Classes and Normal Things

I’ve stopped writing every night (and posting every few days) because I have normalized to my life here. I have a bit more of a routine now with classes and yoga, and while things are still incredibly interesting and fun and different, it’s not quite the overwhelming shock of the first few days.

Unrelated photo. Hahah Starbucks is not part of my Vietnam routine. But here's a picture of the very first Starbucks in Vietnam! It will open in a week!

This is where I do my laundry! 

I have officially had my first session for every class. Here’s a short breakdown of the actual academics I’m taking while here (after all it is STUDY abroad):

SOC: First off, I love my professor because he’s a tiny Vietnamese man dressed in an oversized 70’s style suit. Then I found out he went to University of Washington, and I knew I was going to like this class. This class was strangely more political than my PLSC class. We looked into the Vietnamese communist government, it’s shortfalls, and how the people are responding.  It’s a fascinating alien world to me.

ENV: In all honesty I took this class because they go on field trips. I’m not above admitting that. We had over 200 pages of reading due for the first class, which I dutifully read 150(ish) pages of them. We didn’t discuss a single page of the reading. Ohh well. The professor has her PhD in urban environmental science and development, so we’ll focus first on Saigon/Ho Chi Minh and then look at rural Vietnam. She was a little concerned about how excited I got over environmental urban zoning codes. We all have our passions.

PLSC: Our first session of this was today. The professor is French, and started out the class by saying something along the lines of, “if you find me offensive that’s okay, because I’m French”. Take that as you will. He uses the Socratic method of teaching, and you really have to be on your game for his class. Good thing PLSC is my major.

VIET: This class, the intensive Vietnamese language class, meets the most times during the week, which I’m thankful for. While we all try to pick up words and phrases here and there, I especially find this course very helpful. I am, however, a bit frustrated that I’m not fluent yet and I’ve been here already over 10 days. I suppose patience is a virtue no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Things I’ve learned (among other things):

• Finding food at midnight is a lot harder in Vietnam than Chicago

• People usually understand more English than they let on. Watch your tongue.

• It is illegal to rent a hotel room for a Vietnamese and a foreigner (regardless of the sexes). You must present official proof of marriage or family relations in order to stay