Update on this week's events

It has been a long time since I last posted, so I figure I'll briefly cover everything we have done in the past few days:

On Tuesday we had the usual language class, along with a lecture on urban development. Later that afternoon, we visited an urban planning company called Phu My Hung. We were able to use our knowledge from the morning lecture to understand the operations of the company, which made the visit very enjoyable.

On Wednesday we visited two companies, starting first thing in the morning. We went to VSIP -- Vietnam Singapore Inductrial Park -- and attended an information session about the park. Because I researched this company before the trip, I was already prepared with a couple of questions to ask the speaker. The presentation was very interesting, and I learned a lot of information that simply could not be found on the internet.

Our second destination was II-VI, which is one of the companies that rents buildings in VSIP. II-IV was my favorite visit, as the company's work is directly related to my studies as an aspiring mechanical engineer. I learned a lot of new stuff about semiconductors and optics, which were two Physics II units that were not covered with very much depth. Because of this, the presentation and tour presented me with a lot of new information that directly tied into my course work.

On Thursday, we returned to the university for language class and our first lecture on Vietnamese culture. Both lectures were fascinating as always, and I am definitely beginning to feel like I have a much-improved general understanding of the Vietnamese culture and its people. In the afternoon, we visited Glass Egg Digital Media. The state-of-the-art technology of Glass Egg's office was a spectacle, and the operations of the company are rather interesting as well. Glass Egg has designed cars for several racing video games that I once played frequently, such as: Forza Motorsport 3 and 4, Battlefield 2, and Need for Speed.

On Friday, we spent our entire day at the school. Today's lecture covered rural planning in the southern region of the nation. We had yet another language class, and several students and teachers were telling me that I am doing an excellent job with the language. I can't really tell whether I'm actually excelling or the Vietnamese people are just being nice, but it is very redeeming to use the phrases I am learning when outside of the classroom. In the afternoon, we played a few games with the Vietnamese students, and we were presented with gifts by the English Club.

All of the Vietnamese students are so pleasant to be around, and the company visits are all academically-enriching in very unique ways. I couldn't be any more happy with my experience on the trip thus far!