We are getting ready for our summer course "Hanoi's Hong River: Climate, Development, and Rights to the City". The application deadline is coming up on March 1 (the link will be live here in the coming days), and we are holding two information sessions this coming week to give an overview of the course, answer your questions, and share information about logistics, scholarship/grant opportunities, etc.
We'd love to see you at 6:30 pm on Monday (2/6) or Wednesday (2/8) in Brooks 103 (or by Zoom). Please register here so we know how many to expect.
Some of you signed up for information sessions in the fall and might have been interested only in J-term, and several of you were actually with us on J-term. All are welcome to the info sessions and to join the course. (The course is open to rising 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-years as well as grad students and even 2023 grads. There are no course requisites.)
I'm attaching a course flyer with some background, but some key features of this course that might make this a particularly special education abroad experience are:
- Applied multi-disciplinary (economics, planning/architecture, ecology/envi-sci, engineering, commerce, sociology, art, etc.) research opportunity looking at a live, real-world urban redevelopment project with implications for affordable housing, human rights, biodiversity conservation, open space enhancement, urban agriculture, historic preservation, etc.
- Learning, working and traveling with Vietnamese students (from Vietnam National University).
- Guest lectures from local experts in history, archeology, environment, architecture, and climate resilience along the Hong River.
- Two amazing weekend trips: one to the "source" of the river in the western mountains; and one to the sea for an overnight cruise on Bai Tu Long Bay.
- Fun (and educationally connected) in-Hanoi activities such as a bicycle tour including the historic Long Bien Bridge (designed by Gustav Eiffel, yes, THAT Eiffel), and a visit to one of Hanoi's Craft Villages.
- Vietnamese Food! (Cha Ca, Bun Cha, Pho, Nem, Green Papaya Salad...more exotic fruit than you can imagine)
- Class meetings in two Unesco World Heritage sites (of course we're used to that here at the U.)
- Exploring Hanoi's nightlife, culture, and history.
- And, of course, you'll have the cutest faculty couple on Grounds! (See below. And yes, we will kayak on the Bay)
For more photos from the J-term course, see https://photos.app.goo.gl/WZumLAqxneKRAz3F7
Hope to see you at the info sessions.