Feliz cumpleaños a mi

We’re definitely starting to settle in now. I have a little routine and am getting to know some people very well (even the hotel staff, dad!). At night I’ve been taking it pretty easy just because we do so much stuff during the day, but when I’m feeling more energetic I go out to walk in the neighborhood, hang out in one of the many parks or plazas (SF style…), or, my favorite…, some times we go to listen to music and dance.
On Friday we got a walking tour of Old Havana. We learned some of the history and saw the sights, very beautiful. One of my favorite bits was an old square, Plaza de la Catedral, where Havana’s oldest/only cathedral is. Also, I found some diet coke there!! And, sticking out in the middle of all this colonial architecture there is an incredibly modern building that doesn’t fit in at all with its surroundings, but is lovely nonetheless.
Last weekend, my last unofficial vacation, I didn’t do so much. Saturday I slept in, talked to my mom and dad (yay!), but unfortunately missed my chance to go to the beach with some other girls. Instead I did some hw and got some lunch with some of my classmates at places that take national pesos. All together it was 24 CUPs, which is about $1 in Cuban tourist monies, and a little more than an Amerrrican dollar.
And yes, today is my birthday, turning the glorious age of twenty-one. My friends have been very nice to me today and asking me what I want to do, but I just don’t know. We had a delicious lunch at a paladar (a restaurant run out of someone’s home). It was very not Cuban and very much better than any of the food at the hotel! I’m sure we’ll go out and do a little partying as we don’t have class in the morning tomorrow!
Thanks all for the birthday wishes!

Love,
Camila

(ps- more photos to be added soon!)

Happy Inauguration Day!

Today was my first day of class. Early in the morning we went to the University of Havana to receive our language class assignments. Remarkably I was placed in the Literature class with three other NYU students. Originally we were supposed to be in a class with other university students, but due to schedule and Spanish level issues we have a private class with Prof. Jose Luis. He's an old Cuban, very sweet and incredibly smart! During our little intro session we sat outside on some benches in the "Cabezon" a terraced park on campus with giant head statues of great academics. During our hour long chat he covered so much stuff relating both to different types of Cuban literature (poetry, short stories, novels) and the history of the city. He seems to know everything about everything (and not just Cuban stuff) and I'm very excited to learn more from him. Later we watched Obama's inauguration speech, yay! Then spent the afternoon mostly indoors due to a rather impressive storm that's hitting the north side of the city right now (the side we're on!). The waves on the Malecón are huge and the sea water is flooding far into the plaze below the hotel! Tomorrow we have more Spanish class than we'll watch some of the docs from last years students. After we hope to go on a tour of the old city, pending better weather!

Best,
Camila

I'm in Cuba!

A little Habanero
Las Terrazas
The Santera
The old cars!
Our hotel at night


Hi everyone!
So I've arrived in Cuba safely. It's been a very busy weekend and lots of so super fun times! Tomorrow we start our Spanish class at the University of Havana. I've found that my Spanish skills have been very helpful in speaking to the Cubans, but their Spanish is very different than mine and I've had some trouble understanding them.
Cuba is beautiful and strange and very exciting. Our hotel is right on the Malecón, the sea wall that runs along the Northern edge of the city. While lying in bed I can see the ocean and it's wonderful! The weather has been very cold (for Cubans anyway, I think it's great!) so the ocean has been pretty choppy and dark and crashing over the wall and onto the highway that runs along it. Today we left the city for a rural community nearby, Las Terrazas. It was a great bus ride as we got to see more of the island. In Las Terrazas we had a delicious vegetarian lunch and went for a swim in a cold river pool in the forest!
I hope to update again soon and add some pictures too, so check back!
Love,
Camila