Hey everybody!

Time for a new blog. Now, this is going to be somewhat different from the usual blogs since I really only have one place to tell you guys about. I have started my course in development in Hoi An where I'm staying for 10 weeks in total.

Last time I wrote, I was on my way to hit the sea for the first time. I drove with my Easyrider, Xuan, from the Central Highlands hitting the beach city of Nha Thrang. The views along the way were absolutely spectacular, especially since the mountains are visible and relatively close to the sea giving Nha Thrang a killer-location for the beach resort city it really is. I just spent one afternoon there getting my fill in on a town that is as any beach resort you might find around the world. Think Cancun/Playa del Carmen and you get the picture. This was further emphasized by the huge amount of Russian people there - all boards where in Russian as well. I really didn't need more than a few hours for this place.

I arrived in Hoi An in the morning from a night bus last Sunday and since then things have been moving quickly. I settled in a pretty big house which have a kitchen and a washing machine and lots of rooms - really nice compared as opposed to the hotel rooms I was first told we were going to be living in. I stay in this house with a Norwegiean guy, a Danish girl and three of the four Vietnamese students enrolled in the course. In fact, my roommate is Vietnamese, a guy named Tuan and he is an amazing guy with considerably good English. I feel very priviledged to be one of the persons living the the Vietnamese people since that might bring us closer to an understanding of the Vietnamese culture.

But there are obviously also a lot of other people. We are only about 20 % guys in a group of 35-40 people which consists mostly of Scandinavian girls from the age of 19-24. I'm not complaining :) Even if it has only been a week I have gotten a very good impression of people and I believe we are going to have a lot of fun these next ten weeks.

Considering the academics I haven't considering this first week too hard. Even if there are a lot of other interesting things to explore at this point, the reading burden hasn't been to great in the first week but that is probably changing from the next week on. We have lectures every week day from 8:30 to 11:30 and occasionally we will have seminars in our study center which is right down to a beautiful beach - again: nothing to complain about!

I haven't considering the academic level as challenging as what I have been used to and I think it is a big factor that I'm used to studying from earlier years. Many of the Norwegian people are taking a university course for the first time in their life so it's completely understandable. I do find the subjects interesting, though, which is what is going to drive me through this course and I will still keep my enthusiasm up since I believe I can still learn valuable lessons from this course.

The town of Hoi An is absolutely beautiful even if the center is very touristy. At night lanterns are being lit which makes the town look like a small wonderland. In fact, the lanterns remind me of Tivoli at night time. It's very charming with more bicycles and fewer motorbikes than what I have gotten used to from other cities. We have almost all bought bikes that we are using everyday to get from the university to the study center and back - unless you are lazy and are taking the bus ;) Even if it is the rainy season we experience the sun every day so I'm getting some very apparent tan lines. But sometimes the clouds start to gather and we have experienced periods of time with heavy rain fall many of the days. I'm really glad I remembered to bring my rain coat to Vietnam!

I almost don't use any money anymore since breakfast and lunch is included everyday and I don't have to pay for transportation. This gives the opportunity to discover the restaurants of Hoi An and oh my, what a selection! I have had a lot of great food here so far spanning from items like fried wontons, noodle soup with roast pork (Cau Lau), plain noodle soup (Pho), spring rolls and to Indian food. And it is cheap as well! The Indian restaurant was one of the expensive places and I still only paid 10 dollars. Truly amazing!

We have many things on schedule and I have signed up for several activities like English teaching in a school and Vietnamese classes so I definitely won't get bored! Also we are planning a dive trip to the Cham Islands which I have made myself responsible for handling. But this weekend it is still about getting to know each other. Last night we had a party at the study center and the partying will probably continue tonight where one of the girls is going to celebrate her birthday and we are exploring the night life in Hoi An (which we frankly already know pretty well).

All in all: I'm doing great here in this beautiful Socialist country. It really hasn't been hard to adjust to the new things including new living conditions, new friends, new food and basically a new country. Frankly, that's a big comfort and a relief considering that the development field and spenting longer periods of time in alternatively developed countries (I really can't stand the term 'developing countries') are two areas that I hope to spent a lot more time with in the future.

Thanks for following my blog! I hope you are doing great - wherever you might be in world :)