DAY 4

Today was exhausting and far hotter than the past few days. I drank 4 bottles of water today and still feel like I’m dehydrated. I’m looking to relax for the most part today but we’ll see what everyone’s plan is. Today in class we talked about Vietnamese History and Culture. The speaker seemed very passionate about the subject and apparently studied in America so he was very fluent in English. He spoke of how the culture in Vietnam came about and how it influences its many viewpoints and business practices today. As an engineer I found this to be very interesting. The Vietnamese culture is very different from American culture in that they are proud of who they are but they realize there is an extent to which they can let their pride dictate certain policy decisions. For example, I asked the speaker what he thinks the general outlook is of America and China having been in conflict with the countries for so many years and his response was brilliant. Paraphrasing, he said that though the Vietnamese people were hurt by many of these conflicts, they have no choice but to rub off their wounds and continue diplomatic relations with these countries. I’m unsure if this is the view of the Vietnamese leadership, but personally, I very much admired that response. It’s a very progressive way of thinking.

Later in the day we also had Vietnamese language class. I’m getting good. Really good. Turns out that Vietnamese sounds are actually very similar to the sounds and accents in Marati, a language I learned in India growing up.

The most notable part of the day was visiting Glass Egg Digital Media. 100% the coolest company we visited thus far. And that’s quite a statement after looking at II-VI. I was asking so many questions I think they started getting annoyed with me at one point. Whatever. But what they do is the coolest thing in the world. They create cars and figures for video games and design the computer interface as to how the perform. This goes into artistic design, as well as an outstanding ability to program. I glanced at a couple lines of code they were typing and I was shocked to realize I actually understood some of it. Guess what I’m learning in school is useful after all! YAY! But I’m absolutely astounded that I got a chance to be this up and close with such leaders of an amazing company. Phil and Steve are the type of brilliant minds I hope to be one day. I’m honored to have met them and hopefully I can keep in touch.

They even let us get a few discounts on a club we plan to hit up this week. Good guys.

Otherwise, I’m starting to really connect with some of these Vietnamese students. 2 Students have particularly stood out to me so far. Di and Julie. They’re ALWAYS hanging out with us and make us feel so special.