to go.