The Vietnam Adventure Begins

A group of students from Johnson State College (JSC) is spending the next few weeks with Clear Path International in Vietnam. This is possible due to a partnership between Clear Path, the Break Away Program and JSC. The students and staff will be posting tales and photos from their journey to this blog. You can read all of their posts by clicking here. Photos can be enlarged by clicking them


(Written by Jill Piacitelli)

Well, here is the story of our journey from the beginning. I promise to try and make it entertaining� as entertaining as 38 hours of travel can be. The bulk of the group left from a Johnson State College parking lot on Wednesday, May 18th, at 3 pm. This was the place to be: a swanky school van, beautiful early summer weather, and a send off like unto those days of glory when competing for the high school wrestling championship. Staff and administration from the College sent us off with waves, shouts, and signs like �You rock!� and �Thank you!� and �Try to come back!�



The trip to the airport was pleasantly uneventful, thanks to the capable driving hands of our Director, Ellen Hill. We made it on time and met up with the remaining members of the group, sans one. Check in and boarding was uneventful (this was due perhaps to impressing our fellow flyers-in-wait by peeling and eating whole cloves of garlic. This is an unwritten part of our group health regimen, to keep away mosquitoes, but like any good idea, has served us beyond the original intent).
The first leg, to Newark, was quick and pleasant. Small plane, 45 minutes. Upon arrival, we hastened to eat some fine fast food, American style, at the airport �for the last time�. This notion got stretched throughout the next 23 hours, as we were served eggs, chicken, fish, mashed potatoes, noodle soup, chocolate muffins, rolls, or fruit every couple of hours and couldn�t manage to say �no� on account of the �last meal� mentality. Needless to say, we didn�t dip into our independent treat bag. Oh wait, we did. We simply ate a lot on the way over.
I digress. In Newark we dined and then used various means to kill the 5 additional hours in the airport. We also met up with the final participant, Chris Anderson. After reassuring his mom, sister, and girlfriend that he was safe with us and indeed, would have air conditioning in Vietnam, we were able to pry him away for check in. The rest of the group followed, and soon enough (12:30 am), we found ourselves in for the first long stretch to Seattle.
In Seattle, the bleary-eyed travelers wandered off the plane in different states of discomfort. You see, the airlines had begun the trickery of trying to change your body�s time zones by light depravation and force feeding. So, in pitch dark for the first couple of hours, we were startled awake by being roused for �dinner� at 3 in the morning. As explained above, we ate. So eating, plus immobility, plus sleep depravation hurt us as people. We used our short (1 hour) layover in Seattle to recover by walking around, doing yoga, and playing reflex based card games. Then, on to Taipei!
The tricks continued. The shades were down the whole time, and we were lulled into various states of altered consciousness by watching movie after movie such as �In Good Company�, �Phantom of the Opera�, �Something About Winn Dixie�, and �Electra�. All movies that the entire group had managed to miss while in the theaters. The feeding continued, and so did our eating. Some sleep happened too. No talking. This was a 12 hour flight, and sometimes silence is the relief to pain.
The turnover in Taiwan was quick, and a bit of excitement, as it was the first time that we could look out the windows and see a world that looked fairly different from ours. We boarded for Hanoi, which was another 3 hours, and then landed after eating all garlic and anything else we feared was too organic for customs. This included Jolly Ranchers, Air Heads, Nerds, and granola bars. Thanks to all that, we again passed through customs easily and snagged our bags to meet Nhi, our Vietnamese friend, translator, and guide for the final flight into Hue.
Finally, though, a snag! Nhi was nowhere to be found! The cool headed leaders did not panic, they just walked around in a dazed state and acted like a plan was in motion. 45 minutes later, Nhi showed up, having been delayed by weather. The happy reunion (and introductions) turned into somber silence, as we realized our next flight was still about 5 or 6 hours away. We pushed the envelope (only to find out there was no laying down in this airport) and so the envelope pushed us. We marched on in silence: walking, smoking, sleeping, reading�no talking.
I, myself, lost a little bit of the edge here, and don�t remember how the time all passed. Rumor is, there are pictures of me sleeping with mouth wide open, like an old lady. On the plane to Hue, we had finally learned to reject the offered sandwiches, and most of us drifted in and out of sleep in the frigid, artificial air.
If this all sounds like misery, it wasn�t. The group pulled through amazingly well, with nary a complaint. When we arrived in Hue last night, at 7 pm Vietnam Time (VT), personalities had gone flat, but not turned ugly. It was a sweet sight to pull up and see the hotel staff, now friends from last year. The kids had grown, the hotel had been painted, but the sweet welcome was the same. We checked in quickly, and then somehow pulled off a quick meal and a quick trip to show people how to use the Internet, before they all started dropping off.
It is good to be back, despite what can seem like the modern day rigors of travel. We�ve assigned out blog entries for all of the group, so every day will be covered and hopefully, in not such prolific mundane quality.