This post features student writing.

Xin chào! Tên tôi là Julia (my name is Julia). Here in Vietnam, all the members of our group are already picking up some Vietnamese words and phrases. Everyone is enjoying themselves and the people around them, including our new friends that live in the village! Personally, I chose to do community service in Vietnam because I had a desire to really make a difference, and I liked the idea of being in a rural environment with an amazing culture for an extended period of time. The month that we’ll be staying here will allow all of us to learn about the daily way of life for many of the inhabitants of the village, while also working with the community to meet needs.

Today started off with breakfast at 8:00 AM, followed by a bike ride to all three work sites. We were able to meet some of the future owners of the houses we’ll be building, and learned that they have kids that are around our age. Then, we took our first trip to the beach! Everyone ran right into the water, which felt so refreshing after our exhausting bike ride. We relaxed for a bit, then biked back to the guest house to go to our welcome party, where the Vietnamese youth group that will be volunteering with us performed a few songs. Our group performed a few songs as well, playing ¨Dog Days Are Over¨ by Florence and the Machine and ¨Imagine¨ by John Lennon, with Mila and Apolline as the leading vocalists, Jamie as the guitarist, Alex using two buckets and a pair of chopsticks as a makeshift drumset, and the rest of us singing and dancing in the back. We all had fun and enjoyed meeting other kids our age. This morning I challenged everyone to pay attention to the scenery and environment that surrounds us, including nature, people, buildings, etc. At tonight’s meeting, everyone had great observations, saying the sunset was beautiful, the people are nice, and that there are a lot of cows!

So far, the part of this trip that I’ve enjoyed the most is greeting people and communicating with them, despite the language barrier. ¨Xin chào¨ and ¨tên tôi là Julia¨ can only get me so far! Regardless, everyone is so nice and hospitable to us, and I feel so lucky to be here. Definitely one of the best feelings I get is when I smile at someone as I bike past them, and they smile so widely back at me, showing kindness and making me feel so welcome in their village.

Stay tuned!
-Julia