Bienvenidos a Miami

Note from 1/07/09: Sorry it’s been a while, all. Havana is amazing and it’s been hard to make myself sit down and blog instead of experiencing everything. Also, no pictures right now, but I will upload them when I get a chance. Love and miss you all.

Actual Date of Writing: 1/04/09

I’m currently sitting in the Miami International Airport, knowing that within two hours I will be in Havana, Cuba. I’m absolutely stoked to finally be returning, and to know that this trip will be much longer than my first time. It’s been an exhausting trip already; I left Pennsylvania Saturday at noon and it’s now almost 1 PM on Sunday (despite whatever time I actually get around to posting this). The great news is that our flight originally wasn’t supposed to leave Miami until 7 PM tonight, and it got moved up to 1:30 PM.

I figured I would use the time I have before our flight to answer Northeastern’s pre-departure reflection questions…

How does it feel to leave friends, family, and Northeastern behind?

I feel that over the past five years, going between Boston and Pennsylvania with additional trips out of the country has enabled me to adjust well and quickly to new people and places. Based on that, I know that once I get to Cuba and begin to immerse myself in my new life, I won’t be homesick or miss much from the U.S. But that never makes the actual process of saying goodbye and leaving any easier; it’s always very bittersweet. Despite how good I’ve become at going to a new place, it never makes it any easier to leave people behind. One thing that Northeastern has taught me, though, is that with the people that matter, distance isn’t that important. What with co-op and study abroad, you meet people almost expecting not to spend much time with them during your years at school, but also knowing that if you really click, the little time you do have together is much more important than the amount of time- and this is obviously applicable to folks outside of my Northeastern life as well.

Why did I select this program?

Where do I even start with this question? For one, those who know me well are very aware of my penchant for travel into countries that I really shouldn’t be entering (I was debating whether having government permission actually makes this trip less exciting, but it doesn’t!). Second, I’ve been studying Cuba and the Revolution in one form or another since my freshman year in college in Professor West-Durán in his Caribbean Literature and Culture Class. It was the topic of my research last year in Middler Year Writing. And it’s been a personal interest of mine ever since I entered the field of International Affairs. In addition, I speak Spanish and love Caribbean culture after my experience in DR. Finally, I think about the experiences I had the last time I was in Cuba and I think the question really is, how could I not select this program?

Goals and objecctives for studying abroad, what doyou hope to gain?

Definitely first and foremost is improving my Spanish. I was really proud of how well I spoke after returning from the DR, but I can tell that I’ve regressed somewhat since I don’t use it every day (especially without Oscar around to mock my ghetto Dominican accent J). Especially with graduation right around the corner, I think it’s important to have these skills as I’m entering the workforce. Not to mention, I think it makes life so much richer if you can increase the number of people with whom you can communicate, the number of songs you can understand, the number of movies you can watch…the list goes on. This is perhaps a goal that is simulaneously academic and professional, but for me it is intensely personal as well. My whole outlook on the world is wrapped up in the idea of seeing each other for human beings above all else, and what better way to do that than to have a common language and be able to relate, to understand different points of view?

Besides Spanish, my foremost academic goal is to write the best Capstone paper ever. No but really, as I said, I’ve focused on Cuba in different classes throughout my years, and this seems like the culmination of everything I’ve been working towards. I have a couple ideas in mind regarding the possible topics for research, and will keep everyone posted as I work it out!

One final academic goal is to maintain a high GPA. Apparently I’m in the running to be class marshal for the College of Arts and Science, so I want to maintain the same high-quality work here and maybe clinch the position.

Career goals…well, since I’m definitely very into the idea of youth work, I want to explore the possibility here for volunteering with children somehow. Professor West-Durán is helping us to establish connections for volunteering, and I think that working with children and youth in yet another different setting would be very advantageous in terms of getting employment after graduation.

And personal goals? To always push myself. That sounds so broad and undefinite. But whatever the situation is that arises, I want to push the envelope for myself. If I’m afraid of heights, I’ll still climb the waterfall. If I’m nervous to speak to someone in Spanish, I’ll do it anyway. That kind of thing. I think study abroads are the best places to do that, because you’re in it for the experience- you might as well. It’s sort of sad, because I know I don’t embrace that kind of day-to-day living when I’m in the United States, and I really should- no day is promised to us. All the more reason to take advantage of it while in Cuba.

One other personal goal? To look up a geocache here in Cuba (thank you, Tanya). For those of you that don’t know what it is, google it. But it seems like a great way to meet people here (one is in someone’s house) and to interact in a broad way with other travellers and like-minded people.

I guess it almost goes without saying that I’d also like to discover the truth about Cuba. In the U.S., who knows if what we hear is ever true. So I’d like to work here to discover what’s the reality on the ground, and how it affects Cubans. Let’s see how well this works…

On a final note, the Miami airport has made the English-to-Spanish transition really easy- the first thing I saw stepping into the airport was the sign for “Aduana (Customs)”. I can’t wait to start classes tomorrow and get my speaking skillz back. In case anyone’s intrerested, these are the classes that I’ll be taking:

Cuba in the 21^st Century- Instead of an actual Spanish class, we basically have all these different professors and experts come in to talk to us about different aspects of Cuba as it is today- the structure of the government, healthcare, education, etc.

Cuban History Through Film- Self-explanatory

Afrocuban Culture- Focuses on how slaves and their descendants added new dimensions to Cuba culture

Afrocuban Music- Self-explanatory

Also, as a graduating senior, I need to complete my senior seminar requirement, so I’m going to do some sort of huge research project about something that strikes my interest…

One last thought on writing this blog. I am excited, yet at the same time very apprehensive. I know there are alot of people reading this and wondering why I wanted to come to Cuba (meanwhile I wonder why you wouldn't want to come to Cuba). But I feel like I have to help people at home understand what it's like here. It's going to be just like any other country in the world, in that there are good aspects and bad aspects. But I guess sometimes I feel hesitant to write the bad, because I feel like I'm representing Cuba, and I don't want skeptics to seize on the negative things that I say and take their entire opinion from that. So please, keep open minds. Remember, the Cuban government might not be entirely open with their people, but they aren't the only government in the world like that.

One other thing (really, the last thing): maybe I'll meet Cubans who say things that could get them in trouble. I'm going to keep this in mind, and hence I don't plan on putting every single thing on this blog. Therefore, I'm going to keep another word document going about those things, and not post them here. However, for anyone who's interested in reading this, I am more than willing to email it to you upon my return to the U.S. Just let me know.