Blake Dorfman, Laguna library coordinator, and Laura Wooster, Santa Barbara High teacher, led a group of seven high schoolers, four of whom were Laguna students, Carter Thicke, Beatrice Tolan, Pierce O’Donnell, and Jack Espy on the annual Friendship Tours spring break trip in Vietnam.
They began their journey touring Saigon and going on an evening walk. They got to visit The War Remnants Museum, The Reunification Palace, and the Ben Thanh Market on the second day. The group got the opportunity to stay with the family of a former Vietcong general. They experienced bike tours and boat trips. They visited a floating market.
On their sixth day, they arrived in Hanoi, where they adventured through the neighborhood surrounding their hotel.
The next day, they experienced Vietnam’s capital, walking around Hoan Kiem Lake and exploring the Presidential Palace and Hoa Lo Prison, which is now a museum. They also wandered through the Temple of Literature.
During their last day of the trip, they worked for a service project at the Vietnam Friendship Village and then flew home.
Throughout their journey, the students kept journals, which they wrote in daily at many of the sites they toured.