This past week has been rather uneventful, as we were kindly afforded time off from classes and volunteer work to write our three ten-page midterm papers for our Culture, Politics, and History classes. I must admit that this unusual lull in activity has been really relaxing, an overall enjoyable break from routine,except for the fact that it has deprived me of writing material. Well, no, more aptly put, I am at a loss for substantive things to discuss, unless any of my dear readers are interested in hearing about the many weird documentaries I have been watching as of late (My gift to the world, or members of the world who, like me, believe that nothing trumps crawling into bed to watch a riveting exposé on factory farming, or even better, a Discovery Channel docudrama starring the ever-elusive half man, half tree: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/. No need to thank me now, I will take 'thank yous' later in the form of video recommendations; one girl alone cannot make a dent in mining the plethora of movie gems found on this site, but maybe together, we can find some unexpected DIAMONDS).

All of this time off has gotten me thinking, and instead of wasting precious internet space lamenting my lack of inspiration, I instead pose my epiphany of the day (note: to fully appreciate the true scope and deep, eternal significance of the impending tidbit of knowledge, it is imperative that the word is pronounced 'epi-phany', just as my mother would say it): substance can sometimes be overrated. I have noticed a lot lately that so many of my favorite and most cherished memories of my time here in Vietnam have not come as the result of actual events or activities at all, but rather are resultant of just being, living, existing in a foreign country.

For example, yesterday afternoon, Map, Lauren (one of the awesome Australian girls I have met who is working at an orphanage here in Danang), and I went to the movies. Resident Evil: Afterlife to be exact. The film itself was awful as expected, perhaps even more so because its main draw was 3D, a feature that the Danang Megastar Movie Theater is yet to be equipped for. However, sitting in the dark, devouring the last kernels of my sweet-not-salty popcorn, my mind was not really on the movie at all. Instead, I could not stop thinking about how I could have just as well have been at home, in New York, watching a four dollar matinee at the New Paltz Movie Theater or at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, my mom shaking loose her precious five dollar popcorn from its bright colored bag into the cornucopia she fashioned for me from a brown paper napkin. But I wasn't in either of those places. I was, and am, in Vietnam--a place where it is okay for people to answer their cellphones and launch into full-blown conversations in the middle of a movie's pivotal action scene, where the movie's volume is always ten decibles too loud, a place where I would voluntarily choose to see Resident Evil: Afterlife and almost enjoy it.

This morning, we leave for our one-week mid-term trip to the north of Vietnam. I am sure that it will be journey replete with sightseeing, good food, and exciting happenings, but I am not confident it can hold a candle to the joy I get from my day-to-day life here in Danang.

To my friends back in New Paltz suffering through mid-terms, good luck and god speed! To everyone else, hope all is well and that everyone is enjoying their autumn thus far. More to come in a week!