Birthday in Panama! #HogsAbroad #IntlHogs

We safely made it to Panama yesterday, and I was struck by the humidity in the city as walking out from the airplane. The first thing I noticed driving to the city of knowledge, where we stay, was that city has mixture of different cultures. I saw the well-developed city with many high buildings but also old and small houses, which you do not expect to see in the developed city. There are modern public buses running in the city and also old-looking buses too. I am looking forward to seeing more traditional cities in Panama in the rest of the stay.

 

Today, after we saw the view of Panama from a mountain, we went to a shopping wall. I was trying to see what aspects are similar to American culture and Japanese culture as I walked around, and I found that the way people interact is similar to the what it is in the states.

However, I thought that how stores display products were closer to how they do in Japan. The stores’ space were relatively small so they need to utilize the space effectively. I saw many items being hung on the wall or being displayed at the very high place close to the ceiling. I found it interesting because Panama and Japan are not very big area-wise, so they need to utilize the limited space wisely. Also, some brands’ name were named a little bit differently even though they were in English. For instance, “Tommy Hilfiger” was called “Hilfiger” in the mall. I assume that this is one of the ways for global companies to approach and attract the local consumers.

We also went out after having dinner, and I am so thankful for all the friends who celebrated my birthday in Panama! Thank you again for all the birthday wishes!

Yuki

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Read more from Yuki at  https://yukiinpanama.wordpress.com/

Learn more about studying abroad as a Walton college student at: http://walton.uark.edu/global/

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