tạm biệt!

Blog from Friday...same kind of deal

Last day here in Ho Chi Minh City, and I am going to miss it here so much! We woke up this morning and went to UEF for the last time for a lecture and then Vietnamese language class.  Our lecture was from a trade representative who was in charge of mediating trade with Pennsylvania and Vietnam. It was interesting to find out that Pennsylvania is the only state with a person in such a position. She seemed to know a lot, and she would be very helpful if I were to try to find an internship abroad next summer, as everyone seems to contemplating.

The last language class summed up all that we have learned in the past two weeks, and today I realized for the first time that we are actually able say a lot! We had an exam, and I was given a 9 out of the perfect score of 10. I am so glad to have been given the opportunity to learn the language, though, and I feel like the trip would have been lacking without it. During class, Ngan gave me a gift: a bike helmet engraved with my name, the date, her name, and “Saigon.” It looks so cool, and that was so nice of her!

We had our last lunch at UEF and then prepared for our match with the UEF soccer team. I was really excited to play, and it was time to see if all the practice I got during the second semester at midnight soccer with my friends would pay off. Unfortunately, I didn’t, but at least I didn’t embarrass myself too bad. We did win, however, 3-2!

We played some games and then had a bit of an ending ceremony. I was paired with a UEF student, and we came in third place in the potato sac race that we had…not too bad, and I even got a duck trophy for winning. We were given lots of dragon fruit and other food for winning. I said goodbye to some of the UEF students, as we won’t be seeing them any more. Then we headed to the Co-Op one last time and packed. We had a bit of a surprise when we logged in and checked our flights, but we can worry about that in the morning. We still need to have our farewell dinner!