By: Ellyson Bang
Hi all! This is Elly, and if you don’t know me I’m a junior biology major at St. Olaf, and I have been dreaming of Global ever since before I even came to St. Olaf. I am writing to you from both Vung Tau beach and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in southern Vietnam.
We arrived at Vung Tau beach on the 15th and enjoyed time off from class for our fall break. We all spent our leisure time at the beach recharging in different ways (yay, no schedule!), but my highlights included night swims, trying street food, watching movies, sleeping in, and wandering about the peninsula for coffee and boba.
On Monday the 18th, we traveled back to HCMC where we will be staying for the next couple weeks. Since our return to the city, we have officially begun our Economics and Vietnamese courses, spent time getting to know more about the city with local students, and visited the Cu Chi tunnels.
Now for what you’ve all been waiting for…globie updates! On Friday the 15th we departed from Ho Chi Minh City for Vung Tau Beach. Many of us tried to get some sleep on the bus as the jet lag from our long travel days was catching up to us, while others got their first glimpses of the lush Vietnam landscapes and small towns. When we made it to our hotel, I was thoroughly impressed by the welcome we received, with a fun little beverage and a tour showcasing the large pool, gym, and aquarium (which was actually just a dining room… a quite misleading name if you ask me).
The first thing on the agenda for some of us was exploring the shopping around our hotel, and in my opinion, the best place that we found was a small seashell store at the end of a quiet alleyway. There were a few workers in the tiny store creating jewelry and decorations, but other than that we had the place to ourselves. I could tell by the surprised looks on the workers’ faces that they were not expecting a gaggle of 10 students walking into their shop that evening.
The shopping trip was followed up by some swimming in the pool and group dinners. If you are not yet familiar with globie group dinners, it is what we call it when we use a random generator to split us into groups so that we do not overwhelm restaurant staff by all showing up at the same location when we do not have a reservation. And we get to compare notes about different restaurants in the area which is super fun. 🙂
Saturday the 16th was our first full day of break at Vung Tau Beach. Some globies took the day to catch up on some much needed rest, relaxation, and self care time. A group of us ventured into town to a coffee shop recommended by our TA, Hang. We went with the intention of getting work done on our final paper for the Southern Africa Political Change class, but I personally spent more time yapping and playing on my phone.
Afternoon activities included a trip up a gondola with a gorgeous view of the peninsula, trips to the beach, and trying new foods. Speaking of trying new foods, Sophie’s willingness to try all the seafood that was served with a hot pot that we shared was admirable. Raw squid and shrimp (eyes and all) cooking over the open flame in the wind did not faze her.
And while the days are beautiful at Vung Tau beach, the city comes alive at night. People are on the streets eating seafood, sweet treats, and enjoying the bar scene until the early morning hours. Some of the globies took advantage of our time off by sitting on the beach and watching the tide go in and out until the sunrise the next morning.
I personally chose to take Sunday morning as time to reset all by myself. I booked a massage and got bahn mi for lunch. Then I hopped on a motorbike (not driving, just riding) to go to a little cosmetics store in search of sunscreen and face lotion. I chose to go to Emily’s Cosmetics, because I thought the photos looked cute on Google, but I had no idea just how good of a decision going to Emily’s Cosmetics was! I entered the store and started taking to the shop worker about her sunscreen recommendations through google translate, but she was curious about where I was from and why I was in Vietnam so the conversation quickly went from being about skincare to me getting to know a little about Lily and her 3 kids who were in the store with her. When I told her that I had been loving the coffee in Vietnam, she sent her son to a shop across the street to get me a coffee while we sat and got to know each other a little bit. It was such a kind and sweet gesture that initiated a lighthearted conversation that I will appreciate forever.
Monday morning we departed back to Aristo Hotel HCMC. The beach was a nice break, but I was looking forward to returning to the city. I’m from rural Minnesota, so living in a mega city within walking distance of SO MANY things to do and cafes to try is super exciting. In the afternoon we all took the 5 minute walk to our classroom at the Students for International Training (SIT) building to have orientation for the class and our first Vietnamese lesson, which was a fun yet daunting challenge. Vietnamese is a tonal language, so words can be pronounced with 6 different tones that are spelled the exact same way and can have vastly different meanings. Luckily, the course is more of a crash course to help us navigate Vietnam rather than an actual language class. Our goals are to be able to properly greet others, order food, and learn some numbers.
Tuesday morning started with another language class and was followed by a cool activity where pairs of us globies were matched up with local volunteers that showed us around different parts of the city. This was a fun opportunity to get to know more about what life is like for people our age who grew up in Vietnam, while also learning a little bit about Vietnamese history and culture. Some groups visited religious sites including pagodas and temples, while others visited museums and markets.
This excursion was the first time that most of us globies got to ride on motorbikes, as the volunteers each brought their bikes to drive us to the destinations we were assigned. I felt surprisingly safe as my volunteer, Quan, weaved through traffic and told Emma and I that the first rule on the streets in Vietnam is to never follow the rules. He laughed and said he was just kidding, but I think there was definitely some truth to his comment.
On Wednesday, our crew visited the Cu Chi Tunnels just a ways northwest of HCMC. The tunnels are an underground defense system that were dug by the Viet Cong before and during the Vietnam War.
The tunnels were used as hiding spots, hospitals, communication routes, and living quarters for Northern Vietnamese soldiers. Life in the tunnels was hard for a plethora of reasons; fresh air came through small vents (shown on the right), there was limited light, food and water were super limited, the threat of enemies entering the tunnels was always imminent, and 100% of the people living in the tunnels suffered from intestinal parasites.
Every single globie went into the tunnels, which was surprising and impressive to me, because it was such a horrific place, and small confined areas are not for the faint of heart. I personally had to summon courage to enter the second level of the tunnels, which was longer, deeper, and narrower than the first tunnel that we entered. Just being in the dark tunnel for a couple minutes had me squirming and itching to get out, and I had a hard time wrapping my head around the reality of the situation for the Vietnamese people at the time.
The tunnels are hellish, but during the war, they served as a sanctuary for the Vietnamese people against the American army. Grace and I read bits and pieces of the book “The Tunnels of Cu Chi” by Tom Mangold and John Penycate after our visit, and I was struck by a line from a poem that opened the book.
“Immeasurable is our native land. The enemy must drive his probes in everywhere. Your unfathomable entrails, Mother, Hide whole divisions under this land. The dark tunnels make their own light. The Yankees have captured her. Under the vengeful blows she says not a word.”
– Duong Huong Ly from The Mother– The Native Land
The book focuses on the stories of soldiers from both the United States and Vietnam that either lived and/or battled in the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Vietnam War required people to resort to such unimaginable circumstances, and it was not easy to learn about the atrocities that our country played a principal role in instigating. I am grateful that we have the opportunity to learn about Vietnam’s history and discuss it as a class.
Wednesday was a day full of classes. We started our day at 8:30 and had a Vietnamese class, two economics classes, and then finally an Ethics of Study Abroad class. We have a couple more busy days ahead of us, but it has been nice to feel like we are getting the most out of our time in Vietnam. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the update!
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