June 8th, 9th, 10th

I have arrived in Panama! I, as well as the 15 other girls, landed in Clayton and stayed in the City of Knowledge for the first night. The City of Knowledge is an old American military base but we stayed in rooms that are similar to dorms back home. The room had two beds and WIFI so we were able to talk to our family members and post on Facebook that night. We went to the store to get limited groceries and went out to dinner to "Mi Ranchito" the first night. Going to their grocery was a little overwhelming, however, we were surprised at how many US products they had there so it was nice. I got a CocoCola light, a muffin, and a milk for just $1! Mi Ranchito was great food but we were having a hard time ordering in the beginning. We don't have any fluent Spanish speakers in our group so we've been really trying hard to work together and make some sentences lol. Jennifer and I are doing most of the translating for the whole group and my Spanish phrase book is really coming in handy!


FIRST DAY

we thought the frosted flakes were funny :)


 the grocery store in Panama City (Clayton/COK)

the woman who greeted us at the airport when we arrived :)

The groceries I purchased :)


our first bus!

the contraction workers were still in our room when went in... weird.


my bed in Clayton



Me & the sunset!


the beautiful sunset outside of our window :)


Mi Ranchito- the restaurant we ate at on the first night

The singer at Ranchito
Grocery shopping in Panama!

Ritas
me & sarah
me and sarah
The next day we checked out of the City of Knowledge and went to the Panama Canal, around the town "Casco Viejo," and then the grocery store. The Panama canal was beautiful and we got to watch a huge ship pass through the Mariflores locks. After that we got to our houses that we will be staying at for the next 17 days. Again, we had a really hard time communicating with the locals to figure out what was going on and how many girls will be staying in each house. It has been an interesting experience in these houses. There is very limited air conditioning, bugs, random animals everywhere outside, and cold showers. Its amazing what you take for granted everyday in America. This trip has been a very "go with the flow" trip and we have all had to just adapt, adjust, and overcome. I am sharing a bed with my friend Sarah and we are staying in a house with 5 other girls. The 6 girls get along really well and that same night we had a good time getting to know each other more.
PANAMA CANAL


















WALKING around the town:































the toilet in the City of Knowledge- one flush & two flush

the bracelet me and sarah got from the market
This morning we got to sleep in (which won't happen much) and then we headed into the market. The small market consisted home made crafts made out of clay. Then we went to the "mall" here in Chitre that consisted of about 7 stores and a McDonalds! I was able to get another pair of shorts because I only brought one and I also got two tshirts and a sports bra so I can start running with the girls. After the mall we went to dinner which was on the top of this pretty mountain. We weren't sure whether we could drink the water or not but since I had ice in my CocaCola light.. we will see how that goes! Then we got to go to the super market to get groceries for the whole week. As a group we came up with meals and plan on cooking every night! We figured out how to rig the USB internet and have made a WIFI connection that all 6 girls can use so now I can update more often and post more pictures, YAY! Tomorrow we head to our first clinical day so everyone is ironing their scrubs now and preparing for our first clinical experience. I will keep you posted on future events but for now Im going to try and add some pictures :) Thanks for reading! TTFN!
DAY 3 pictures

The market we went to in Chitre

A lovely panamanian painting

More crafts in the market

the bus we rode around in :)

one of the many stray dogs in panama... so sad :(

The animals in the street lol

Mcdonalds in PANAMA!

The Restaurant we ate at which is at the top of the hill

View from restaurant


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Thats it for now :) ttys!