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Encounter Vietnam’s natural beauty, abiding tradition, and hospitable people.
Encounter Vietnam’s natural beauty, abiding tradition, and hospitable people.
Day 1: Depart U.S. for Hanoi, Vietnam
Day 2: Arrive Hanoi
Day 3: Hanoi
Day 4: Hanoi | Ha Long Bay
Day 5: Hanoi | Da Nang
Day 6: Da Nang | Hoi An
Day 7: Da Nang
Day 8: Da Nang | Hue
Day 9: Hue
Day 10: Hue | Da Nang | Can Tho
Day 11: Can Tho | Mekong Delta
Day 12: Mekong Delta | Saigon
Day 13: Saigon
Day 14: Saigon
Day 15: Depart for U.S.
I was in the unusual position of being an economist in a School of Social Work. I taught in both the Economics Department (the dreaded 101) and in SSW (statistics for social workers). But my passion for labor economics and the economics of migration and immigration around the world drove both my research and my voluntary classes. I taught large immigration classes, mini-classes on immigration, and, my favorite teaching experience, a class called Immigration Policy on the Ground. In that last class, I took small groups of students to the southwest border where we delved into immigration issues almost 24 hours a day.
We have such a complicated history with Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. While teaching in China I attended a conference in Hanoi. Feeling trepidatious because I am an American, I wondered if everyone would hate me. Instead people waved and smiled and wanted to practice English with me. Most of the people in Vietnam weren’t alive during the war and they just wanted to show me their beautiful country. That experience reminds me to always be careful about one’s assumptions. At the same time, many of the war historical sites I visited were emotionally jarring. I wanted to return to explore the country further with UM alumni who also recognized our countries’ fraught history and yet were willing to travel there, stand in the Hanoi Hilton, visit the infamous Cu Chi tunnels, confront a sad joint past experience, but also to engage with the wonder of modern day Vietnam.