Greetings from la Ciudad de Saber (City of Knowledge)! Originally part of the canal zone, it was a US military base called Fort Clayton and is now a hotspot for higher education and canal tourism.
Our first stop at la Ciudad de Saber was the US Embassy. After passing through a security checkpoint and surrendering our phones, we engaged in a group conversation with the Counselor General, Head of Public Diplomacy, and the Economic Affairs Officer. In this discussion, we learned about what their jobs in foreign services entails, how the role of the US embassy in Panama impacts the lives of American citizens here, and what led them to choose these careers. This experience opened our eyes to the possibilities of working in international relations in the future. It also intrigued us, as we got to see how what we’ve learned in our economics and history classrooms can be applied to real life careers.
We then headed to the Miraflores Locks, the locks located on the Pacific Ocean side of the canal. Fun Fact: these are the original Panama canal locks opened in 1914, while the Agua Clara locks we saw yesterday are much larger and opened up in 2016! Before seeing the locks themselves, we watched an IMAX short film about the Panama canal. It outlined the extensive history of the canal, the realities of the project’s construction, and the complex engineering techniques that make it so special. Then, we headed outside to see the canal in action, where we saw a ship pass through the locks from a viewing deck.
Our next stop was back in la Ciudad de Saber, at the Florida State University Panama campus. This campus is much smaller than the flagship university in Tallahassee, Florida, with around 450 students. Our tour guide walked us through the entire campus where we talked with different staff members, including a professor of international relations, and learned about the unique student experience at FSU Panama. We ended the tour with a visit to the campus library (which is the largest library in Panama!) and talked with a few FSU Panama students about their personal academic experiences.
After a short break back at the hotel, we ended the night with a delicious dinner at Cantina del Tigre, our favorite restaurant so far! We shared a family style meal with a variety of very tasty traditional Panamanian dishes, ranging from ceviche to cheese flan.
Until tomorrow!