Wow. What a trip. I am so glad that I had the chance to experience a different culture as well as meet students my age from that culture. Vietnam was, as expected, different than America. Most of our days here involved going to the University of Economics and Finance and having a lecture about some development in Vietnam, be it power or rural. We did take three days to experience the country by going to the beach, going to the Cu Chi tunnels of the Viet Cong and learning about the war, and boating on the Mekong delta to see life there.
In the evenings, we got the chance to explore Ho Chi Minh City with some of the students from UEF. They showed us what they did for fun and what their lives were like. We went to some of their favorite restaurants and it was delicious. I liked choosing my own food more than being served food for lunch that had been ordered for the table. I did like sampling the local foods at lunch, but I preferred being in control of what local dishes I had.
Academically I have learned from this trip that there is no substitute for firsthand experiences. To actually be immersed in another culture gives a much more real perspective on how similar we all are as humans. With that there are still key differences between us that makes our different voices important.
Personally I have grown on this trip because I made friends with people who live halfway around the world. Even though I might lose touch with them, I will always remember them as motivation to keep broadening my horizons.
Professionally, I learned how to communicate and interact with people that are different than me, which will be important in an economy that is encompassing more of the globe every day.
The ways I grew are all key takeaways, the biggest being that humans are all alike for the most part with similar goals and desires but there are still important differences between us. The way I can bring this back to Pitt is to introduce myself to the people I meet in my classes and learn about who they are. I believe this will help me at school and at my eventual job.
