Panama: The Introduction

As I am once again out of the country, it is time for me to start up this blog again.

So far things have been going pretty smoothly. I arrived Thursday and found my hostel without any problems. On Friday, I bought a cellular phone and managed to find a furnished apartment for the the summer. Its not anything spectacular but has all the necessities, kitchen, bed, refrigerator, AIR CONDITIONER, television … It is also in a happening part of the city near where some of my fellow SAIS classmates are (there are 4 of us here in Panama for the Summer).

Saturday, a bunch of us toured the old town part of Panama City (Casco Viejo) and then the ruins of old old Panama City (deserted after a successful pirate attack). Today, we went to the island of Taboga to enjoy the beach. On the island, there was also a decent sized hill which we climbed for a nice view of Panama City (unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so you are going to have to take my word that the view was nice).

The weather has been about what you'd expect for a tropical country. Relatively hot and humid with frequent rain. I think in the the 3 days I have been here it has rained 8 times. At least the rain lets up relatively shortly and then the sun and clouds come back. While we were touring the ruins, some heavy rain came but luckily there was cover in the ruins of a bell tower of an old church.

Tomorrow, is the first day of my internship. Hopefully, I can talk my way into the building.

I've been thinking I need to come up with a list of things I want t o accomplish while in Panama. My list at the moment is:

• improve my Spanish

• explore the country

• do a good job at my internship

• dance salsa

• determine how much travel abroad I want in my professional life

• go surfing, maybe try windsurfing

• meet people, have fun