Studying in Panama

Submitted by Hailey Zirkle on the 2018 winter session program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures…

My third week here in Panama started out with the Desfile de las Mil Polleras, a festival celebrating the traditions of Panamanian culture. The province of Los Santos, specifically the town Las Tablas, has conserved the antique culture in Panama. We drove four hours, most of which was spent sleeping. When we arrived, it was obvious that this was a huge deal for Panameños. The streets were completely full of people from all over the country who came to see what the women of Panama were going to come up with this year. A pollera is basically a skirt/dress that is intricately woven and decorated. The headpieces are probably the most impressive part, however. When I was told how much people spend on these outfits, I was absolutely in shock; a plain white dress starts at $4,000, and then the price just goes up from there to decorate and get different styles. After a four-hour ride back, I was ready to get some shut-eye before spending Sunday studying.

Sunday morning, we came across Café Unido, a cute little coffee shop located in a different neighborhood. I and four other UD students met there to work on a group project and some other side work during our day off. Being used to Morris library hours, we didn’t realize that places here close so early. When 5:00pm came, we had to move to a different café as the first was closing. At the end of the day, I had finished a good amount of work and felt ready to start the third week of class.

As far as classes go, the disadvantage of taking a five-week course is that everything sneaks up on you even more  than in the regular 16-week semester. So, on Monday, it hit me that even though I finished a lot during our study session on Sunday, I had just as much work to do… again. Luckily, I’ve learned time management skills over the years and was able to get the majority of it done while still enjoying my time in Panama.

We had more service this week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. After three hours of class early in the morning, sometimes I don’t feel like going. However, as soon as I get there and see how happy the kids are to see us, it makes it all worth it. Plus, I get a great workout in trying to keep up with their endless energy!

On Wednesday, we finally got to visit the Panama Canal. When we got there, there were problems with the tickets, so we ended up missing pretty much the entire process of a boat going through the canal. Even though this sucked, it was just another example of how things don’t always go as planned. I took it as a learning experience and decided I would have to go back to see the process of the locks opening and closing.  On Thursday, we took a trip to the Biomuseo which was one of the better museums I’ve been to. Unfortunately, we couldn’t join the rest of the group for dinner because we had to finish a group project, but the good news is that we did very well and I’m hopeful for a good grade on it!

Tomorrow, Saturday, we plan on hanging out with some of my dad’s friends that live here and taking a trip to a Caribbean island. More to come on that next week. Ciao!