Berkeley

Hey everyone! I'm writing my first blog post from Berkeley, I have about nine hours left in California before I leave for Vietnam. I'm curious about comparing this photograph taken just now with one after my trip to see if I come back darker/thinner/fatter.

I didn't sleep much last night. There's a lot on my mind at the moment and I spent most of last night finalizing my preparations. The last thing I have to do is buy a new memory card for my camera so I can take as many pictures and videos of life in Saigon as possible. I'm also bringing a sketchbook and a written journal. I want to document everything I see.

This trip has taken much time and effort to prepare for, everything from writing scholarship essays, finding plane tickets, getting vaccinations, finding a good hiking bag, etc. - it's taken months of planning. I'm not only going to represent myself over there, but my friends and family as well. In an attempt to become more of a global citizen, I will also be representing the student organizations and causes I believe in. It's a big part of who I am.

It's hard to believe that in twenty-four hours, I'll be halfway across the planet in a place I've never been to before. People have asked me if I speak Vietnamese, and I do, much better than I used to but still not quite perfectly fluent. It's strange to come to a country that is familiar yet also so foreign. I am, afterall, a young American just like most of my friends. I am also a Viet kieu, (literal translation: overseas Vietnamese) a word that I will have to get used to despite it's many connotations. I won't understand what that means until I'm over there.

I suppose that would be a good way of summarizing the purpose of this trip. The culmination of a lifetime of understanding Vietnamese culture, my own culture, in terms of "I won't understand until I go there". It's time to see things with my own eyes.