Lost and Alone in Da Lat!

After a 21 hour flight an 8 hour layover and another 3 hour flight, I (finally!) arrived in Saigon. Immediately it felt great to be here. I know I'm going to have an amazing semester.

The first night we had wonderful Vietnamese food (my chopstick skills have greatly improved in the last five days!) and our Academic Director informed us that we would be leaving Sai Gon for Da Lat the next morning for a four day orientation.

As soon as we got to Da Lat we started our first Field Study Seminar activity. He gathered us on the bus and informed us that we would be dropped off at a location and we would be given a sheet of paper with a time and place that we were supposed to meet and a topic to research along the way. And, we would be dropped off all alone. So, there I was on my first full day in Viet Nam alone and lost in Da Lat without a map or phrasebook. I was a bit shocked as the bus pulled away out of sight!

Of course, I made it to the meeting place in plenty of time. I picked up a map from a hotel, and I was able to ask directions from the schoolchildren who speak wonderful English (but I could hardly hear it for all their giggling!)

Tomorrow we start classes. I am very excited. We have vietnamese for two hours each morning and then we have a lecture on one of five topics: Pre-colonial History, Modern History and Politics, Religion and Philosophy, Vietnamese Society in Transition and Development. In two weeks we will take a week-long excursion to the Mekong Delta. Then, we begin a five week homestay. We also take a week-long excursion to Hue and another to Hanoi. The last four weeks we have free to do our Independent Study Project where we can travel anywhere in Vietnam to do our research. After the program is done, Zakcq and my mom and dad are coming to Saigon (Yay!!!)

I just got back to Saigon, so I'm going to go unpack in my hotel room and have dinner with the group. I promise to blog often. :)