Panama!

Alright so at some point in time I swore I WOULD write about Europe, and Panama. Well I ran out of time to ever write anything about my excellent summer!

Quick Summer Recap:
Went to Europe to work at the Girl Scout camp.
- I was first in Ansbach, Germany at the very unsafe and scary base.
- I got to travel to Munich to meet up with my friend Anna and stay at THE TENT.
- I had an amazing forth of July, at a festival dedicated to this guy who looks like uncle Sam, who went from Germany to Alaska, found a manatee and then rode it back to Bad Windshiem Germany
- The finished up Germany with a group of CRAZY Brownies (the youngest girl scout group)
- Visited Paris for five days with four girls from work and meet up with Julie (another friend from India). Got to take part in the Bastille Day festivities, including seeing the president of France, an also fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.
- Took a very long train ride to Italy, and landed in Pisa to see the Tower of Pisa, which yes is leaning and is major tourist destination.
- In Italy, we were givin twelve hours off and we wanted to go to Africa (which was almost possible except there were no flights on the day we wished to go… which was very sad) So instead we went to go jump off of cliffs! Wahoo! In a place called Cinque Terre, meaning the Five Lands. Cinque Terre is what you would imagine Italy to look like, beautiful blue water with hug cliffs and cities built around them. It was so nice, I went back a 2nd time when I had two days in Italy before I had to catch a flight to London to go home!

So two weeks after I found myself once again on a plane, jet setting off to Panama City, Panama. I am here to go to school for a year. For twelve months I will attend Florida State University-Panama. And upon my return I will receive in-state tuition in Panama, and hopefully be fluent in Spanish (Good trade off, I can only hope!).

I am living in an area of Panama called Clayton. Its an old American Army Base, and pretty much looks like most places I have ever lived. I am living in old enlisted housing (though our AC works better then the kids in officers housing, which is nice due to the fact that it is around 90 everyday and does not really cool down at night). I have five girls in my house and there should be a 6th we are still waiting on her to come… if she ever does? There is a Mango tree in our front yard, which in interesting along with iguanas hiding all around. The whole place is located across the street from the Panama Canal, and we can see the boats go through the locks, if we were allowed to sit on the roofs. Clayton is about 10 or so minutes away from the City. But only about 10 minutes away from Albrook, where the bus terminal and the biggest mall in Panama is located.

Overall, Panama is beautiful. It’s a big city and ten minutes away from the city is a huge rainforest. On Sunday we had the chance (all the international program students) to go on a trip to the Chagares River. We canoed up the river and then tubed back down the river and then stopped to hike into the rainforest to a waterfall. After the hike, we then canoed to the Embedra Indian village, which is more or less a tourist destination, set up by the government. It had the same idea as Old World Wisconsin in my mind. People dress up, cook, and put on a show. It was a little touristy for my taste, but still an interesting experience.

Today I started classes, with Spanish. I have learned though I have not even been here a week that I NEED to learn Spanish. I was told by many people that I would not have to know Spanish to get by in Panama, which yes may be true. But to get by without being charged a fortune by people trying to take advantage of me, would be worth the time and effort I am going to need to spend learning Spanish. Other classes I am taking would be Politics of Latin America, Math, Bio for the Non-Major (which I heard was really a pain because the professor is a crazy person), and Conflict and Security. It should be a fun time!

Well I have to get to class before the rain comes…