January 15

We woke up early in the morning at 5:15 am to get ready to head back home to the USA. One of the students couldn’t get into their safe to get his passport, so we considered leaving him behind but in the end he just met us at the airport. Everyone was nervous that their luggage was going to be over the 50 pound limit, but everyone made it through the baggage check successfully. Many people found savior in Dunkin Donuts and ran for coffee and bagels at the Panama Airport, but soon after we all got security checked again, boarded the plane, and headed to Atlanta which was our first stop to getting home. Our plane was scheduled to depart Panama at 8:35 and we soon made it home to Atlanta at noon. When the plane landed, everyone was so excited to turn their cell phones on. All of the students were ecstatic to hear the sounds of new text messages and emails coming through from their phones. After we left the plane, all of us had to go through some long steps in order to get through immigration. First we all had to go through international baggage claim, pick up our bags, and then recheck them. Many of us were nervous for this new experience but there were no problems. Next we had to re-enter customs and get security checked again. It was a very long process, but in the end we were happy to see the many things our country does to keep us safe.
From then on we ate food at the airport and waited until our 3:10 flight to Boston. After our smooth arrival to Logan Airport, it was a very easy process from getting our baggage claim to going home. For many of us this was going to be our final farewells, and the rest were heading on a bus back to Bryant. In the end going to Boston was a bittersweet arrival because we all were sad to be leaving each other for the first time in 2 weeks, as well as the realization that we had finally left the beautiful country of Panama. But we were still excited to finally come home, speak English, and see our families. It was hard on the Spanish minors because it was difficult for them to switch back to English rather than Spanish. Costa Rica and Panama had become such a big part of our lives during the past two weeks, that transitioning back to the English language was not easy. In Costa Rica and Panama we learned a lot about international business and trade, the Spanish language, the Spanish culture, and how it feels to get of our comfort zones and try new things. This trip also brought new friendships and created bigger bonds with our teachers as well as our other friends. It was amazing how this trip brought us together as a group which made this trip unforgettable. We both are also very excited to finally see the hundreds of pictures and the videos that were taken during the trip and hope these will take us back to all the site visits and memories we shared during our journey to Central America. Our trip to Costa Rica and Panama was one of the best experiences we’ve ever had and we appreciate the professors for bringing us on this most memorable adventure.



Melissa Claude and Casey Jackson