"Dr. Strangelove" or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Food"

Today I woke up feeling a little nauseous but I figured it was dehydration and didn’t worry about it. At breakfast I tried to eat but didn’t really have an appetite and again didn’t think much of it and ignored it but drank a lot of water. When we were getting on the bus I noticed a couple students say they were feeling sick and opted to stay at the hotel and rest, I thought about doing the same but decided that I just had to drink water to feel better. I drank a lot of water and it did not help. We started the day with a lecture on rural development in Vietnam and specifically the Mekong Delta. This lecture was very interesting but unfortunately I had a hard time listening because my condition was becoming worse. I started to feel myself go into a cold sweat and become light headed. It was then that I knew I had to head to the bathroom to “reverse some digestion” I will leave out the details but long story short, I am now back at the hotel with a classic case of food poisoning. Apparently it is very common for westerners to react this way to being in a place like Vietnam for the first time and especially after eating street food. I am not the only one exhibiting these symptoms and I have been told it will pass by the end of the day.  My Vietnamese friend came with me to the clinic at UEF to make sure I was okay which was very nice of him to do. I also very promptly received a Facebook message from another Vietnamese student asking if I was okay. I said it before and I’ll say it again, these students are the nicest people I have ever met.