Cigars, Hemingway and the Narrative of Revolution Fascinate Young Travelers
02/03/2016
By Katharine Webster
Louise Wu, a freshman nursing major, joined an Honors College immersion program in Cuba over winter intersession hoping to learn more about the country鈥檚 universal health care system 鈥� and got so much more.
Coffee, for starters.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so much better than American coffee. I鈥檓 a coffee enthusiast 鈥� I really care about the quality of my coffee 鈥� and I tasted it and said, 鈥榊es!鈥欌�� Wu says. She bought four bags, duty-free, at the airport to bring home.
Other aspects of Cuban life weren鈥檛 as much to her liking. The Cuban education system curbs individual choice, with quotas set for how many students can enter each profession, she says. Five years before they finish school, students list their top 10 career choices. Then, depending on their exam scores, they get assigned to one.
鈥淚n Cuba, I felt this sense of limited freedom, almost artificial freedom. Yes, people do have options, but they have options within the parameters the government sets for them,鈥� she says.聽
In a , she compared life in Cuba to making a Cuban sandwich: You can layer the ingredients in any order, but the end result tastes more or less the same 鈥� and although it鈥檚 good, it鈥檚 the only kind of sandwich you鈥檙e allowed to make.聽
鈥淲e cannot add ingredients that are not provided for us,鈥� she wrote.
Wu was one of 10 Honors College students who took part in the university鈥檚 first study abroad program in Cuba, led by first-year honors seminar instructor Julian Zabalbeascoa, who also runs the cultural immersion experience in Spain during the summer.聽
The course fulfills an Honors College requirement, but sophomore Emma Morrison says she had other reasons for going.聽
鈥淣ot a lot of people get a chance to go to Cuba. I thought I could brush up on my high school Spanish and learn about a place it鈥檚 not too easy to learn about,鈥� she says. 鈥淎s an engineering major, it鈥檚 nice to have a change of pace.鈥�
The students stayed with families in Havana 鈥� the girls with one, the boys with another 鈥� and attended lectures every morning at the Jos茅 Mart铆 Studies Center. In the afternoons they took field trips to art and history museums, a tobacco farm and cigar factory, a health center, the national film school, Ernest Hemingway鈥檚 home and the fishing village that was the setting for his book 鈥淭he Old Man and the Sea.鈥� They also tried salsa dancing and cigars, ropa vieja and non-alcoholic mojitos. In their free time, they wandered around Old Havana. Now they鈥檙e writing blog posts and reflective essays, as well as completing creative projects or papers based on their experiences.
Zabalbeascoa says he鈥檚 wanted to take students to Cuba since traveling there himself in 2009. The students had the unique opportunity of hearing a single political narrative from the lecturers at the Mart铆 Center 鈥� and comparing that to the stories they heard from ordinary Cubans and the version of Cuban history taught in American schools, he says.
鈥淲e were getting one particular narrative 鈥� and it鈥檚 one that most likely won鈥檛 be preached after the next few years,鈥� given the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, he says.聽
Morrison found the contrast fascinating, especially after learning about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign.
鈥淎fter the revolution, they closed all the schools and colleges and sent the students and teachers out to the countryside to teach people how to read and write. In one year, they lowered the illiteracy rate to 4 percent,鈥� Morrison says. 鈥淢ost of what we hear about the revolution is that it was Communist and evil, but here was something really good that came out of it.鈥�
Her homestay host, 73-year-old Carlos Pe帽a 脕vila, who鈥檇 had to leave school at age 8 to work, was among those who benefited. He told her he supported the revolution because now all children are entitled to a free education, Morrison says.
The cultural immersion program gave Morrison 鈥渁 wider perspective on the world鈥� and a greater interest in pursuing an international career. But her favorite memories are of seeing classic American cars 鈥� including two Chevy Bel Airs 鈥� and hanging out on the Malec贸n, the sea wall and promenade that鈥檚 a popular gathering place for Havana residents.聽
As for Wu, she got a peek inside Cuba鈥檚 health-care system when the group visited a health center.
鈥淭heir health care system is very good in general, but they lack a lot of the facilities and technologies and advances that we have, and that really impacts their ability to treat people,鈥� she says.