Have you ever wanted to visit a place before but never had the time or money to do so? I personally am always adding to my list of countries to visit before I’m too old to travel: Australia, England, Italy, Spain, China… and many more. Every time I watch a video online or see photos of a friend who’s traveling the world, it makes me want to drop everything and jump on the next plane to a sunny, tropical beach somewhere in the Caribbean.
When most people talk about their vacations, they typically go to sunny places or countries in Europe. I’ll admit it never crosses my mind to buy a ticket to someplace else like Paraguay, Egypt, or India. The only place I’ve thought about visiting outside of Europe is China, since I was born there and have not been back since I was adopted. However, after going to Vietnam Night a few days ago, I’ve added another unexpected country to my list of places to see.
To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Vietnam Night. I hadn’t heard of it until a few days before, when I saw the poster hanging in my residence hall. I hadn’t even planned on going until my friend told me she had two tickets and wanted me to go with her.
And I cannot stress now happy I am that I went.
The best way I can sum up the night is by saying it was like experiencing a bit of Vietnam and its culture without actually going to the country. The performances were extremely entertaining, and the managers of the show even found a way to squeeze in some trivia about Vietnam through an interactive game. The two hosts of the show were charismatic and funny, often making jokes that caused laughter from the audience.
The night consisted of a list of skits. The first was a short performance that poked fun at the Vietnam’s history: three young servants were doing their best to please the unimpressed emperor, who constantly made fun of how bad they were. I didn’t completely understand the skit, but it was clear from the expressions on their faces that the actors had a lot of fun performing it.
Photo Credit: MHC Vietnamese Student Association & Drew Soucy
Photo Credit: MHC Vietnamese Student Association & Drew Soucy
The next performance was a girl playing the piano, which was amazing — she had a lot of talent! Following the piano performance was a routine by the dance team. I’m always fascinated by dance teams, because it’s amazing to me that they’re able to sync up their movements so flawlessly — and the Vietnamese dance team was so exception.
The final event of the night was a fashion show in which different members of the group walked down the catwalk while dancing to the background music. It was really entertaining to watch and see how into it they were.
After the show ended, I found myself wondering more about Vietnam. I felt like I’d just been given a glimpse of the culture and was entirely drawn to it. I hadn’t known much about the culture, or history prior to the performance, but afterwards I realized how lovely and unique the country seemed and suddenly wished I was in Vietnam. If the goal of Vietnam Night was to make everyone in the audience want to hop on the next plane to Vietnam, that goal was certainly achieved!
All in all, Vietnam Night was very fun and impressive. I would definitely go see it again, and recommend to anyone looking for a night of cultural experience and relaxation to buy tickets to see it in Spring 2018!
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