Cuba Diaries Week 9 - 11: March 16, 2009 - April 02, 2009
This is a personal account of my semester in Cuba.

ALYSSA CAMPBELL
EspreeNet News Service

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I know I haven’t written in the last few weeks or so, but I honestly just haven’t felt like it because I have been pretty busy… Being here is becoming more like regular life, with routines, meetings, and keeping myself busy so I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write like I did in the beginning… I will try my best to summarize these last few weeks in this message. I haven’t traveled since Vinales, but I have been doing a bit more exploring in Havana. I visited the” Museo de Danza” a few days ago to learn more about Cuban ballet, something that’s not usually talked about a lot when you think of Cuba. I met an old lady there who was so happy to try and practice her English with me. She told me about EVERY single picture on display in the museum.

Anyways, the house tour was cool, but talking with the US Foreign Service officers there was even better… They talked to us about their experiences in the Foreign Service, both good and bad, and it sounded like a good career… The conversation was great for me especially since I don’t know what I want to do after graduation next year and I had only learned about the foreign and civil service through a term paper I’d written last semester. Hearing about it first hand from actual Foreign Service officers was so much more helpful, and I think I may consider taking the Foreign Service exam now to have it as another option for careers after graduation. Being a foreign diplomat would be an amazing career, trying, but amazing just the same. Its good to have more options available to me since I am getting near that time where I need to figure out what exactly I want to do with my life.

Other than my visit there the rest of the week was pretty lax since I was sick… Classes are still going well, I love learning Cuban history from an alternative perspective. I have learned all of this from American professors over the last few years, and to hear about it again from Cuban professors with different perspectives is awesome because there are always two sides to every story.

I went to Fresa y Chocolate, a cabaret here in Cuba that had an awesome open mic night. There were several Cuban performers and an American student from the College of Charleston who performed. It was a cool atmosphere, and the music was great. It was in a swanky little club, with dark lighting, few seats, and far beyond capacity, but it was a nice place to be.

Other than that nothing else really has happened over the last few days. I have been to the beach three or four times because the weather here is ridiculous! It’s been in the 80s or 90s everyday, not a cloud In the sky and the heat just presses down on you. Its not like 80s or 90s days at home though- it’s a completely different kind of hot, which is surprising because we live near the water. The most used phrase these last few weeks has been “El sol mas fuerte”. It’s kind of like a NYC summer plus ten or twelve degrees. The heat just rises from the sidewalk, beats off the old cars, the concrete buildings, the trees, maybe even off other people.. All I keep thinking of is the movie “Do the right thing” with the heat wave. The fans don’t work, there is no cross breeze, there is no shade. So the only safe haven has been the beach.

I almost burned myself on Sunday when I stepped in the sand and felt how hot it was… This heat is far past frying eggs on the sidewalk, you could probably fry them in the sand, and cook a steak on the sidewalks instead. But the water is what’s been saving me.. The water feels like a heated pool, not quite cold enough to avoid the “warrior” sun, but the most refreshing thing around. The beach has been packed with people because everyone has been thinking the same thing, “ I got to get out of this sun”.. But through all of this heat wave, there is still something about Cuba that makes it still seem like the best place that I could be right now. Somehow the heat doesn’t seem to matter, the sweat dripping down my face has been ok, my feet getting burned in the sand is comical, me always being thirsty seems normal, all because I am in Cuba.

I am enjoying every minute of this unique experience, the good and bad- heat, lines, long bus rides, learning Spanish, learning dances, making friends, and pushing myself to the limit, its all part of an experience I refuse to ever forget.

With that said, wait until I get home so you can all see just how black I am now! My skin is literally like the color of chocolate now, no more high yellowness here. Lol. I have a month left and the real sun just got here, so I can only imagine how dark I will be when I get home. I have never been this dark in my life, but I like it- it’s GORGEOUS! Lol. But I am sure I will be believed when I tell people I spent my Spring in the Caribbean because my Skin will say it all. I look like another person, maybe Alyssa’s sister- but its cool because I kind of feel like a different person too because of all of the things that I have experienced here…. This trip has been transformative.

So besides my few chilled adventures and the scorching heat, not much else has changed.. My Spanish is much better than what it was before I came. It’s so nice to understand and be understood. It is far from perfect, but its improved tremendously. Talking to friends, and constantly hearing it has been a big factor in my improvement.

The only other thing I can think of that I did was register for online courses for summer school, and register for my fall classes. It’s crazy that after this summer I will have enough credit hours to graduate! And for the fall, I am taking 5 classes that I’ve really wanted to take since freshman year so that’s exciting. I am going to apply for the Foreign Policy study abroad program in DC for next Spring, and then I will be a graduate! How exciting! Its scary to realize I am actually an adult now!

But its wonderful to know that my life is going so good right now! I also have been still working on my internship search. I heard back from one law firm which is great, and am still waiting to see if I can find anything where I can get paid.

AND My MOMMA bought me tickets to the Essence Festival in New Orleans for July 4th weekend and Beyonce is the main performer!!!!!

WHOOOHOOOOOOOO! Does it get any better?! So I am in high spirits right now, everything is going well,

I love Cuba, and it looks like things will be ok when I get home too! Yay!

Love you all, and see you in a little over a month!


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Since the fall of the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 Cuba has been a one-party state led by Pres Fidel Castro and - since February 2008 - by his annointed successor, younger brother Raul.

Full name: Republic of Cuba
Population: 11.3 million (UN 2008)
Capital: Havana
Major language: Spanish
Major religion: Christianity
Internet domain: .cu

Life expectancy:
76 years (men), 80 years (women) (UN)
Main exports:
Nickel, sugar, tobacco, shellfish, medical products, citrus, coffee
The Press
Granma - official Communist Party newspaper, online version in five languages including English












Published April 02, 2009

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