May 9, 2010--

Just got off a plane for the last time as we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. We have been flying for the past two days. First I had a 7 hour plane ride from Newark to San Francisco. I met up with Justin, Ashley, and Elizabeth at the San Francisco Airport for some mexican food. We then met up with Sarah, Rayna, and Matt staring out the window at our double decker 747 then we would be on for close to the next day.

Our flight from California to Hong Kong took 14 hours and seem to go by very slowly. We passed time by congregating in a exit area, talking about our trip to various people and flight attendants on the plane. Eventually we all went back to our seats and most of us slept, read, or anything else to pass the rest of the time on the plane. Our next flight from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City was also on the same 747 but this time the plane was empty. Everyone had a row to themselves and I was the only one that did not sleep. Our plane did not have many movies but they played many documentaries that I watched.

We then arrived in Ho Chi Minh City after close to two days of travel. We walked through customs and I was surprised how little they questioned us. I have never been on international flights before but even when I drove to Canada they questioned me much more. What happened next I was not expecting in the least. We walked outside and it felt like we walked into a sauna. I expected it to be hot, but I also expected it to be cooler at night. Everyone congregated outside of the airport waiting for relatives or whoever, much like a reception party.

We met Tin, our correspondence at UEF, who is an awesome guy and pretty fluent in english as well. On our bus ride back, Dr. Berman and Tin showed us various things around the city and I was bewildered by the traffic. People ride mostly motorbikes here, but there's no traffic laws, well not that I can see. People drive on the left on the right, don't obey traffic lights, and drive on the sidewalk when necessary. It was nice to get to the hotel after a long day (more like 2) of traveling late sunday night. Not many of us were tired so we stayed up and hung out for a while before finally going to sleep. I am extremely excited to be here and I can not wait to meet my soon to be friends at UEF tomorrow.