Hey all!!
So the update is that I'm back in the USA!!! YAY! I arrived home safely last night at 12/12:30 pm in Logan airport!!!
Give me a call if you're around so that we can hang out!
Love, Christina :)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Wrapping up - one week left!!!
Hello, my dear readers!
It is officially T-minus one week until I return home, and I’m starting to get SO EXCITED to come back!!! It’s a very exciting time in general, though – I mean, Christmas is right around the corner, classes are ending, people are leaving for the states, etc. But I cannot wait to be back home in my own bed in my own house in my own hometown by my own city – Boston!!!!!! : )
I was walking through Habana Vieja yesterday, and felt so good to be enjoying the city, knowing that I only had a few days left there. I got to go to the Feria, stopped by a used bookseller’s stall who had property deeds and certificates from Cuban families back in the 50s, which was SO cool to look at, and just walked around and allowed myself to wander through the busy streets of a very alive city. I know I’ll miss this place, but there is really no place like home. Dorothy SO had it right!
Last night, the Sarah Lawrence girls upstairs left for home, and everyone was crying and really upset to be going. I don’t yet know how I’ll react – I’m sure I’ll cry a bit, but mostly because I’ll miss the people here, but I can definitely keep in touch. I love Cuba, but Boston is the city that has my heart. Cuba is taking second place for me.
This week as I’m wrapping up classes, I’m wishing and hoping that everyone back home is getting through paper-writing and gift-wrapping. Here, I’ll be going to some classes, just soaking up knowledge (and doing an oral evaluation on Tuesday!), and enjoying my remaining time here. It has been a wonderful and crazy ride, but this has been the experience of a lifetime, and I thank God that I had the opportunity to see all that I have in this country.
That said, thank you so much for all your attention during this semester and your readership. I love you all and can’t wait to see you VERY SOON!
Love,
Christina : )
It is officially T-minus one week until I return home, and I’m starting to get SO EXCITED to come back!!! It’s a very exciting time in general, though – I mean, Christmas is right around the corner, classes are ending, people are leaving for the states, etc. But I cannot wait to be back home in my own bed in my own house in my own hometown by my own city – Boston!!!!!! : )
I was walking through Habana Vieja yesterday, and felt so good to be enjoying the city, knowing that I only had a few days left there. I got to go to the Feria, stopped by a used bookseller’s stall who had property deeds and certificates from Cuban families back in the 50s, which was SO cool to look at, and just walked around and allowed myself to wander through the busy streets of a very alive city. I know I’ll miss this place, but there is really no place like home. Dorothy SO had it right!
Last night, the Sarah Lawrence girls upstairs left for home, and everyone was crying and really upset to be going. I don’t yet know how I’ll react – I’m sure I’ll cry a bit, but mostly because I’ll miss the people here, but I can definitely keep in touch. I love Cuba, but Boston is the city that has my heart. Cuba is taking second place for me.
This week as I’m wrapping up classes, I’m wishing and hoping that everyone back home is getting through paper-writing and gift-wrapping. Here, I’ll be going to some classes, just soaking up knowledge (and doing an oral evaluation on Tuesday!), and enjoying my remaining time here. It has been a wonderful and crazy ride, but this has been the experience of a lifetime, and I thank God that I had the opportunity to see all that I have in this country.
That said, thank you so much for all your attention during this semester and your readership. I love you all and can’t wait to see you VERY SOON!
Love,
Christina : )
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Paper-Palooza: the beginning of the end
Hello, everyone! So my countdown says we're almost at the two-week mark, and I cannot wait to get back to the good old US of A!
Currently, the Latin American Film Festival is taking place here in Havana, and all of the movie theaters are filled with directors, film aficionados, and curious Cubans watching tons of movies from all over Latin America! I got a pass to get into all of the movies, and there are daily schedules published of where movies are being shown, but I still have classes, so I don’t know how many I will be able to get to. Some of them look pretty interesting, though!
As for school, I am currently in the midst of working on papers (by “working,” I mean “procrastinating working”). I have to write two ten-page papers for my sociology of work and social anthropology classes, and a five-page paper for my history of Cuban culture class. I think once I get started it shouldn’t be too bad, but until that point, I am finding that writing blog posts and emails is MUCH more entertaining than researching!
This is not to say I’m not doing well in classes! I actually just got my midterm back from history of Cuban culture, and I got a 5!!! (YAY!) I studied so hard for that test, so I’m really really happy that I did well on it!
In other news, our dial-up internet connection recently got taken away from us, so we’ve been forced to use really really expensive and faraway hotel WIFI access. Ugh. It’s all good, though, because we had two months of really inexpensive dial-up internet access!
The big story of the moment, however, is the trip we took to Camaguey this weekend. We took a 10-hour bus ride to the eastern side of Cuba on Friday, and went to the beatification of Padre Olallo, the first Cuban saint, on Saturday. It was a crazy Mass, with tons and tons of people in this plaza in front of this church. Camaguey is the “most Catholic” province of Cuba because of the high concentration of Catholic churches (yay Catholics!).
At this plaza ceremony, they had a ton of Cuban priests (perhaps 100 or so) all up at the altar, and they gave a relic from Padre Olallo to each diocese. There was even a priest from Miami there! The sun was beating down on everyone standing up for two hours, and several people passed out. They were filming the ceremony to put on Cuban tv, and even Raul Castro was somewhere in the crowd watching! It was pretty darn cool!
After having a fairly chill weekend, we negotiated a deal to be driven back by this really tough-guy looking individual who was called “El Chino.” He had this really sporty-looking black Peugot, and we ended up driving back the 300 plus kilometers to Havana in this thing. It was hilarious. I suppose I’m getting used to the hilarity that is Cuba, huh? : )
Currently, the Latin American Film Festival is taking place here in Havana, and all of the movie theaters are filled with directors, film aficionados, and curious Cubans watching tons of movies from all over Latin America! I got a pass to get into all of the movies, and there are daily schedules published of where movies are being shown, but I still have classes, so I don’t know how many I will be able to get to. Some of them look pretty interesting, though!
As for school, I am currently in the midst of working on papers (by “working,” I mean “procrastinating working”). I have to write two ten-page papers for my sociology of work and social anthropology classes, and a five-page paper for my history of Cuban culture class. I think once I get started it shouldn’t be too bad, but until that point, I am finding that writing blog posts and emails is MUCH more entertaining than researching!
This is not to say I’m not doing well in classes! I actually just got my midterm back from history of Cuban culture, and I got a 5!!! (YAY!) I studied so hard for that test, so I’m really really happy that I did well on it!
In other news, our dial-up internet connection recently got taken away from us, so we’ve been forced to use really really expensive and faraway hotel WIFI access. Ugh. It’s all good, though, because we had two months of really inexpensive dial-up internet access!
The big story of the moment, however, is the trip we took to Camaguey this weekend. We took a 10-hour bus ride to the eastern side of Cuba on Friday, and went to the beatification of Padre Olallo, the first Cuban saint, on Saturday. It was a crazy Mass, with tons and tons of people in this plaza in front of this church. Camaguey is the “most Catholic” province of Cuba because of the high concentration of Catholic churches (yay Catholics!).
At this plaza ceremony, they had a ton of Cuban priests (perhaps 100 or so) all up at the altar, and they gave a relic from Padre Olallo to each diocese. There was even a priest from Miami there! The sun was beating down on everyone standing up for two hours, and several people passed out. They were filming the ceremony to put on Cuban tv, and even Raul Castro was somewhere in the crowd watching! It was pretty darn cool!
After having a fairly chill weekend, we negotiated a deal to be driven back by this really tough-guy looking individual who was called “El Chino.” He had this really sporty-looking black Peugot, and we ended up driving back the 300 plus kilometers to Havana in this thing. It was hilarious. I suppose I’m getting used to the hilarity that is Cuba, huh? : )
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