Mesmerized by Panama – Adam Bataineh

My initial impressions of landing in Panama City were quite jarring. Seeing how vast the skyline was reminded me of New York City and made my home city of Houston look tiny in comparison. The streets were very busy, often too busy, and the driving seemed very intense and sometimes dangerous. When spending the first night walking around, I felt like a tourist and clearly looked like one, unsure and unaware of much of my surroundings yet mesmerized by the loud music and bright lights projected by the surrounding skyscrapers. Regardless, I could see how important such an experience could be for those spending long periods of time studying abroad. It is hard to imagine that I could at one point become completely immersed into this country, and its culture and at some point in my life be able to say I did. Overall, from this experience, I hope to gain a new understanding of a foreign culture, experience life abroad for the first time, and become further comfortable with being uncomfortable. Learning new things is something that everyone should strive to do, and nothing can teach you more about a culture than completely submerging yourself within it. The culture so far has clearly shown to be far different from what I am used to in the United States. With Panama?s definition of business casual to merely be pants and closed-toed shoes, to almost never starting on time, the professional culture was far more relaxed and forgiving than in the States. With that said, my impressions of this trip so far have been overwhelmingly positive, and I am extremely hopeful for what I will be able to learn from it. Having the opportunity to go on a trip like this provides you with lessons that you simply cannot truly learn within a classroom, and I am excited to see how that works out.