The first week is very busy since there are a lot things to learn in a new environment. I arrived Havana at 1:00 pm. While waiting for another student, our taxi driver invited us for a cup of coffee at the airport. I am not used to drinking coffee but Cuban coffee is too delicious to resist. Soon we arrived at our host families' house. We live in Vedado, which is a very safe and convenient area (In Cuba wifi is still rare in private space and one can only go to cafeteria and parks. But there is a park very close to where we live). I live with Tío Luis. He has a big house on the second floor of the building that is close to one of the city's main road: Linea. Tío Luis is very nice and humorous. It is hard for foreigners to get used to the food in most restaurants. But Tío Luis cooks very well and I don't miss at all the Chinese food that I'm used to. Through Tío Luis I learned that most of the food I eat everyday is hard to obtain from the market, particularly fish. But I ate fish for twice in the first week! Also, Tío Luis is very patient with talking to me in Spanish, and he will wait for me no matter how late I came back at night.
On the second day we visited the old Havana after orientation. The old city is very beautiful. There are many historical architectures since the Spanish colonial period. The most impressive part of our tour is the Museum of Revolution. The staff there gave us a one and half hour tour in Spanish in the museum. She explains every detail of the museum's decoration and the stories during the Cuban Revolution. It is amazing to see the tanks and the boat preserved so well until now. Another event that visited on the other day in old Havana is the cañonazo, which is a traditional ceremony since the Spanish colonial rule that the city will be closed at 9:00 pm to protect itself from the attack of pirates.
Our class began on Monday. We went to The University of Havana to take examination and begin our Spanish classes. As the first university in America, the university's equipments are as old as all universities with a long tradition in the world. However, the quality of my Spanish class is very good. There are students from different cultural backgrounds in my class. Many students come to Cuba with a strong enthusiasm to study Spanish. Therefore, we insist on speaking Spanish even after the class so that we can make use of every opportunity to improve our communications skills. This is actually very helpful for me because even though I have learned Spanish for one year, I still dare not to speak. After the first day of class and communications with other students, I got used to speaking Spanish very quickly and went to movies on the next day.
On Thursday night we went to a small concert of trovador music at casa de bombilla verde. It is a small bar located at a quite neighborhood in Havana. It is fortunate to hear the best trova singers for two hours with a glass of Cuban bear Krystal at a cozy rainy night. The trova music reminds me of the indigenous music in Taiwan. Before coming to Cuba, I imagine that this would be a country very isolated from the world as North Korea. However, the night life in Cuba is so diverse and you can hear music from all over the world whenever you walk on the street. At nights if you walk at Marecón, You will see Cuban young people dancing with music along the seaside. Some lovers would hang out there and play guitar.
On Saturday we went to Las Terrazas where we visited coffee plantation, village and mountains. It is great to sit in the lake and watch people jumping from the small waterfall. Cubans love to drink bear, eat snacks or smoke in the lake. I am surprised by how Cuban people explore various ways to enjoy their life despite the lack of food and modern equipment. This is perhaps the most significant difference between China and Cuba. In China poverty in socialist period only made people give up any entertainment, particularly during the Cultural Revolution. But here in Cuba people still watch American movies, enjoy American pop music, and cultures from other places. It is hard for me to imagine how socialism can be performed in a very different way if I have not come to Cuba.
All in all, Havana is safe and the SSA program staff here are very generous to offer help at any time. I have class in the morning every day. And on the afternoons and nights I will walk in the city and explore freely as I want. There is no need to worry about while exploring the city!