I've been to Vietnam five times, this trip being my fifth. Each time I go, my love for Vietnam grows stronger. I feel that I have a connection with the people here, even though my Vietnamese isn't so good. I know only a very little. The orphanages have been the highlight of this trip. Every time I visit one, I feel so appreciative of who brought me up and where I live. When we went to the Buddhist orphanage yesterday, there was a little girl. We noticed that she had her ears pierced, but she didn’t have any earrings. So I wanted to give her one of mine. The only pair I had that weren't too big or too easy to loose, was a pair that a good guy friend gave to me. So I felt a little bad just giving away the earrings, but when I put them in her ears and took a picture to show her, she was very happy. Seeing her so happy made giving them to her so worth it. Before the trip my dad asked me, so what's your favorite country you've been to so far? I said that I couldn't really decide which was my favorite, but after this trip I can defiantly say, VIETNAM NUMBA ONE!!
-Miranda Dang


This is my first time being to Asia, but I've heard wonderful stories about Vietnam, China, Japan and many other countries from my friends before. This trip has been so much fun and also an excellent experience for me. On this trip, I learned not to take anything for granted. The orphanage visits really taught me that I'm very fortunate to live in a wonderful country and to be so fortunate as to go to such a good school, where I have opportunities to go on fabulous trips like this one. The Buddhist orphanage, which is where we went yesterday, had tons of kids, some very young, and some older than me. Although all the kids looked much younger then they actually were because of their malnutrition. This trip has been so much fun so far, and I hope the fun continues.

-Molly :]