Submitted by Hailey Zirkle on the 2018 winter session program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures…
By the time Saturday arrived, I had been in Panamá for four days, and I was ready to get out. Being in a third world country, I had already experienced a great amount of culture shock. To begin, I wasn’t used to people honking constantly, cat-calling or the cold showers at 5:00 am. Although, I’ve realized this is just normal behavior and not to think too much about it, I was ready to be in a different environment.
Our weekend trip was to San Blas, a group of over 300 islands in the Caribbean. Our tour guide planned to pick us up at 5:00 am from our house, however, as we discovered early on in the week, our house isn’t on the map. We ended up getting picked up an hour late after calling the driver and giving directions. Luckily, the boat to the islands hadn’t left by the time we arrived at the port three hours later, and the delay wasn’t a problem. After a twenty-minute boat ride, we pulled up to the dock to the most beautiful island I’d ever seen. Over the course of three days, we managed to island hop to six different places, each one more impressive than the last. I also ended up extremely sunburned, despite my constant effort to keep sunscreen on my body which meant we went home a few hours early instead of being in the sun for another day. Luckily, I was blessed with an amazing roommate who helped nurse me back to life with constant aloe application and damp towels.
This week, we finally started our service project. In Panama, many kids end up in orphanages or other living arrangements due to many different reasons. For the service learning class, we are going to be playing with kids at Las Aldeas SOS for nine afternoons this month. I personally was a little nervous about this because I either get along great with kids or not at all. However, after the first day, I couldn’t wait to go back. Not only did I get to play soccer and basketball with the kids, I got to interact and work on my Spanish communication skills.
By the time classes started back up on Wednesday, I was ready to get back to learning. We had to tackle our second composition and quiz on Friday for the grammar class, as well as prepare for the first exam in my literature class. As of right now, we have plans to go to the Desfile de las Mil Polleras on Saturday which will be an amazing experience to see the preservation of culture. We have a good amount of assignments due next week as well, so hopefully we can find a café or someplace to hang out for a good part of Sunday to get everything done. Until then, ciao!
