My first glance of Panama City was at night when we were arriving at the airport.? The city was full of lights and immediately I wanted to go and explore what would be stored in such a beautiful place. My first desire to gain from this trip was the amazing views, personally I enjoy looking down at a city and taking it all in. I was excited to see what amazing views I would witness first-hand. As we arrived the first key difference, I noticed immediately was that hardly anyone spoke English. This meant that I would have to use my knowledge of Spanish to get me around the city. In America I am very great at carrying conversations and have no problem ever speaking, however in Panama I would find myself trying to end the conversation as early as possible in order to avoid speaking Spanish. This would be the biggest challenge of the entire trip, but I knew any type of challenge also comes with a great reward. The second key difference I noticed in Panama was that everything was low prices compared to America. A meal that would cost an average of $15 in America cost about $6 here in Panama; however, this would be an advantage for me. Culture in Panama is very different from the culture in America, one of the best examples I could give for this is the traffic. The traffic in Panama is absurd and there are tons of car accidents I have seen since the moment I arrived. In America I am assuming the laws on traffic are much stricter. However, in Panama it seems as if there are just never any cars that get pulled over. Overall, it has been great to experience something different than America, and although things might not always be perfect, it is the experience that counts.
