Submitted by David Haynes on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…
The first week in Panama was a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. I chose this program because I wanted to improve my Spanish, and it already feels a lot better. I have spoken more Spanish in the first seven days than I have in the first seven years of learning the language! It actually feels very strange to write this in English. It has also been some of the hardest seven days, too. Using only Spanish 24/7 is a bit exhausting for my brain, but it’s the only way I will improve.
I came here a little worried about walking through the streets of the city alone and having my phone stolen or something along these lines (partly because my phone was stolen in Madrid a couple of years ago). However, I found that this city is very safe and the people are incredibly kind. My favorite thing to do so far has been to walk the narrow streets of Casco Viejo and find random strangers to talk to. This may sound a little crazy, but I have had incredible conversations with all sorts of people and they have all been extremely kind. I have spoken to people from Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, France, Israel, and of course, Panama. In fact, I have far too many stories from the first week to put in a single blog post.
Apart from talking to strangers on the street, today, we started our service learning at Las Aldeas SOS, an international organization dedicated to providing a loving and steady home to children who do not have one. My activity is swimming, so today I played with the little kids in the pool for a couple of hours. I have learned (from my trip to Morocco, too) that one does not need to know a language in order to play. I barely understood most of the little kids, but I had a blast and I think they did, as well.
I have come to believe that the world is a lot safer than people think and that people are a lot kinder than we think, too. Many people, including myself, tend to look at people from another country with at least an ounce of fear or apprehension. But the more people I meet, the more I realize that we are all pretty much the same. Extremely different, yes, but also the same.
