New writer alert! My name is Johanna Beaupre, and I'm a sophomore Elementary Education major and Spanish minor. If you couldn't tell by the title of this blog post, we went to a baseball game on Tuesday night. The stadium where the Industriales (Havana's team) play was about a half hour walk from our casas. Between the cool breeze and the warm air, it was a great taste of summer for us Midwesterners. I hear it's just a tad chilly back home! Being a baseball fanática, I was pretty excited to be going to a game in a country known for its love of baseball. Better yet, some members of our host families came with us, including my host dad who is a huge MLB fan. Unfortunately, he is also a Detroit Tigers fan which doesn't quite jive with my Twins-loving self, but we were still able to bond over America and Cuba's favorite past-time. Los Industriales lost 9-1 to the first place team Los Tigres from Ciego de Ávila (a city in central-eastern Cuba), which was disappointing, but still a fun event overall! The games are a bit different than in the U.S. with a lot less vendors and a lot more noise; there were horns everywhere being blown throughout the entirety of the game. What an experience!

I'm sure you want to hear more of our adventures than just the ball game, so here's a quick update from the week. Monday we visited the Jose Martí Memorial and museum. Jose Martí is a national hero who led the charge for Cuban independence from Spain in the mid to late 1800's. After class on Tuesday, we had a scavenger hunt in a neighborhood farmers' market followed by a presentation on Cuban biotechnology by Alfredo's cousin. Wednesday afternoon was spent exploring Ernest Hemingway's villa on the outskirts of Havana. While writing is not my favorite activity, I think I would be much more inspired to write those Paideia papers if I was relaxing on his beautiful garden terrace overlooking the tropical island!

All in all, we are still having a great time, despite the "cold" front happening here. I'm not quite ready to leave this friendly country in a week to face the bitter Midwest winter.

¡Hasta luego!

Johanna Beaupre