Final Destination: Ho Chi Min City

As the school year comes to a close, filled with research papers, con law briefs, and an obscene amount of French projects crammed into one week, there is reason to hope for the glorious day that is graduation. Walking across the stage with 600 of my classmates will start the 36 hour clock that ends with me boarding a plane bound for the mysterious country known as Vietnam. While I love diving into the unknown, Concordia wishes us to have a slightly more knowledgeable adventure. Therefore they have supplied us each with a book that summarizes the history, geography, culture, traditions, and religion into 168 small pages for our convenience.



Of course I will read it. I want to learn as much as possible in the short amount of time I will be spending in a country and culture to which I have never before been exposed. At the same time, I plan on making lots of my own mistakes while exploring Saigon and Can Tho. I want to try and say something in Vietnamese and make a fool of myself for my poor pronunciation. I was to get my hands dirty and see how life is like outside of the regular tourist destinations. Most of all I want to interact with the everyday people who walk up and down the streets rather than listen to tour guides comment on one monument after another. By going with a school group I'm sure I will be subjected to the latter. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as big of a history nerd as the next Cobber, but knowing Concordia, I will get my chance to immerse myself in the culture from the ground up. Knowing that just might make those 300 last minute French projects not seem quite as annoying . . .