Submitted by Chloe Hundley on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…
This past week was probably the busiest one yet, but I enjoyed every second of it. At Aldeas, I helped out more with the art activities and also played games like charades with the children. This was great because it gave me the opportunity to talk more with the kids and learn about their situations and how things are different in Panama. One day, we talked a lot about how our school systems differ and how they learn English compared to how I learned Spanish in school and it was really interesting because I have never heard that perspective. We also played charades, which was really fun and helpful because it taught me a lot of vocabulary that I don’t use on a daily basis. It was also funny to the children when we got confused over words that we didn’t know because they were so basic to them, but we never learned them in our classes so we had to explain how hard it can be to learn a language just from a class versus speaking it at home. Bonding with the kids at Aldeas is always a fun way to end a tiring day. It’s hard to believe that I only have a few more days with them.
On Friday, we finally got to see the Panama Canal, which I had been anticipating since before I even arrived. Every single day, the canal is mentioned in my classes here, so it was neat to actually see it in person knowing how much it has impacted the history of Panama. After watching the boats pass by, we walked through the canal museum to learn more about its influence on literature. It was really interesting to see why and how so many people came to work on the canal and how much it has influenced Panama and the rest of the world. There were also sections of the museum that talked about the different animals and insects that were around when the canal was built so that we could get a more realistic perspective.
After the canal, a group of us went to Valle de Antón for the weekend and it was genuinely one of the best weekends of my life. We hiked a lot, went to the hot springs, jumped off of waterfalls, and went to a butterfly exhibit. This was also really interesting because I do a lot of outdoor activities at home, but they were completely different here. Activities like cliff jumping were a lot less regulated and there were a lot of different plants and animals, especially butterflies, in the nature exhibits that I had never seen before. Overall, it was a great week and I am excited to see what the rest of this trip brings!
