Hanoi? Hà Nội. hà nội!

If leaving for American college is the ultimate escape, wandering the streets of Hanoi was my daily escape. Unknowingly then, those aimless walks were how I got to know and grew love for this city, later other cities, and eventually the idea of a city.

 

The project began as a literature class assignment, my thoughts were in English. Yet amidst the mix of memories of a life spent in a different world and of a previous self, I couldn’t help occasionally drifting back to my native Vietnamese. I started out writing with no audience in mind. The English version was more of a rewrite than a translation.