Day 12

Today was our last day in Vietnam =( Two weeks definitely went by too quickly.

We started our day with a lecture at UEF. Co Giang, a representative for the Pennsylvania Department of Commerce, came to speak with us. She represents the business in Pennsylvania and sends information about them to Vietnam. She talked a little about what she does, and the possibilities of an internship for us students.

Next, we had our last Vietnamese language class. We all were tested on conversational speech. We were paired up and asked to have a conversation on a certain topic then, we had to give a short introduction about ourselves. I was paired up with Elliot, and we had to ask how the other was, where did they go last night and what we did. For the introduction, we had to state our name, our school, where we live and what we’ve done in Vietnam. I got a 10 mark on the test which is a perfect. I already knew most of it, so if I got anything less, my mom would be a little disappointed. Though we learned pretty basic Vietnamese, it definitely helped me improve pronunciation and aided me in remembering other Vietnamese that I thought I lost. After elementary school, I had lost most of my Vietnamese because I would only speak English in school. Hopefully, after this trip, it will inspire me to become fluent in Vietnamese again.

After lunch, we prepared for our soccer match with UEF. We all thought that we would be playing against the students in the English Club that we’ve been hanging out with, but to our surprise, they were making us play against their soccer team. Putting a bunch a people who don’t know how to play soccer against a team of soccer players isn’t the best combination. They clearly wanted to embarrass us. It was a scorcher today. Just standing outside made me sweat profusely. I thought there was no chance we would win this. I sat out for the first two plays because I was scared to embarrass myself, and I was having difficulties wrapping up my leg. When I finally got in to play, I wasn’t doing too much. I really tried, but soccer just isn’t my sport. But by some miracle, I managed to get an assist. All I remember is blinding running into one of the other players with the ball, and Tim came up and scored a goal. Pure skill. Team Yolo ended up winning the game which is the first time Pitt has beaten UEF. I’m very surprised and proud of our group (even though Elliot and Tim carried the entire team).

There were a few activities planned after the match. One was a potato sack race. I was partnered up with Son, one of the UEF students. It was a relay set up so once he reached me, I had to take over and go to the finish line. He was doing really good and got to me pretty quickly. We transitioned really quickly and I was the first to start going. I was ahead of everyone, but of course, I completely embarrassed myself by falling. Nothing really hurt expect my butt and my self-esteem. It didn’t help that they were taping it to put on the news.

After the soccer game and the activities, we packed into the bus all drenched in sweat. We started packing our stuff before our farewell dinner tonight with a few of the heads of UEF. Before we left, we all found out that our flights got completely screwed up. The flight from Hong Kong to Chicago had changed times, so they changed all our flights. Some of us are going to Newark while others are stopping in San Francisco. It’s a mess, but we can’t do anything about it. I’m going to be back an hour earlier than originally planned, so I can’t complain.

Instead of spending an hour trying to figure out our flights, we just headed over to dinner. We were having dinner on a boat which was so awesome. I actually didn’t know these things existed. The food was really good and the entertainment was also great. I had a lot of fun being able to talk to the heads of UEF, but it was sad when we all had to say goodbye. I will especially miss our language teacher. She’s the best.

After our dinner, we met up with the Vietnamese students for one last time. They came to chill with us in the hotel. We played blackjack, read palms, and had massages. It was nice to be able to spend our last hours in Vietnam with them. They met up with us again at the Saigon airport to say goodbye. We went around and gave everyone hugs and said our goodbyes. At the beginning of this trip, I never thought we’d become so close with them. It was really hard to say goodbye because we may never see them again. I never thought that I would cry when I had to leave, but almost everyone was in tears when we were heading inside the airport. The hardest part was saying goodbye to Tran. She’s been so amazing this entire trip. I couldn’t have asked for a better guide. I really hope she can visit us in Pittsburgh one day. I hope they all can. I’m sitting on the airplane from Hong Kong to Newark right now, and all I want to do is turn right back around to Ho Chi Minh City. It's really been the best two weeks. 

This has been such a great experience. I’ve met some of the greatest people, both UEF students and Pitt students. This is definitely a hard way to leave. Goodbye Vietnam. You’ll be missed.