my feet are hurting (three days in)

It's officially been three days since landing in Panama! SO SO much has happened that I can't even list it all. The program director Aly is amazing and is more than happy to answer any and all questions about literally anything. There are two more co-directors that help with various things named Yari and Yuri (Panamanian's pronounce their y's like j's so their names sound more like Jari and Juri). 

On Tuesday, I had the worst migraine I've every had. Then on Wednesday I felt a lot better but was still a bit woozy towards the end of the day. I think I'm slowly becoming more adjusted to the heat, the water, and the food. I have to drink more water here than in CO because of how much I'm constantly sweating.

We saw the ruins on the first day, then in the past two days we visited Casco Viejo (Old Town) and El Biomuseo. The ruins had some very interesting history because it was a place of fusion between Indigenous people, Spain, and West Africans. It was also the first city built in Central America?? (maybe just the first in Panama haha). But I did see BATS FOR THE FIRST time in the wild!!!! They were so so so cute. Also, last night most of us went to a mariachi performance in a nearby park. Mariachi bands from Spain, Panama, and Mexico all performed. 

(BATS!!!!!!)

(view of the city from the top of a cathedral in the ruins)

(cool tree that grows from up --> down) 

(the biodiversity museum) 

We have every dinner "free" since the first night so I've gone with mostly the same people to restaurants around the city. We got a stipend for all our meals (we all went to the bank together so pretty sure we drained the bank) so it's nice to be able to pay in cash. I have some photos of yummy food I've eaten at the bottom of the post. 

We've been having lots of orientation sessions to go over the syllabi for our classes, Panamanian culture, and the program in general. We got the schedule for the entire semester and it was OVERwhelming. We're going to so many places and taking so many classes in such a short period of time. 

Yesterday was our Spanish assessment...a long written test and then an oral interview. I think I did okay on the test, but the oral interview wasn't great. However, ever since getting back into the Spanish state of mind, I've been a lot more confident speaking Spanish at restaurants since most people don't speak English. 

A student from Panama joined our group today and I was in a group that went out to dinner with her. It was so interesting having conversations all night because we would speak in broken Spanish and English and she would speak in broken English and Spanish and we all understood eachother perfectly well. 

I'm also trying to get to know people on the group better because there are SO many interesting people! After Saturday when we go to our homestay families, we won't all be in a group again until we travel to Chiriquí (8 hours away towards the western border). OH! We got our homestay assignments and me and a girl named Kayley are with an older couple in a small barrio west of the city. Naturally everyone had SO many questions about Panamanian manners and customs today. For example, we're expected to eat all of our food, not wear shoes in the house and not put our feet on any of the furniture. Aly also taught us a lot of common phrases. 

Next week we'll stay with our families and go to La Universidad Tecnologica de Panama for our Spanish classes. Every day during lunch we'll be paired with a student that attends the school to practice our Spanish. Here are some photos from the past few days! 

P.S. I hope everyone at home is doing well! If I haven't texted people back it's because they've kept us very busy!! I love you all! 

(view from back of the Biodiversity Museum)

(View from a very pretty bridge in Casco Viejo)

(church in Casco Viejo)

(the whole group! - very blurry)