My last first week of school ever...

In the middle of the traditional walk up the stairs

Sorry about not updating (again), but the first week was pretty intense. We started off our first Monday at the Universidad de la Habana with a walk up the stairs with the student body (er...that is, those students that chose to show up at 8AM). It wasn't very organized, more of just everyone kind of mushing together and walking up the stairs, but the effect was pretty cool!!

My first class was Cuban Literature III, where the professor basically told us that we should drop the class because we weren't Cuban and wouldn't be able to keep up with the readings. The other two Tulane kids in the class thought about sticking it out, but I eventually decided to drop it. Why take a class at 9:45 in the morning with a teacher who doesn't even want me there?

My schedule has gone through some other changes too. I'm dropping the History of Cuba V class (the classroom had half a wall that was shared with an unreasonably loud class next door, and our professor was getting pretty up there in the years and talked at an inaudible level). I'm replacing this class with another at the ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry) on the History of Cuban Cinema. It seems like it will be really great! Last week we watched a movie called Historias de la Revolución (Stories from the Revolution) made by one of Cuba's first cinematographers. The building is beautiful -- it has a giant air conditioned theatre, a main house with great chandeliers and old film memorabilia, plus beautiful gardens with guava and mango trees. I'll have to see if I can take some pictures this week because it really looks like a palace! Best of all, the class will count towards my Spanish degree! I'd been contemplating dropping my minor, but with this class I'll only have to take two more classes when I get back to NOLA in the spring. I still have to pick one more class to take, unless I decide to just stick with 12 hours. Not sure what it will be, but I'm sure I'll include it in my next entry.

A little blurry, but here's the Tulane crew before the walk up!

Spending September 11th here was pretty interesting. There wasn't really any mention of it anywhere, other than on the American TV channels we some how get in our residency. On Saturday night, when one of our Cuban friends was asked about the upcoming day, he didn't even know what we were referring to. My friend from Tulane who was talking with him about it picked up on this and explained the significance of "9/11". He quickly realized what she was talking about: "Oh...the towers..." he said, and let us know that he was bad with dates. Kind of strange to see someone who doesn't immediately know what 9/11 was, but he explained to us that most of the younger generations here aren't really exposed to much news because so much of what is reported here is so incredibly biased. To most people here, September 11th is just another day that goes by, it doesn't hold all the emotion and significance that it does to everyone in the USA. That being said, I did watch some of the ceremonies and shows being played on CNN. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years...

Bonus picture. Yes they are almost as big as the page, nommm

Tomorrow I start my first day of volunteering with the Convento de Belen. I know I'll be working with kids, but other than that I'm in the dark. I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but the Tulane students who have participated in the past loved it. I'm hoping it will be worth rousing myself out of bed at 8:30 and making it all the way downtown. Hope I don't get lost!

I'll leave y'all with this picture of the best avocado ever. We buy them at the agromercado here, 4 for 30 moneda nacional (less than $1.50 USD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). They are gigantic and perfectly ripe. I'll probably cry when the season ends because eating them with lime and some salt is arguably the best part of my day!