Day 11: Last day of classes

     Today we had our last culture and language classes. I am going to miss the fun moments I had in that class trying fruitlessly to learn Vietnamese while listening to my classmates bumble through it as well. We had our "test", which everyone passed with flying colors, sort of. At the end, we had a heartfelt celebration with the Vietnamese students who had been helping us for the past week. I'm going to miss these guys.
     In the afternoon, we toured some historic sights of the city. The first stop was a Buddhist Temple which had been home to Thich Quang Duc, the monk immortalized by his self-immolation in the streets of Saigon in 1963. A cool thing on top of the temple was a Buddhist swastika. Unlike the symbols most common association with the Nazi party, the swastika in Buddhist culture means good fortune. Its interesting how something can be interpreted in such radically different ways.

     The monks at the temple made us put robes on over the top of our clothes while walking around it. It was gorgeous on the inside, filled with decorative statues and artwork. Surrounding the ceiling of the building were multiple paintings telling the story of Buddha. I was glad that I was able to recognize the events pictured from when I learned about Buddhism in my World History class. Unfortunately, we were encouraged not to take pictures inside of the temple.
     After that we walked down the street to the memorial of Thich Quang Duc which is located at the intersection where he took his own life. I found it amazing to see how the background of the location changed based on the picture. Ho Chi Minh City has such  interesting history that is still evident in the modern day.

     The last stop of the day was the War Remnants Museum, formerly known as the Exhibition House for US War Crimes. It offered a completely different perspective on the war than what I have seen in America. The museum did not paint us in a very good light and it was pretty difficult to walk through. I walked through it on my own and found myself getting pretty emotional, especially in the exhibit on the effects of Agent Orange. I was the last one to leave the museum from the group when I was kicked out at closing time. My stay was about two hours but it could have easily lasted twice that long. It showed me how history is really based on your perspective, the same events can be interpreted in entirely different ways. I am glad that I got the opportunity to explore so much history on the last scholarly day of the trip. It was one of the main reasons why I picked Vietnam as my Plus 3 location.