Cuban Keyboards are Difficult

For those who aren´t familiar with the subject of this blog, I am writing it to share my experiences studying in Havana, Cuba for the semester. I came here with SUNY Oswego to enroll as a normal cuban student in the University of Havana, the most¨elite¨ university in Cuba (though ´elite´is never really used as an adjective here). I arrived three days ago and already I´ve learned so much about so many things, my head feels like it´s going to burst! First, let me describe Havana. This is the capital, located on the northwestern part of the island, righ ton the ocean. It´s divided into three parts from west to east= Vedado, Central, and Viejo. I´m living in Havana Vedado, also where the University is located. The whole city is incredibly beautiful. SInce it is a tropical island, it has its fair share of exotic flora, blue skies,, and turquoise sea, but the architecture is also magnificent. Actually, it really remids me of New Orleans, with its brightly colored houses with wooden balconies, coutyards, and collumns. Yet unlike New Orleans, almost all the buildings are like this, though in varying degrees of renovation. That´s another difference= one doesn´t really see abject poverty or extreme wealth here. Everyone lives in grandiose, though old, houses and looks fairly wellfed and fit, but no one has fancy clothes or expensive cars or obese bellies. And one rarely sees a begger or a homeless person. Yet I´ve been told a lot of people don´t have jobs, they just live off the government´s rations. I can´t say yet whether this is a country where communism is ¨working,¨ but it definitely is not the impoverished, decrepit place many americans envision.
One of the aspects I´ve found most intriguing, and most challenging to my preconsieved notions of countries and governments, is the revolutionary spirit that infiltrates everything. The grafiti here reads ¨solidaridad (solidarity)¨and ¨cuba viva libre (cuba live free)!¨, yet these kinds of slogans are in support of the current government, not a form of social protest. Even more revealing is the responsive shouting that often occurs, especially with passionate student orators. The leader with scream ¨patria o muerte (homeland or death)!¨ and the crowd returns ¨venceremos (we will overcome)!¨ This is something that Fidel Castro said in 1960, soon after he successfully led the revolution against American supported dictator, Batista. Another common call and response is ¨viva la revolucion (long live the revolution)!¨ to which the crowd shouts ¨viva!¨ In my experience, this sounds like something dissedents say in protest, not in support, of their government. It seems the people here feel very strongly about their revolutionary spirit, even to this day.
For those who are worried, I´m having a great time so far, learning loads and improving my spanish faster than I imagined. Already I can hold a conversation with a cuban and mostly understand speeches (not to brag).
Hasta luego!