Great news! I made it though my first week! The last eight days have gone by quickly. There's too much to do, and listening to and producing Spanish all the time is so mentally tiring that I come home each day physically exhausted. We finished orientation on Monday, and on Tuesday classes started at Bonó, a university where I’ll be taking two of my four classes this semester. Bonó is a seminary. With the exception of the North American students in the CIEE program, Bonó’s students are all males training to be priests. In the three classes I have visited so [View Full Entry]

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Well, I made it! After three short weeks in the US, I am now in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and spent the night in a hotel, and on Thursday evening I moved in with my host family. It's now Friday night, and I'm too exhausted to do anything but write this. I am in Santo Domingo with CIEE, the Council on International Educational Exchange. There are about forty other American students in the CIEE Santo Domingo program this year, and seven of them are from Lewis & Clark. I didn't know any of them until I [View Full Entry]

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If you're interested in reading my paper on Cuban paladares, or private restaurants, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. [View Full Entry]

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I’m writing this last entry from the air. I’m somewhere between Atlanta and Portland, somewhere between depressed and relieved, somewhere between nervous and prepared. We spent last night in Cancun, which would be worth a whole entry in itself if I cared to relive the experience. I am faced now with wrapping up this incredible journey in terms that will do it justice. I doubt I’ll be able to do that, and I’m certain that the following words won’t have the same significance to you as they do to me. Regardless, here goes: We left our hotel at 4:00am on Satur [View Full Entry]

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My friend Jacob found this on YouTube. It's a pretty funny promo video for the hotel we called home for three months in Cuba. If you'd like to see where we ate, slept, and drank too much too-expensive coffee, you can click here: Hotel Palco How funny! Thanks Jacobo. [View Full Entry]

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Scattered throughout Havana are restaurants that Cubans operate in their homes. These government-approved private eateries, called paladares, are a refreshing alternative to state-run restaurants and offer a closer look at the realities of Cuban life. Some paladares are ridiculously inexpensive, offering full meals for two or three convertible pesos. Others are much more expensive: at La Guarida, Havana’s most famous paladar, one can expect to spend twenty convertible pesos on a meal and beverage. Although you can expect hotel concierges and travel agents t [View Full Entry]

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I am leaving Cuba early on Saturday morning. This may be the last time I write from la isla prohibida. I can't believe we've been here for three months and that my time in Havana is coming to a close. The last few weeks have been strange. Our entire existance here has been odd, but the last few weeks have been bewildering. I don't have the patience or time to process everything I'm thinking and feeling right now-with a week left I don't have the patience or time to do much of anything in Cuba. Here are some of the questions [View Full Entry]

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Access Denied: Internet Connectivity Control in Cuba I. Introduction: Control of the Internet in Authoritarian Societies With one hundred percent of its population able to read and write, Cuba boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the world (ONI 2006:2). The nation’s workforce is educated, with an average schooling of 8.9 years. High rankings in human capital variables such as these may lead one to expect high levels of internet adoption in the country, but Cuba has one of the world’s lowest internet connectivity rates (Corrales and Westhoff 2006:926) [View Full Entry]

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and a lot has happened since you last heard from me. I’ve tried to pick out some points to share. Some are updates on things I wrote about previously, some are exciting pieces of news, and some are random musings. It’s always hard to choose what to write about here, so if there’s anything particular you want to know about, you should leave a comment/send a message and give me some inspiration. 1. Our trip west: From October 20-27th, we traveled to the western part of the island. We saw Las Terrazas, Viña [View Full Entry]

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Cuban cops are everywhere. Although I don’t quite understand the different divisions of Havana’s police, I have counted at least five different uniforms while downtown. They’re on every corner of every block. They stand in groups of three or five, talking amongst themselves in low voices and eyeing passersby. Most of them are young. The militaritos (recent graduates of the military academies) look to be about eighteen years old. They come in various shapes and sizes and colors. Supposedly, Cuba’s low crime rate is mostly due to the overwhelming presence of [View Full Entry]

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