My time in Panama has finished and now I?m back in the United States. My time abroad has been an amazing experience with a lot of learning involved. We got to encounter different cultural shocks between indigenous people and Panamanians. To be honest I didn?t expect Panama to look like another Mexico. I saw a lot of similarities between Mexican culture and Panamanian culture. I would say that the only similarities that Panama and the United States had were those of how they do business. If I were to describe Panama to someone else, I would say that it’s very diverse, something I didn?t expect. You had all these types of people from different places that come together to make a community. I learned a lot within a week of being in Panama. I learned that the history of Panama is very important because it shows the beginnings of how the economy was built. The Panama Canal being their main source of money. When it comes to business, I was able to conclude that every business is like a family. They are very close together and rely on each other to make important business decisions. We got to see PepsiCo and we learned that they haven?t had an accident within 7 years of how they rely on each other to be safe and get things done properly. We also went to see Estee Lauder and they had us play an ice breaker game to make us feel more comfortable with them. In my opinion this was the first company that actually made me feel welcomed and even planted a little seed of me working with them in the future. My overall impression of Panama was very shocking and not really what I expected. There was a huge shock once I realized important geographical, governmental, historical, and cultural/social factors really impact the way international business is developed and functions.
