Day 1

Our first day in Viet Nam started early at 630 in order to go to UEF. we left the victory hotel at 815 in the morning and arrived for our reception at 9. After the reception we began our first vietnamese language class. Vietnamese turned out to be much harder than Spanish but after learning the alphebet we started to learn a couple of words and phrases.

Once our classes were over we ate lunchn at the university and then went back to the hotel for a little before we headed back out to visit some sites in Viet Nam and the American consulate. First we went to see the presidential palace and the bunkers below it. the palace is now a museum but used to house the presidents of South Viet Nam. then we went to see the Cathedral and the giant post office. outside the two buildings we were hounded by people trying to sell things however no was not in their knowledge of english.

at the consulate we learned what things the foreign service does and learned how the consulate operates here in Viet Nam. they also showed us the grounds were a memorial was that commerated 6 Amjerican soldiers as they died defending the consulate during the tet offensive.

after we went back to the hotel and went shopping for a few needed supplies then came back to the hotel to swim a little in the pool. when it was time for dinner we loaded back into the bus and went to a small place that just kept bringing out more courses. i am not sure what exactly i ate but it was very good.

after dinner we went to the rex with a student we met at UEF and had some beverages. the small tab of 2000000 dong was well spread oout over the 3 hours we were there. and we returned to the hotel by 12 so we could start over again at 630