Phu My Hung

Today was a very eventful day. We started the morning at UEF, and learned about urban development in HCMC. After a quick morning break (where we got to go to a coffee shop and grab an iced coffee), we had another language class. Once again, the material can be pretty difficult to pronounce, but luckily our Vietnamese friends are able to help us through the class.

The new thing added to today's schedule was a company visit to Phu My Hung, which was the company that my group did our pre-departure report on. It is an Urban Development company, stationed in South Saigon. The visit was very interesting, and it gave us alot more information on the company than what we were able to find in our initial visits online. Dr Berman told me that that's kind of what he designed the process to be... get a good foundation on the company before the trip, and then learn more of the nitty gritty stuff while we have briefing sessions with the executives of the company.

Tonight, we went out with our Vietnamese friends into the city for dinner. We got Pho, which is a very common Vietnamese noodle-soup ish dish. The food was very good, as usual. After dinner we got to walk around downtown, and really got to see the way people in the city interact. The streets are packed with people, even on a Tuesday at 1030 pm. That seems to be the main form of entertainment in the city.... go and hang out outside (pretty much anywhere on the street, sidewalks, common areas, etc) with your friends.

This was the iced coffee that I had on our morning break from class. It pretty much tasted like a dessert.

This is the view from Phu My Hung (south Saigon) looking into the skyline of HCMC. This pond is part of PMH's community.

In the briefing room of PMH. We got to ask the executives of the company questions that we had about anything/everything. 

Our Vietnamese friends picked us up for dinner and we rode on their motobikes to dinner (dont worry mom, we wore helmets). Let me tell you: riding on the back of a motobike through HCMC with all of the people around you, talking to a new friend on the ride (conversing in both English and Vietnamese) was by far the greatest time of my life. Honestly, I've never felt happier than I did on that ride.

I also got to rock the Hello Kitty helmet on the motobike ride. Stylish and safe, just the way I like it.

Props to Kyle for this picture.

Dinner. We ate Pho, which was very good.