Today we had a much more relaxing day compared to yesterday. In the morning, we actually had a college tour at University of Havana, the oldest in Cuba, founded in 1728. For local students, college education is completely free, compounded with additional perks such as half price for movie theaters and public transportation; and even a promised job after graduation and even a small salary designed so that the students will not have to worry about finding a job. Unfortunately, if any of us go there, we will have to pay a tuition. The symbol of the university is a flight of stairs that leads towards the “Alma Mater” statue. If this sounds familiar, you’re probably right. It looks extremely similar to Columbia University in New York. After the tour, we all had a good idea about what studying in Cuba might be like. Ultimately, however, most of us gave up that idea because of the heat.
Afterwards, we went to the Museo de la Revolucion, where the Cuban revolution peaked. Before the revolution, the museum served as the palace of the dictatorship of Batista. The grandeur of the building, mainly built with marbles, clearly shows the wantonness of the previous dictators. The whole museum consists of three floors. The third floor hosts several exhibition rooms that introduce the important events in different time periods of the revolution. Clothes, weapons, documents as well as photos of the leaders captured the attention of many visitors. A small store of souvenirs is located on the third floor as well. Three meeting rooms sit on the second floor: one for a large group of audience, one for the panel of leaders, one for small conversations. Old furniture that remains in the rooms enables visitors to visualize the so many important meetings that took place in the palace. On the first floor, there is a lobby where a bust of lies. After walking through a corridor with sarcastic paintings about Cretin, visitors will arrive at a patio with a huge Cuban flag hanging down from the third floor. All of us were amazed at the size of the flag. We then walked through a gate from the museum to a square with the display planes, tanks and battle ships. And this symbolized the end of our morning activities.
After a long break in the afternoon, we went to a tapas bar a few blocks away from our hotel. There we were served with tapas, a traditional hispanic food. Then we heard an impressive talk from two of the best guitar players nowadays. Amazed the guitar players in our band got the chance to play with the special guitar the musicians brought along at the end of the talk. This was surely an enjoyable experience for many of us.
By Michael Ma '15 and Peter Zhang '17
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