The War Remnants Museum

On our second day in Vietnam, we visited the War Remnants museum, which is located in Ho Chi Minh City not too far from where our ship was docked.  (Almost everything we did in Ho Chi Minh City was in District 1 so we never had more than a 10 minute cab ride.)  The museum was intense and sad, as I expected it to be, but it was also so much more meaningful to me since we had just heard several personal accounts from Vietnam War veterans, as well as, war protesters in my Global Studies class a few days earlier.  Having these faculty and staff members open up to us and share their very personal stories gave me a much better perspective about the war and allowed me to see it from all different points of view.

One of the best things about SAS is all of the opportunities we have to learn about each port before we arrive.  We learn about the country from our classes, Global Studies lectures (the class that everyone on the ship attends), student and/or faculty panel discussions, inter-port students (students from the upcoming ports who sail with the ship from the previous port until the upcoming port), guest speakers, etc.  Going into each port with these perspectives has made my traveling so much more meaningful.