Day 3

 

Wed, May 8^th

By Cathy Bauer and Hannah Bates

The day started with our first look at Vietnamese cuisine with hotel breakfast, fresh juice, and coffee. Several of us made a few rounds around the block of our hotel to see Hanoi in the daylight. Vendors were selling flowers and fresh fruits while traffic bustled through the busy streets. At 9 A.M. we gathered in the lobby for departure to the U.S. Embassy and saw lots of French architecture throughout the city during our drive.

At the Embassy we had a chance to listen to Foreign Ag Service (FAS) and APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) people about their hiring processes, their jobs, international relations, and increasing markets for US ag products. These employees work within the agriculture sector internationally to ensure the cooperations of trade between the U.S. and Vietnam. The funny thing is that the APHIS person got her Master’s degree at NDSU, but we still really enjoyed her.  We were also fortunate to have someone speak to us about Fullbright English Teaching Assistant and Graduate Research programs in Vietnam that we could apply for if we wanted to work in Vietnam after graduation.   

Embassy

Lunch was held at the 5 Spice Restaurant where we enjoyed an array of food and drink. Several of us ordered fresh juice, milkshakes, and even lassi. Our meal consisted of noodle soup, spring rolls, papaya and mango salad, fish, pork, rice, and a dessert of bananas with orange sauce and coconut over vanilla ice cream. It was certainly a delicious meal that has everyone excited for all the flavors Vietnam has to offer.

Menu

Toast With New Friends

Next, we drove through the city to get to the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) where both staff and students met us in a large room for a sort of conference. We all sat in a mixed formation so that both SDSU and VNUA students could talk and interact with each other. We learned about their university and they learned about ours. We also did a little Vietnamese culture quiz and played a few games all together in order to form relationships with other students.

Getting To Know Each Other

We had the privilege of seeing the VNUA campus and a few labs that they have in veterinary science, animal science, and biology. It was interesting to see how their equipment and processes differ from ours at SDSU. The VNUA students showed us around their campus and walked us through a nearby market before we headed to a big banquet that was served family style with even more new and delicious food, and dessert was fresh and very good watermelon. It was a great first-day experience in Vietnam, and many of us made new friends that we will carry with us for a lifetime.