I have been in Vietnam for about two weeks now. I am so exhausted. For the past three days I have gotten home from class and fell face first onto my bed and fell fast asleep for a midday snooze. Everyday going around in buses and cars and on foot wears us all out. Today we are in Hue visiting the pagodas and imperial ruins. For the next two weeks we are never stationary for more than 48 hours. Packing and repacking seems like a big part of my days, in addition to exploring and adventuring in each new place. It is hard to fathom 4 months of travel and newness and 3 continents but I am really looking forward to the rest of the program. Just as I was getting used to my life in Da Nang with the gym across the street, thai food around the corner and sushi next door, and I can’t forget the 20 minute walk to the beach, we picked up and arrived at our next stop. With inconsistent wifi and consistent new surroundings, dichotomies fill my mind. Between Vietnam and Ecuador or my friends here and my friends from school or urbanized areas and the rural villages, it all is somewhat incomprehensible. Some of my favorite parts of this trip have consisted of things from separate worlds that may be only hours away from one another. Last weekend we went to a bar on the 36th floor of a hotel overlooking the Red River with live music and dancing. The view was incredible and the atmosphere was so high energy and exciting. But a week before we visited a rural village that is almost self-sustaining and is made up of swaths of rice paddies and free range chicken, dogs and water buffalo. The differences between these two sights is remarkable but somehow they both exist in the constraints of Vietnam (as they would many other countries), and for me, the traveler, I am living in this isolated experience with a certain number of people, I am privy to all of these vast, unusual yet perplexing dichotomies. The wealth gap and the differences in lifestyle are staggering. I am fortunate to get to see many sides of this place and be able to try to look at it from different perspectives. I continually ask myself: what is the best way to embrace and document this experience?
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