{"id":915,"date":"2016-03-30T13:30:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ocsblog\/?p=915"},"modified":"2016-03-30T13:36:25","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T17:36:25","slug":"915","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ocsblog\/2016\/03\/30\/915\/","title":{"rendered":"An Amazing Time to be in Cuba by Henry Levine ’17"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Unknown-3\"<\/a>Henry Levine\u00a0’17<\/strong>
\nMajors: \u00a0Spanish and\u00a0Psychology
\n<\/strong>IFSA Butler: Universidad de La Habana<\/a>\u00a0Program, Havana, Cuba<\/strong>
\nSpring 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is an amazing time to be in Cuba.\u00a0 After mildly electrocuting myself trying to turn on a light the first day, I began acclimating myself to Cuba.\u00a0 Cars from the 1950\u2019s and 60\u2019s serve as taxi cabs now, able to take you from one part of the city to another for a mere 40 cents.\"Unknown\"<\/a>The streets are lined with faded pink, blue, red, and green buildings, most with crumbling columns or balconies.\u00a0 Shirtless men sit on the sidewalks playing dominoes and drinking rum.\u00a0 After an unusually cool first month, the temperature has begun to spike, driving me to the beach on multiple occasions.\u00a0 The tropical water has been \u201ctoo cold\u201d for the Cubans, but serves me extremely well, especially when compared to the Atlantic. \"Unknown-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although I miss weekend trips to Sugarloaf, weekly salsa lessons have begun to fill that gap.\u00a0 In terms of food, most meals consist of rice and either pork, chicken, or fish, \u00a0and are sometimes accompanied with fried platanos or other\u00a0viandas.<\/i>\u00a0 Internet is only available at certain parks and street corners.\u00a0 While this can be frustrating, it also makes you more present.\u00a0 Considering the amount of times I check my phone at school and at home, this has definitely been beneficial to me.\"Unknown-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a really interesting time for Cuba.\u00a0 As the country\u2019s infrastructure continues to picturesquely deteriorate, relations with the US are warming.\u00a0 Prior to President Obama\u2019s visit this week, the EDM group Major Lazer arrived in Havana and put on a free concert, where an estimated 400,000 Cubans attended.\u00a0 Tomorrow, the Tampa Bay Rays will play the Cuban national team, and later this week, the Rolling Stones will put on a free show where attendance is estimated to be anywhere between 500,000 to a million.\u00a0 As for President Obama, I was able to see his motorcade go by, but tickets to his speech are hard to secure, so I will probably watch on TV.\u00a0 Walking around Havana Vieja, we spotted a live NBC broadcast where my home state representative, Congressman Peter Welch, was being interviewed.\u00a0 I was able to introduce myself afterwards, and he was kind enough to take a picture with me.\u00a0 So it\u2019s definitely an exciting time for Cuba-US relations.\"Unknown-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As for me, there are still a lot of mojitos claiming to be the best in Havana that I need to sample, and I think some of my Salsa moves could use some more tweaking, so I\u2019ll focus on that.\"Unknown-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henry Levine\u00a0’17 Majors: \u00a0Spanish and\u00a0Psychology IFSA Butler: Universidad de La Habana\u00a0Program, Havana, Cuba Spring 2016 It is an amazing time to be in Cuba.\u00a0 After mildly electrocuting myself trying to turn on a light the first day, I began acclimating myself to Cuba.\u00a0 Cars from the 1950\u2019s and 60\u2019s serve as taxi cabs now, able … <\/p>\n

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