Rise and shine; it’s time for school! We started our day bright and early with a 6:45AM call time to spend a school day with students from the International School of Panama. The day began with a history class about the complex relationship between the US and Panama from a teacher that is a direct descendent of the man who liberated Panama. After, each of us was paired with a Student Council member to follow throughout the day, where we sat in on classes like IB Business Management and IB Spanish. We also toured the beautiful campus, where we saw the wings for elementary, middle, and high school, as well as the large sports facilities and cafeterias. Interestingly, the hallways were outdoors and featured stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
After a quick stop back at our hotel, we made our way over to the Cinta Costera walk to take a group picture in front of the Panama sign!
We continued our day back at Casco Viejo, coming full circle from our first day. We attended the Nomé Chocolate Experience to learn about how Panamanian chocolate is created and each made a custom chocolate bar. We also played a “guess the flavor” game while taste-testing a variety of chocolates and bon bons.
We had a few minutes to quickly do some last minute shopping, then went to the balcony of CasaCasco to enjoy a beautiful sunset and take some pictures before dinner.
After that, we headed downstairs to enjoy our final delicious 3 course meal while chatting about our favorite memories from the trip.
With our program coming to a close, many of us reflected on the experiences we will take away from the trip. As the future generation of global citizens, the lessons we learned in Panama have taught us the value of learning each other’s histories and how we can become better leaders on an international scale.
Thank you for joining us on our journey, and buenas noches!
Erica Weinstein, Chloe Chung, and Sonia Veldhuis
(Photo credits to Josephine Lee)