This post features student writing and photography.

We made it to our new home in Pho Chau! We started our first full day in the village with a late wake up (compared to when we’ll be getting up most days in Pho Chau) at 7:30 and enjoyed a full breakfast complete with cereal, fresh bread, and fruit before venturing out to see the construction sites we’ll be working on for the next three weeks. As well as seeing the sites, we were introduced to the local villagers and saw their homes. After we had viewed all three sites, and eaten some freshly picked jackfruit, we came back to the guest house to practice some dances to songs that we’ll be performing for the villagers in a welcome celebration tonight. After working up a sweat from the dancing, we were rewarded with a delicious lunch, including fish, shrimp, soup, and some watermelon to top it all off.

Lunch was followed by a couple of hours of downtime to either practice our performances a little more or just rest up. At 4:00, we took a bike ride down to the beach and dipped into the cool waters of the coast of Central Vietnam for the first time since we arrived at the village. Subsequently, we all went to the opening celebration for our summer to perform our dances and see their performances by the locals for us. It was an overall amazing way to begin immersing ourselves into this lifestyle for the next three weeks.

— Max C.

Photos by Allie Braver: