Just as the title suggests, this trip has been the greatest experience of my life thus far. Now that I am back home–and even before we left–I had already missed the streets of Panama that sold delicious food every where we went and the walkable streets that allowed us to find anything we needed within walking distance.
First arriving in the airport felt like a snapback into reality as I used this time to work on assignments that I didn’t get to work on during the trip. I was dreading going home because it meant I have to dive immediately back into all of my commitments without having much time to rest as we were gone for the entirety of spring break. My friends and I yearn for the night life experiences we had in Panama and talk about it at least once a week.
This trip has helped me improve my professional skills through giving me the resources and experiences to know how to best utilize my opportunities to my advantage. This seems vague but to be more specific we had the opportunity to meet with 8 different firms and to talk and learn all about them. Not everyone is able to do this so we had to utilize our time and efforts to ask the best questions to get the most of out them with little time. I am able to translate this skill back into the U.S when I go into Culverhouse lunches with different companies. I know what I should be asking, how my mannerisms should be, and overall how to tackle what could be a difficult task.
To end this blog I’ll leave some parting advice. Be ready to be active and engaged. It sounds very simple but it isn’t always easy. There are late nights and early mornings and it will be extremely draining but make sure you stay attentive during your whole trip in order to make the most of it. Use all of your senses in order to fully solidify the memory into your brain so that it will last longer than the allotted time that you will be there. It is amazing what seeing the world can do and I would hate for it to be gone in the blink of an eye.
