When most students are deciding where they want to go abroad, they look for a program that will give them the best semester away from home, regular classes, and their general responsibilities. Some of the most popular programs at Hamilton are in Europe. The Madrid, Copenhagen, Budapest, and Stockholm programs all offer opportunities to explore Europe, while still getting to spend most of the semester in one big city, famous for museums, restaurants, exciting clubs, and of course, history.
But Hamilton has recently been able to offer a new program to students in a country that few Americans have had the chance to visit — Cuba. Offered through IFSA-Butler, the semester in Cuba is a very different experience than spending a few months in Europe.
The complicated history of open, closed, and restricted borders between the U.S. and Cuba has made travel there difficult for ordinary citizens, let alone for students hoping to spend a longer time studying there.
Only a small number of Hamilton students have seized the opportunity to spend a semester abroad in Cuba. One of the first students in recent years to study there is Kelt Wilska ’17. Even with bad Wi-Fi, Wilska took the time to talk about his experience there during the fall 2016 semester, and how he has returned there to intern at a high school where he is currently assisting with regular academic classes and outdoor leadership.
Given the historic tensions between Cuba and the U.S., and especially in the context of the current U.S. administration, why Cuba?
I picked Cuba because I wanted a study abroad program that wasn’t just a vacation like many programs are. I wanted a program that would challenge me in a way that only a developing country could, whether it was through walking to the local park to get public Wi-Fi or taking classes alongside Cuban students at a comparatively disadvantaged university. Tuition was also a big sell for me; while Hamilton’s Spain Program charges full semester tuition, college in Spain is actually much cheaper than in America, so the program uses leftover tuition for hotels and high-end restaurants. Needless to say, neither I nor my parents felt good about spending our money that way. IFSA — Butler’s program was half the cost, so it was a win-win. The semester also happened to be during a very politically polarizing moment in our history, and I thought it would be really interesting to study socialism and authoritarianism in a place where both have both succeeded and failed in different respects.
Did you live with a host family?
I lived with a Cuban host family (and three other American students) in the business district of Vedado in Havana. Technically, the country doesn’t allow home-stays, but the program gets around it by renting out “casas particulares” (essentially B&Bs) for extended periods of time. My hosts certainly felt like family to me, though. We had a host mom, dad, and brother, host aunts, uncles, cousins, housekeepers (who were absolutely considered part of the family); the house was never empty. It was an amazing experience to be welcomed into such a different family dynamic. Also interesting was the fact that my host family was strongly pro-communist. Our host mom would proudly show off the picture in the living room of my host brother shaking El Lider’s (Fidel Castro’s) hand when he was in youth choir. My host dad fought in the Cuban-Angolan War and was subsequently given a prestigious harbor inspector position in Luanda, the capital of Angola. We unfortunately didn’t see him much because he traveled all the time. My host family definitely enjoyed a more luxurious lifestyle than most Cuban families did due to their government connections; this made me feel rather guilty, but on the flip side I’m grateful I was able to so intimately experience the deeply ingrained flaws of the Cuban communist system.
Where specifically did you study?
I studied at the University of Havana, Cuba’s biggest university with 25,000 students. It’s not a residential university, so 99% of students commute. The school is spread out over the city, but I took most of my courses at the main campus, which was conveniently right up the road from my home-stay. It had a beautiful courtyard with an old tank from the Revolution in the middle. The buildings are very old, some better maintained than others. Sometimes, I’d sit down in a desk and it would almost break because it was from the 40’s. It was all chalkboards, as practically no technology was in the classroom besides a designated student who would copy assignments and readings onto everyone’s flash drives. I took four courses in the liberal arts: Cuban Literature, Political Economy of Socialism, History of Cuba, and an American-only course about Cuban culture.
The American course was pretty disappointing, but the reason why is fascinating. Our Cuban professors for that class were clearly being monitored by the government so they could only teach certain aspects of Cuban culture. For instance, they showed us a chart that clearly indicated institutional racism in the Cuban dance industry, but they refused to acknowledge it. The other classes were great, especially the socialism one taught by a really passionate communist professor. Also fascinating to see how students and professors talked about communism and the Castros, their hesitancy to criticize or lack thereof. A fine line to walk and a multitude of opinions for sure, although in general young people are anti-Castro. Although we did make some Cuban friends at school, many students seemed pretty indifferent about making American friends.
How was your travel experience getting to Cuba?
Travel experience was relatively smooth. Due to the recent Obama-era legislation about travel to Cuba, it was much easier for me to get a visa. I just received a sheet in the mail from the U.S. government with a list of reasons for why I was going to Cuba and then checked off “student.” These days in the Trump era it’s harder to do. You can still go as a student but you can’t go as an independent tourist anymore; you have to be with a group tour (which are loaded with propaganda). I flew to Miami, where I met up with my group and then we took a charter flight to Havana. This is before U.S. airlines started up commercial flights to the island. I saw a lot of people bringing cartloads of American appliances back to their families because of the trade embargo.
What additional parts of Cuba did you visited or mainly live in?
We traveled all over the island, both with our program directors and independently as a group. I snorkeled in the Bay of Pigs, took a wild ride into the jungle (where Fidel Castro and his rebel army camped) to climb Cuba’s highest mountain, and took a fifteen-hour bus ride from Havana to Santiago, Cuba’s second-biggest city on the eastern side of the island.
Did you get a sense of how Cuban people view the current U.S. administration?
I was fortunate enough to be in Cuba when Obama visited. I got about 10 feet from his motorcade to wave hello. Back before the election, Cubans were thrilled to meet Americans. Every time I told a new friend that I was American, they would just say, “Obama!” I think Cubans truly looked up to him (and subsequently viewed American visitors) as a symbol of changing times and post-embargo prosperity. My host family commented multiple times about how “presidential” he seemed. Cuba’s history is also inextricably tied to Africa’s, and many Cubans were thrilled to have an African-American president visit their country. Interestingly enough, though, many Cubans I met didn’t care too much about how the election ended, because either Clinton would continue Obama’s policies or Trump would build hotels and stimulate more economic growth. I wonder what they think now. I didn’t feel any ill-will towards Americans at all when we were visiting, except maybe in history class when our professor was talking about America’s exploitative imperialist influence over Cuba in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Even then, though, he knew we weren’t personally to blame and would joke with us about inheriting a nasty reputation. Fidel Castro’s Revolutionary Museum also had a mural (called The Wall of the Cretins) with some pretty demeaning caricatures of former U.S. (Republican) presidents, but times have changed. Nowadays, I think most Cubans view America as a wealthy country of opportunity that will bring a boom of trade if the embargo is lifted. Allegiance to Castro’s fierce communist brand of nationalism is dying away.
Did you get to meet other students from around the world?
I met many other international students while in Havana. A lot of Americans from different programs, a group of Norwegians, and many students who were studying independently from various schools. It was great to meet Cuban students, but there was also a certain sense of camaraderie in feeling lost with people from all around the world.
Would you recommend this program to other Hamilton students?
I’d absolutely recommend this program to fellow Hamilton students if policies stay the same after Trump’s recent policy decisions (I assume it has). The academic workload was a bit underwhelming because the professors were so easy on foreigners, but the cultural immersion experience is simply unparalleled. If you go to Cuba, do IFSA-Butler. They have by far the most immersive program and are one of the few that do homestays. I believe they also let you take the most courses at UH out of all the American programs. There’s no language contract, but if you’re diligent in balancing your English with your Spanish you will improve immensely — especially because Cuban Spanish is one of the fastest and most difficult dialects to learn! Cuba is truly a country frozen in time, and it’s going to thaw out really soon. Cliché, I know, I know, but it’s totally true. Now is the best time to visit because you get see this transition between old and new!
Anything else that you particularly remember from your semester in Cuba?
I do remember a few small ways in which Havana is WAY different than American cities. For one thing, there was lots of trash everywhere. But then there were beautiful old cars, with the smell of good old-fashioned petrol. Wild cats and dogs roaming the streets — I got pretty used to cats screaming outside my window at night.
One last thing was that I’m 99% sure my phone calls home were wiretapped. My roommate and I could hear voices and beeps and buttons being pressed when we were calling our families.
