Castro. Communism. Cigars. For the average American, talk of Cuba is limited to these three Cs, despite an ongoing fascination with the once-rogue nation that began in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was then that Fidel Castro - a rebel cheered by some and jeered by others - staged a takeover of Cuba that has kept him in power for the past 40 years. Castro's image graced the cover of Time Magazine on January 26, 1959, and then he visited the United States in April of that same year, creating a media frenzy as he toured many universities, supportive groups and even Yankee Stadium. But these more glamorous times are now forgotten, and Castro's Cuba is one shrouded in mystery and misconception. One such misconception, says Donna Butler, director of Penn's Study Abroad Program in Cuba, is that students are not allowed to study abroad in Cuba. They are. But of course, this wasn't always the case. When Butler University spearheaded an effort to establish a Cuban study abroad program in 2000, the University of Pennsylvania joined the effort, and this resulted in Penn's first study abroad success in Cuba - a lone student sent abroad there in 2000. Since then, 21 other students have studied in the country, including six who are currently at the Universidad de La Habana this semester. Here are some of their stories.
For the average American, talk of Cuba is limited to the three C's: Castro, Cigars, and Communism. The mysterious island does not generate much honest, in--depth discussion since few Americans are able to attain access to the Communist country.
A select group of Penn students are granted a University--sponsored Visa each semester, however, as a part of Penn's Study Abroad program in Cuba. These students attend Universidad de La Habana, which is regarded as one of Latin America's best universities. The school is located in Cuba's capital, Havana.
In the fall semester of 2003, Jessica Breland, Jessica Fain, Sam Funt and Gabriel Mandujano were part of a group of six Penn students who traveled to Cuba to study at the university and to explore the mysterious country. For Funt, a dual major in the Biological Basis of Behavior and Spanish, the appeal of Cuba lies in its mysteries.
"Being from South Florida, I had the Cuban influence growing up," Funt explains. "It's only 90 miles from Key West - what's over there, you know? The mystery of it."
The exclusivity of the trip was not lost on the Penn group either. "This was the only way I was going to be able to get there," Mandujano says. Breland echoed his statement: "You can't really go to Cuba for an extended period of time, legally, unless you go with school."
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a successful rebellion against the Cuban government. Castro served as Cuba's Prime Minister until 1976, when that position was abolished. He has served as Cuba's president ever since. After his takeover, he received help from the Soviet Union during the following three decades in spreading Communism to Latin American and African countries.
In 1990, however, the country experienced a crippling recession due to the loss of former Soviet subsidies. The country has never recovered from the recession, and many sources consider the country to be even in worse economic conditions now. Despite these economic hardships, the Penn students noted that there are misconceptions about Cuba's poverty.
"While they do have a lot of buildings in really poor conditions," Fain notes, "There is a minimal standard of living because there is free health care and free education...There are not people on the streets who are sick and dying and at that really base level of poverty."
With limited income at their disposal, Cubans make the most of every peso they have. Cramped living quarters and empty wallets lead to a very basic, limited style of living in the country.
In the homes Breland visited, she noticed sparse arrangements. "In general, the people there don't have a lot of stuff everywhere," she says. "They have beds, you sleep in a bed. They have a table, you eat on a table."
In addition to such sparse living conditions, the students noted that most Cubans are not only aware of the country's poor economic conditions, but have adjusted to them accordingly.
"There's this recognition that this is the way it is," Mandujano explains. "It's going to be this way until something changes - mostly, if Castro dies. It's more of a resignation. 'This is not something I can impact, so how am I going to live my life?'"
The economic hardships presented many perks and dilemmas for the group. Coming to a Third World country with First World money afforded the group an array of inexpensive cultural experiences.
"Everything is so cheap there," Fain notes. "You would constantly be doing cultural activities. You go to the movies for five cents. You go to a concert for twenty-five cents. You don't need to worry about prices too much. I just feel like you can keep enriching yourself and keep doing things."
The group enjoyed the luxuries of cheap cultural entertainment, but they also were warned about the con--artists and hustlers of Cuba who try to take advantage of American visitors. These men and women did not compose a majority of Cuba's population - which is over eleven million strong - but their persistence made them an inescapable part of the Penn group's day-to-day life.
"You have to watch out for people taking advantage of you, even at the University," Mandujano warns. "It's not the majority, only five or ten percent of the people, but those are the five and ten percent who will compose seventy percent of the Cubans that you know."
Mandujano points to diligence as one reason that the hustlers are so prevalent during an American's time in Cuba. Still, the Penn group had earned a reputation before they even stepped foot in the country. "From the other study abroad programs that came before us," he explains, "We had a reputation. For the first month, you want to be accepting and open, so you let these people into your life, then you get burned."
On the streets, most of the con-artists were out to scam tourists out of their money. At the University, however, students were after other things. Mandujano notes, "If you're on the street, of course it's money [they're asking for]. Otherwise, it's like, 'Will you introduce me to your blond American girlfriend? Will you invite me to your party?'"
The Cuban police force tries to curb these intrusions by not allowing Cubans to interfere with Americans in public. Non-Cuban visitors are granted unofficial, unwritten immunity from the laws that Cubans are forced to abide.
Breland had a unique experience in Cuba since many people in the country thought that she was a native of the country. She spoke of one experience when police officers asked to see her papers while she was standing with two other Americans, waiting to catch a taxi.
"After I would show him my American passport," she said, "He'd be like, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, you're American. Let me ring you in a cab on my walkie talkie.'"
Despite encountering these awkward situations, Breland can understand why such laws are in place. A friend of Breland's who visited Cuba in the 1980s told Jessica about how it was sometimes impossible to navigate the streets due to many Cubans asking for money or other things.
"There were certain days where she had to go back inside because she couldn't walk down the street," Breland explains. "So I think that's why they have this law."
In addition to the laws on mingling between Cubans and non-Cubans, there are also cabs designated for Cubans and cabs designated for tourists. If a non--Cuban rides in a Cuban cab, the tourist is never to blame. "They won't ask why you're there," Mandujano notes. "They'll always get mad at the driver." While driving across the country, Mandujano was stopped by the police fourteen times. At the end of the trip, however, he did not have any tickets or fines to show for it. "We basically could do what we wanted," he says.
While the police keep a close watch on how Cubans treat Americans, they often turn a blind eye to the deal making that goes on between Cubans. Outside of the eye of the police, the Penn students observed some corrupt Cuban dealings that many Cubans partake in to soften their economic hardships.
"Nothing works," Mandujano observes. "Nothing works the way it's supposed to. Everybody knows this. Everything works the way it's not supposed to. The informal becomes the norm and the formal becomes the way for idiots and people who just don't get it."
For instance, most Cubans cannot afford internet access for six dollars per hour in internet cafes. Therefore, they can pay the caf‚ supervisor three dollars an hour to sign in on his account. The customer gets a deal, and the employee pads his meager income. If a Cuban cannot afford to make a phone call for two dollars and fifty cents per minute, he or she could find a phone service employee with an unlimited phone card. The caller would pay the employee a dollar per minute. Both sides make out well in the deal.
For airline tickets, Cubans and Americans pay the same amount, only in different currencies. Therefore, for the same flight, Cubans pay one hundred pesos, whereas Americans pay one hundred dollars. When an American buys a ticket, the Cuban ticket clerk will sell a ticket to himself for one hundred pesos, and then sell that ticket to the American for a hundred dollars. The clerk pockets the extra money.
"That's how they make their money," Mandujano explains. "You look for a job with an 'outlook.'"
This corruption compromises the Communist lifestyle that the Cuban government has tried to impose on the country. When Breland and her group visited the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, they spoke with Section's head, who commented on Cuba's corruption.
Breland says, "And one of the people in my program was like, 'Yeah, sort of like our government, with Enron and all that stuff.' And he was like, 'Communism is supposed to be this utopian society, so it can't be corrupt. But capitalism, there's just corruption built into it, so that's OK.' Things like that just made me not want to come home at all."
Capitalism qualms aside, the Penn students did not see some of the Communist ideals in Cuban life. Breland explains, "Before I went I thought communism was a good idea. After I went, I realized there were definitely some problems with it. I like the idea of communism much better than capitalism. I don't know which one actually works better."
Funt noticed the same problems. "I don't think what they have in Cuba is pure Communism. There's definitely social divisions there," he explains. "I like what Marx wrote. I think most people like what Marx wrote. When applied to real life, it doesn't really work out, at least not in Cuba. They don't critique themselves at all."
When the Penn group was invited to see Castro speak to "Semester at Sea" students, there was not much discussion Communism. For the most part, Castro avoided politics all together.
"He avoided America and politics," Fain notes. "He kind of catered the speech to the audience he was talking to."
Despite these glaring omissions, though, the Penn students were excited to hear the famous leader speak to them. Castro took to the stage for a two hour speech, which was set to include a question and answer session, according to Funt. Five hours later, however, the Semester at Sea students were late for their next engagement, and Castro never opened the floor to questions.
"This guy's not going anywhere quick," Fain says. "Up there at the microphone, not a sip of water or a break...But anyone talking for that long, you lose some interest."
Castro spent his time addressing a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from Cuba's free health care to the differences between Greek and Chinese philosophy. He also discussed CNN's use of a running bar of text at the bottom of the screen in addition to a news anchor speaking.
Funt adds, "Then he just spoke about the Myans and the codfish."
Mandujano has a simple way to describe Castro's approach to speaking. "A lot of Cubans either call him their grandfather or their uncle," he explains. "He's everybody's crazy uncle who comes to family reunions and tells all these weird stories. He's just a really goofy guy."
Castro also spoke about Cuba's free education system, a topic that was very relevant to the study abroad students. While many Penn students admit to not having a rigorous academic experience while studying abroad, many blame it on a lack of motivation, or too much partying.
At the Universidad de La Habana, the Penn group admitted to an experience far easier than that at Penn, mainly because of an educational system that was not very challenging. Many of their courses were with Cuban students who were attending the university for free.
Mandujano explains, "In my department, the Sociology department, it wasn't the norm to be especially occupied with one's studies. And the educational system there doesn't really reward it either. At least at the undergraduate level, you're not encouraged to have your own opinion."
Fain not only found the class work to be easy, but the work done outside of class was minimal - if and when there was work outside of class to do. "Even if you wanted to study in Cuba, outside of class time, it's really hard to," she explains. "They don't have books for a lot of the classes, or there is one book for the whole class, so you have to go to a million bookstores and hope to find one."
Even when Fain was able to track down a book or some work, she and her classmates had trouble finding places to study. The library stays open until five o'clock on weekdays, and does not even open on the weekends. "It's great," Fain says. "You can't feel guilty about it."
While Cuba boasts about its free education, some wonder about whether or not it's necessary in a nation that does not reward its students with higher paying, skilled jobs. Many students leave college to go on to jobs where the skills they learned in school are not utilized properly, if at all.
"Knowing what I know now," Mandujano says, "If I had gone to that university [full--time], I don't think I would feel like an educated person after five years...Is it really better to be an unskilled laborer with a university degree than an unskilled laborer without a university degree?"
Despite these complaints, the Penn group admitted that they may have been treated differently by their Cuban professors. Breland explains, "If you are actually a Cuban and going to school there, I'm sure the work is somewhat comparable to Penn. But as an American who's not a native Spanish speaker, they were kind of relaxed on us."
Mandujano adds, "I don't think the professors want to fail any of the students."
Ultimately, however, the Penn students found the experience to be much more enriching outside of the classroom. Aside from some hustlers roaming the city streets, the Cubans came off as friendly, welcoming people.
"If you even put in the smallest bit of effort," Fain says, "They're really, really receptive."
Funt was also impressed by the government's stance on the American people. Castro has always made a point to disassociate the American people from the American government. Castro has blamed the American government for many of Cuba's economic woes after a U.S. embargo went into effect in 1961. "They're very welcoming to Americans," Funt said.
As the students explored the city of Havana, in addition to the rest of the country, they felt as safe - if not safer - than they do in Philadelphia.
"It's extremely safe," Fain says. "There are no guns in Cuba."
Funt adds, "Overall, I thought Cuba was a very safe country. I felt much safer than I do in West Philly."
Despite the generally warm reception, the students still had difficulty keeping up - or rather, slowing down - with the Cuban way of life.
"The pace of life is so different," Fain says. "You are constantly waiting in lines for everything. Lots of people in lines, slowness, the teacher might not show up until a half--hour into class and everyone waits around...If you want to do anything, it takes five-times longer than it normally would."
The slower pace of life was challenging, but it brought about a challenge that everyone in the group was expecting.
"I feel like the point of going abroad is to experience something completely different from where you are," Breland explains. "I can't imagine going anywhere else and having the same experience."
Funt also welcomed the difficult experience. "You'll be challenged to figure out their reality," he explains. "It's so hard to figure out the way things work there. To try and find the truth, to try and find the reality. It challenges you to think about other issues"
