Cuba is a fascinating place Past Review
By Eva C (Latin American Studies, Spanish, Tulane University) for
Universidad de La Habana / University of Havana: Havana - Direct Enrollment and Exchange
I gained a better appreciation of the importance of history, and am now more interested in foreign relations and history. I think Cuba is a fascinating place.
Personal Information
| The term and year this program took place: | Fall 2009 |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Sometimes the professors would cancel class or change the meeting time without warning. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
They made efforts to hold events for foreign students, which was nice. At the beginning of the semester I asked some university officials if there was a university choir, and they told me no, but I later found out that there was one. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The neighborhood (Vedado) was beautiful. The location was great, close to the university, and it was great to have internet access since that's so hard to come by in Cuba, but the food was awful, especially since I'm vegetarian, and some staff at the residence would harrass us for our stuff and fight over who got to do our laundry. |
| * Food: |
The food was horrible, in the residence and out. I often had ice cream and "pizza" for lunch, and rice and canned vegetables for dinner. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I feel that four months is an awkward amount of time to live in a country, because you begin relationships, and have friendly acquaintances, but it's not enough time to really develop close bonds of friendship. I still communicate with a few Cubans by email. We did have great field trips arranged by our awesome director. We went to museums and trips and the beach. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
We had health insurance, and our program director accompanied us to the clinic when we needed to go. I didn't feel safe all the time because I was worried about being ejaculated on and Cubans kept warning us that as the end of the year approached, mugging would increase because people wanted to have money for their end of the year celebrations. Fortunately I was never robbed, but I didn't always feel safe. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Probably about $60 a week. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Be very wary of being overcharged in restaurants, taxis, and the like. Always check your bill, and beforehand try to ask a Cuban friend what a reasonable price would be. In some restaurants they have two menus: one in CUC for foreigners and on in pesos for Cubans. You just need to ask for the menu in pesos. Always have your Cuban residence ID on you, since that gives you many of the rights of a Cuban citizen. In many places (museums, concerts, etc) it is much much cheaper if you have your ID. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Fluent |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I already knew Spanish well, but the Cuban dialect of Spanish is unique. Cubans mumble and slur their words together and speak very quickly in comparison to Spanish speakers I've met who are from other Latin American countries. |
Other Program Information
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Try to make friends with Cubans, but be wary. It's hard balance. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Seminario del espanol de Cuba |
| Course Department: | Arts and Letters (Artes y Letras) |
| Instructor: | Sergio Valdes |
| Instruction Language: | Spanish |
| Comments: | The professor arrived a month after classes had started (he had been in Europe), and the class only met eight times at most. The class had little to do with Cuban Spanish. Several of the 8 classes were devoted to the history of Spain or the history of the English language. Professor Valdes is very sweet and well-respected, but this class was awful. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | I'm not sure how that's going to be yet, because the credits and grades are still in the process of being transferred. |
