Hello/Chào bạn

Hello, chào bạn, and WELCOME. If you haven't read the about me page (who reads those anyway?), my name is Mia and I'll be studying abroad in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam spring of 2017. I made this blog/website in a bout of mono-stricken, earth-shattering boredom, but I think it's pretty neat. I plan on updating this bi-weekly until I eventually get bored and lose interest, when I will then transition to short texts and infrequent emails to loved ones. You'll have no idea what's going on over here, but maybe I'll get you a souvenir and that'll be enough.

Disclaimer: I'm fairly certain these posts will be boring to everyone but my mother. *Hair flip*

This is a photo of my roommates from first semester, and I will miss them dearly. I will also miss that camping chair which somehow ended up on top of our garage (@Greg?). Right now abroad seems idyllic and far away, and I am shocked (not really though) by how ill-prepared I am. Rolling with it. With that in mind, I've brainstormed a little list of goals/bucket list items for the semester:

- Learn how to ask for the bathroom in Vietnamese (you never know how useful bathrooms are until you don't know how to find one)

- Successfully navigate the Moscow airport (I have a layover there and honestly I'm scared shitless)

- Skydive (honestly this just keeps getting pushed from one bucket list to another)

- Visit 10 other cities

- Get confused for a local on the street (fat chance, but a girl can dream?)

- Food poisoning! (not desirable but inevitable... come at me)

- Immense frustration with local culture (traffic, food, language barrier?)

- Eventual overcoming of these frustrations, leading to immense appreciation of local culture

- Become comfortable with the currency conversion (1 USD = 20,000 Dong... great!)

- Find "my spot" in the city (preferably a park bench or a coffee shop where I can pretend my four months have a lasting impact on local commerce and the world at large, will also likely spend long times staring off into the distance pretending my semester is a movie starring Jessica Alba probably - someone told me I look like her once, fyi)

- ~~Find myself~~ (where did I go?!?! Hoping I'll find out. Lmk if you find me!)

- A lot more, probably

My motto for the semester, you ask? F**k it. Why not?

And @world, please don't forget about me when I'm gone.