Cuba has been an incredible whirlwind since we arrived. I am amazed by the beauty of this country and its people, and I can safely say that studying abroad here for the next two months will be enlightening and exciting throughout. Since there is simply too much to talk about from just these few days alone, I\u2019ll just give some of my initial first impressions of Cubans and Cuba in general.<\/p>\n
Despite living under a restrictive government, Cubans are quite vivacious. On the streets, women wear absurdly bright and colorful outfits; houses are painted every shade of pastel color imaginable. You constantly hear salsa music or some form of Latin American music as you walk around or use transport. There is a tangible energy to everything here.<\/p>\n
Cubans really don\u2019t care what others think of them. As it is a very diverse culture, including Spaniards, African Americans, Chinese people, and more, there is a wonderful variety of backgrounds. Moreover, people here come in all shapes and sizes (however, this does not stop overweight people from wearing very tight, ridiculous clothing; Cubans wear what they wish to wear, and what they\u2019re comfortable in). In general, Cubans are also very direct; they\u2019ll refer to people, not maliciously, by the color of their skin, and even affectionately call overweight people \u201cgorditas,\u201d or \u201cfatties.\u201d I\u2019ve mostly experienced directness with my host mother, Angelita, at meals. If I haven\u2019t eaten something on the table, she\u2019ll abruptly say \u201cYou don\u2019t like that.\u201d In addition, she informed me that even though I\u2019m vegetarian now<\/em>, by the time I leave she\u2019ll have fattened me up and made me willing to eat anything. Yikes.<\/p>\n We are staying in the neighborhood of Vedado in La Habana, which is more of a family neighborhood. We see children coming to and from school each day and moms and dads heading to work. The houses are typically protected by a gate, which leads into a patio area and front porch. At any time of day, you\u2019ll hear and see people up and about, and these outdoor spaces in the houses are frequently used.<\/p>\n Along the streets, you\u2019ll find restaurants, historic sites, bars, small parks, fruit stands, and many cafeter\u00edas, where you can purchase lots of cheap food. There are also many photos of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara on the streets with slogans such as \u201cHasta la victoria siempre.\u201d I saw one sign on the way from the beach that said \u201cThe Embargo: The greatest human genocide of all time.\u201d Clearly, there is a very strong nationalistic presence wherever you go. You can even buy a hat with Che on it in a lot of touristy areas. In addition to Che and Fidel, Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed is Cuba\u2019s pride and joy. You\u2019ll find statues, paintings, and monuments of him everywhere, as he is recognized as not only an incredible Cuban writer, but an incredible writer in general.<\/p>\n Cubans are patient and unhurried. There are long lines for really everything \u2013 money exchange booths, internet and phone card purchasing stores, cafeter\u00edas, etc. \u2013 but they have a perfect system. When you arrive at a place with a line, you call out \u201cQui\u00e9n es el \u00faltimo?\u201d or \u201cWho\u2019s last?\u201d Whoever last arrived raises their hand. Then you wait till a new person comes so you can raise your hand when they ask who\u2019s last. Now, everyone will honor your place in line and you can go do other errands while you wait. However, many stores are loose about store hours, or even days that they are open, so you might be out of luck. Little setbacks like lines and store closures are part of life in Cuba, but Cubans love the term \u201cresolver,\u201d or to fix\/resolve. When challenges, or desaf\u00edos, arise, they assure you, \u201clos resolvemos\u201d \u2013 we\u2019ll resolve them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cuba has been an incredible whirlwind since we arrived. I am amazed by the beauty of this country and its people, and I can safely say that studying abroad here for the next two months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cuba"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}