more of a detailed explanation:

So here is the: Pitt in Cuba facebook page. It's a little out-dated and I'm the only one that 'liked' it besides the Pitt study abroad page. That has some information, but maybe you'd like to 'like' it also to see if there's any updates that we can't necessarily get out, but the study abroad office in Pittsburgh can? Who knows! But we should show every program at Pitt some support! Here is the Pitt in Cuba official page. The website has changed recently I guess, and this one is already updated for 2012! But I'm assuming it's the same information.

I facebook creeped someone that popped up on my newsfeed and saw that she went to Cuba and I was like: must creeeeeeeeeeeeeep. She had wonderful photos and I decided to message her in hopes of acquiring as much information as possible. Just this week we had an hour long skype session about it. She was/is too helpful. But here's our dialogue over facebook. She will be anonymous just because that might a bit too creepy...

I just wanted to include this conversation because it covers a lot of questions already and they are answered by someone who has already done the program, just to give you an idea what to expect for me!

I will go over some of the basics..... a lot of this information is just what I've been told/speculated... so, I'm not sure how much is exactly true (but that's the fun part, right?)

Living Situation:

I will be staying in a hotel/hostel in Havana, Cuba (if you have not figured that out yet). The University rents out rooms for students (most likely foreign exchange students, but I'm not sure), but the hotel still functions as a regular hotel. The hotel is called: 'El Hotelito Viejito', I believe, and I couldn't find any website or anything. Each room will hold 2 students, so I will have a roommate. His name is Eric and he is a senior at UPitt Johnstown. I'm not sure of any of the other accommodations, but there will be a safe for each resident... I think. The rooms will be cleaned and the sheets will changed just like a regular hotel (kind of freaks me out, but, hey, I won't complain), but my goal there is to meet these employees that clean the rooms, especially my room. Under the communist-esque reign, everyone is guaranteed a job, so many of these employees were just assigned to the hotel and sometimes too many people are working at once so all they have to do is just stand around. Perfect for a good conversation! Maybe I will make this a baby-project. I definitely want to do my project that I wanted to do in Nicaragua: take pictures of FACES. So, maybe I will do that. start with these employees and then attach their stories to the pictures! Awesome.

The hotel is supposed to offer 2 meals a day to us as part of the program fee... such as part of our room & board/meal plan. I've heard the breakfast is fantastic, but it's always a gamble for lunch and dinner. My friend mentioned a boiled eggplant soup o_o.... kind of outside my comfort zone. I am normally not too picky... in Nicaragua I would eat anything and everything. There was one time... this bean paste soup with hardboiled eggs in it... that was a bit too much. BUT, other than that, the rice, beans, avocados, platanos, everything... so good. I will hopefully find cheap eateries around Havana also to take advantage of... most likely for lunch. I know in Nicaragua going out to eat for dinner was pricey because that's when the wealthier/tourists would go out to eat and, of course, spend more money. But since Havana is a bigger city with more nightlife, I'm hoping to find some cheap nighttime excursions. I would prefer to dine out at night.

The hotel is about a 10 minute walk to the University and is real close to everything Havana. I really don't know much and I don't think I really want to know much right now. I want to kind of get there and just be like this: O_O and explore (I've been really into making faces lately...o_O). I don't know how long it will take me to get accustomed to the Havana layout or even how big it is. I could be way off. Leon was very small, and I stayed close to the center--which was easy. Havana is a capital city and according to Mr. Deardoff's human geography class, the Latin American city layout is completely different from the U.S. Maybe I just pulled that out of my butt, or maybe it has merit. I think this is what it's like... I'll just have to explore myself!

I got it, I got moneyyyyyy

I decided to include this here because it just came to me and I think it's one of the most interesting aspects of this experience/trip/study abroad situation. Because of every political situation ever, I am not allowed to withdraw money while in Cuba. This means I have to bring all my money, in cash, to the lovely island. I am debating how much to actually bring, but it's definitely nerve-wracking to think about the possibility of running out of money! I am definitely going to have to be money conscious, but that's usually not a problem for me. I am just ALWAYS a sucker for souvenirs. For example, I bought a leather bottle case (it is painted and adorned beautifully) and it has a long strap... to like... carry on my shoulder. Why did I buy that? Who cares, I don't. It's awesome. But, awesome was affordable when I had an ATM a block away. Awesome in Cuba can mean no meals for a day :O. The sacrifices I might make. But really, I will be fine. Just dealing with so much cash freaks me out.

The U.S. currency is taxed in Cuba, heavily. For every ONE dollar you convert, the government takes off 20% of it. So you're left with $.80. It might not be that much of a loss for minor exchanges, but if I want to exchange $300, I lose 20% of that! This is why I am going tohopefully bring Canadian dollars, which I believe do not carry an excessive tax.... Things will for the most part be cheaper in Cuba, I believe. I think I can find $1 meals, but there will also be $10, $20, etc. I'll just have to figure out what I want to do/what I can do when I'm there. I definitely went into Nicaragua with a lot of expectations and so many were shattered... from that I've taken on a new mentality of never assuming. It's good to be educated about a destination, but that can only take you so far.

My Edumacation

I will be an official student at La Universidad de La Habana. Because I am an official student, I am considered, basically, a resident of Cuba. Because of this, I can use the Cuban peso currency (or as they say la moneda nacional) instead of the CUC which is basically the tourist currency. More about the currency later. At the university I will be taking 4 classes.

Here is what the Pitt site says about what I will actually be studying while in Cuba:

Students will enroll for 12 credits on the Pitt in Cuba program. All courses will be conducted entirely in Spanish and are organized as follows:

1. Core Course
Pitt in Cuba will be organized around a core course in Cuban studies, which all students must take.

2. Language Instruction
The University of Havana requires that students enrolled in this program have completed at least 4 semesters of Spanish language instruction or the equivalent before they apply.

All students will be assessed upon arrival in Havana and placed in the appropriate level of Spanish. The levels of Spanish will be matched with the appropriate Pitt course number for the level of Spanish. All courses will be approved by the chair of Hispanic Languages and Literature at the University of Pittsburgh.

3. Film Course
All students will also take a class on Cuban film studies.

4. Additional Course
Students will take one additional course from selection of offerings in the School of Arts and Humanities. Details of this course are still being finalized and will be published as soon as they are confirmed.

I will choose the last course from a list that they show me when I get to Cuba. Right now, I have no idea! I could choose Cuban Island Botany, Marxism, any class that I want. The real question is whether this class will count towards anything at Pitt. I know I'll receive credit, but will it work for my major, minor, certificate, gen-ed--only time will tell! It's definitely a mystery.

I am unsure of the advantages available to me as a student in the city. My friend told me that university students are highly respected, especially foreign students who come to learn and not to simply snap a few pictures and leave. I am interested in possibly joining some clubs, tutoring English language students, anything really.... I just really want to meet other Cubans around my age! In Nicaragua, it didn't happen as well as I wanted it to :( , but I am going to try in Cuba! I hope my Spanish/cultural barrier doesn't affect my attempts too much.

Outside of ^that^

I don't really know what else to expect without regards to school and the living situation. Who knows what kind of friends I'll make. Who knows what habits/hobbies I'll start. My friend gave me some contacts down there, so I'm definitely on a good start for meeting new people and starting a new social life, albeit a short one. I expect to smoke the forbidden Cuban cigar and sip (chug??) the sweet Cuban rum, dance my rummed bum off, but really I'm not going into this with any fixed ideas. I would love to volunteer and join clubs at the university, but those might not be legal for me or those opportunities might not even exist. One thing I know for sure is I want to complete some photo projects I have in mind and still take a million and one pictures. I regret my selection from Nicaragua. It was always scary bringing out such a device. I didn't want to intimidate/anger anyone and I didn't want to look even more like an outsider snapping shots here and there without taking time to appreciate the actual PHYSICAL object. You will see a plethora of photos the week of May 15 and beyond when I have photoshop and a strong internet connection ;)

If you have any questions, email them or leave them in the comment box and I'll try to address them in another post before I leave or maybe while I'm there!

con mucho amor,

John

A week and some change...

Hello everyone and welcome to my (hopeful) blog about my semester spent in Havana, Cuba.

This past summer I had an amazing opportunity to spend 6 weeks with an amazing host family in Leon, Nicaragua as part of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Field Trip Seminar they sponsor every summer to a different area of Latin America. Part of this program was living with a host family and experiencing Nicaraguan culture, more essentially: a study abroad experience. The twist, however, was that it was officially a research based field trip designed for students to conduct research and write a paper based on our findings. I had another blog devoted to this time, but I unfortunately did not keep up with it that much, and I was a little distracted most of the time (in a good way). My research was done a little... naively, I would say. But I did manage to write a pretty hefty paper focused on the toils and tribulations that Native Nicaraguan English teachers go through, with both their and their students' experiences mentioned in the paper. If you ever want to read it/skim through it, shoot me an email before I leave for Cuba, or after I return.

I loved my abroad experience this summer.... I met amazing friends both from Pitt and the lovely city of Leon. I couldn't have asked for a better family. Well technically it felt like two! I slept basically at the grandparents' house and hung out mostly in a pharmacy (so interesting). My host mom was the most hilarious and hardworking woman EVER, my host dad was the proudest and most hardworking man EVER, my host brothers and sisters (when I saw them, they lived at the other house and traveled often to Managua) were inviting and shared the same sarcastic, witty, funny spirit of their mom (my host dad was their step-father, but they definitely treated him as their biological father). My host cousin was most like my host sister, always working at the pharmacy everyday except for Saturday when she would go to classes to study Pharmacy.

I was a bit naive jumping into that program, I was a freshman looking for opportunity and I wanted to continue to distinguish myself from the rest. It wasn't enough to move across the country, it wasn't enough to live in the honors dorm (which I will always appreciate, no matter what), it wasn't enough to have one of the craziest jobs on campus, and it wasn't enough to take 18 credit hours second semester--I needed something more. I found this program and was enthralled by how mature it sounded. I would be in control of a project that I would choose.

So I spent a semester in the class leading up to the journey, discussing project ideas, learning about Nicaragua, reading books, reading articles, hearing speakers, all the while ignoring the fact that I really had NO idea what I was doing. It was an opportunity. Opportunities happen anywhere and everywhere and for me they usually just fit right in and I can handle them fairly well. This journey, however, was a bit too much for me, and in hindsight the cost was substantial and the outcome was less than desired. I did, however, take with me the most important and crucial aspect: love for Latin America and studying abroad.

I came home over the summer and well... kind of fell into a stupor. I don't want to go into too many details, but it involves a lot of the past, freshman year, the future, and an over-thinking, anxious brain (mine). The stupor still tugs at me today as I am writing this, but I am getting over it. I have made several positive decisions to push me forward and have tried my best to keep pressures and worries to a smaller scale, to make this crazy transition in my life possible. I couldn't imagine that going to college would be this intense, and I definitely went into the journey naive and full of expectations, ignorant beliefs, and an overly confident attitude. Being honest, I wasn't prepared for college life as best as I could have. The years of self-medicating and self-philosophizing (this makes sense to me (: ) were definitely warped and manipulated in ways that I didn't imagine. I wasn't emotionally/mentally/physically prepared for the transition, but I'm glad I did it. I have met amazing people and have conquered a year and a half (ish) away from my comfort zone, and although the toll has been hefty, I am still trucking on and refuse to stop.

I decided halfway through 1st semester this year, I needed a change. I was of course going to finish the semester, but I didn't know whether this change meant transferring schools, quitting altogether or if it was something minor like switching majors, or quitting my job. I decided I needed a completely new atmosphere that wasn't shrouded by people I truly care for, and I figured I'd study abroad. I figured a new place with a new me was exactly what I would need/the only viable option if I were to stay at Pitt (for financial reasons), yet still be away. I didn't think I was actually going to study abroad, but I needed something different and I saw it right there on my facebook newsfeed: Pitt in Cuba. Was it a sign? Maybe. Did I decide to pursue it? Why not? It is a Pitt sponsored program which meant to me:

1. I didn't have to deal as hard with any bureaucratic bullshit regarding grades and credits transferring, financial aid covering costs, getting anything and everything approved--it can be a nightmare from what I've heard.
2. I didn't have to deal with any 3rd-party bullshit including weird application fees and requirements that I just did not want to worry about. I also wouldn't have to rely on them accepting me, me waiting to hear from them, and THEN starting step 1.
3. The program goes to CUBA! The mythical land stereotyped and ignored so heavily by US culture and public education, I figured I had to experience it for myself. Only a handful of schools even have this program in the US, so I should take advantage of something unique to Pitt to distinguish myself I suppose (sorry, graduating from a school with the 2nd tallest educational building in the world just doesn't cut it for me... but the nationality rooms... yeah, those make the cut).
4. Although the stereotypical study abroad stigma is easy classes and having fun, I was skeptical about the grades transferring as a letter grade back to main campus. That freaked me out. But, I've since learned the classes are less troublesome than normal, so BRING IT GPA STEROIDS.
5. I WANT TO LEARN SPANISH. I am definitely pretty proficient in Spanish... but Cuban Spanish is a different story. I learned a lot of Central American Spanish being in Nicaragua and so I'm hoping I can adjust pretty well, then transform into a beautiful Spanish rambling gringo.
6. I am tired of the US right now. No, just wait, hear (read?) me out.... I'm not some anti-establishment, uber-liberal, crazy student who spent a week in Mexico who thinks I have a right to betray the homeland. Everything has just felt SO politically-charged here recently that it's just blowing my mind. I am exhausted of environmental disasters, horrible economies, lying politicians, assaults on civil liberties, the Wikileaks/Julian Assange issue becoming a new pseudo-McCarthyism-witch-hunt-crusade-wild-goose-chase-of-Indiana-Jones-with-some-super-secret-relic-or-secret-that-will-completely-change-the-world-look-how-long-this-is-it-probably-isn't-anywhere-near-grammatical; (a semi-colon felt appropriate there) so I am just tired of everyday something new and tension causing is creating a huge dichotomy in this country that is just disgusting to watch. Where is the unity? Where is the discussion? People are so rooted in their ways nowadays (compared to my vast experiences in the past as a 19 year old :|), that it's even hard to ask each other to sacrifice five minutes for a favor or ask a friend to do something that is not their top choice. Not saying I'm not stubborn, but when I relinquish my stubbornness and see so much still emitting from everyone like it was their natural body odor, it irritates me. I want that stereotypical laid-back Caribbean lifestyle. I know I won't necessarily have it, but I want a place where it's normal to take 20 minutes to stroll somewhere without worrying your late, I want to not exist in an atmosphere where the "American Dream" pushes people to all-nighters and sketchy, back-stabbing competition. The "American Dream" as I see it, isn't valid for me, nor is it even correct in it's very derivation. "America" expands 2 contents and 35 countries, a fraction of which experience what we stole as the "American Dream". I've put myself under a lot of pressure to keep up with the Jones': AP credit, Honors classes, joining clubs, taking exams, going to college, getting a job, joining new clubs, getting an assistantship, taking way too many credit hours than I should be and I just want to say: for now I am done.
7. I know it's ironic: I'm leaving one politically charged country and entering CUBA, one of the most famous countries known for its super-charged-politics; but alas that's not what I'm after.

Sorry if this is turning into a huge rant that makes me sound like an uber hippie punk that took a 6 week vacation and came back as a "changed man", seeing the world anew and fighting for world peace. That is very true, I might have come back a changed man, I do see the world anew, and world peace will always be a distant dream that I will probably never see, but I do have opinions regarding inequality and world history/politics based in my education, that would probably group me with these crazy hippie liberals (but I'll keep off your lawn).

Cuba for me isn't about anything political (as I mentioned), nor is it anything about me wanting to change lives or share with the world the horrors of an "underdeveloped" country; it's about me right now, and that's all I want it to be. I will take pictures of children, some probably wearing dirty shoes with holes, people, going about their lives selling fruit, art, or clothes, the ambiance, the run down buildings, almost mummified 50s Chevrolets, but remember this is their reality, and you have yours. Don't compare development from the United States to a place like Cuba. Every country has its own organic, personal development model that works for that country. Sometimes things get hazy, children are hungry, people die, wars start--but it's their country, their situation, and most importantly their business. We can and should help, of course, if needed and wanted, but we shouldn't look down with pity at the poor children playing with sticks and rocks or the $2 paycheck an employee will receive for the day, try to just accept their situation without comparison and try to understand how this happened in the first place. Education! Either it'll freak you out, enlighten you, bore you, or simply let you pass on by.

I wrote this straight through and it might not make sense, maybe I'll edit, maybe I won't, but I hope you have some insight into what I am doing, who I am, and what I'm thinking. A lot of people ask "why Cuba?" and the answer isn't straightforward, at all: a little escape, a little adventure, a little self-renewal/acquisition, whatever. Superficially: I'm going to be living in La Habana, a walk away from the ocean, enjoying mild, summer-like weather, hearing Spanish everywhere I go, seeing a place almost trapped in colonial times, and hopefully making relationships with people, places, and overall the experience itself.