I never thought I would do a study
abroad program ever until this summer. This summer was pretty hectic with me
being out of the States for about 2 ½ months, but it is definitely one to
remember. I started first by going to Spain with my oldest brother for vacation,
then to México for my first study abroad program for 5 weeks and last but not
least the best way to end my summer with my second study abroad program in
Cuba.
I have always heard about Cuba from
my parent’s friends who were born there and never thought I would actually have
the opportunity to go and experience living and being with “matanceros.” I actually did not know
that this class was a study abroad program until Mabel Cuesta sent me an email,
and I thought to myself “wow! Is this really happening?” Without a doubt, I
knew I had to go to experience everything I had heard from my parent’s friends
about Cuba for myself.
When I first got to the airport, I
didn’t know anybody from the group because I had never gone to the little
meetings since I was out of the States during the time, so I felt a little odd being
there. But quickly made a bond with someone I never imagined to while waiting
to board. I never thought of Cuba as “esta
tan cerca pero tan lejos” until our flight over there. When we first landed
in Havana, I was still in shock and couldn’t believe I was actually there. As
we made our way out of the airport to head to the wawa that would soon take us
to our bnb’s, I noticed the different vibes from each individual and never got
that feeling as if we were being judged like in the U.S. for any little thing.
On our ride to our bnb’s I did
notice all the signs supporting communism and especially of Che. When we
arrived to our drop off location and all parted our ways with roommates to
different bnb’s, I was lucky to have the opportunity to stay with Andrea, Isis
and Tanya for our stay in Havana. The lady we stayed with had a bunch of food
made for us in the morning with freshly cut fruits and a delicious mango juice
that I will never forget about it.
Just with being in Havana for a
short amount of time, I had already fell in love with Cuba’s history and
culture. The first night in Havana we went to the Jazz Café, where we all
listened to some amazing jazz music and ate. I ended up going to get some air
outside with some people from the group, where we later on made our way to
see the famous “Malecón” and saw all
the people gathered there to talk and meet different people. Although my first
night ended up with me breaking out in hives, I still enjoyed my first night in
Cuba.
Although I thought maybe it was
just my body reacting differently and not anything else, I came to realize I
was allergic to the seafood when we all went to dinner the next night and I had
to step out because I couldn’t breathe. I was pretty upset about that because
seafood is my favorite, but the night ended up getting better when we went to Fabrica
de el Arte Cubano and enjoyed our last night in Havana with each other.
I was pretty sad to leave Havana
and leave our bnb host because she was the sweetest and amazing poem writer. My
roommates and I were lucky enough to hear her one of her poems and about her
life. It was hard leaving Havana but I was excited to go to Matanzas and see
what we were going to do for the next 2 weeks there. When we arrived in
Matanzas, we all arrived to Hostal Azul, where I was lucky to stay and became
our meeting place for most events. I will never forget the food from there
either, especially when we ate breakfast and always had fresh fruit before our
actual meal and fresh juice to accompany our meal.
We went to our place of work called
“Ediciones Matanzas” where we were each partnered with someone from class and
then given our poet. I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with Antonia
on translating poems, because we both agreed on our choice of words when we
started translating our poet Derbys Domíguez poems. The look Derbys had on his
face every time we had finished translating one of his poems is unforgettable
because this was the first anybody had translated his poems. Working with
Derbys on his poems was amazing because of the choice of words and the way he
had wrote his poems. I am so grateful to be able to say that Antonia and I were
able to present two of Derbys poems on our last day at Ediciones Matanzas in
front of a crowd and ended the presentation with our poems. I never ever
thought I would translate poems in my life, but after this project we did in
Cuba, I’m pleased to say that I would do it all over again.
On our last day in Matanzas, I was
filled with mixed emotions as I looked at everything that I was around for the
past 2 weeks and it was all coming to an end soon. I will never forget the
friendships and bonds made during this trip with everyone, but I am so grateful
that I was able to experience it with everyone and mainly Mabel and Neysi who took
us in as their own during this trip and gave us all the opportunity to be a part
of their hometown. Also, for introducing us to the best people we would spend
most of our free evenings with, which is Elizabeth, Adrian and Hector. I would definitely
go back to Cuba but at the same time I would be sad especially when I have to
leave and come back to the States. I have to say that Cuba gave me the opportunity
to meet people that I never thought I would, even though we go to the same
school and live in the same city.
It’s taken me awhile to write this
blog because being back in the States is totally different and thinking about
all the good memories made in Cuba makes me a little sad because I want to go
back and experience everything all over again. If someone were to ask me about
my experience in Cuba, I would have to say it’s a true-life changer and you
will definitely see everything with more of an open mind and never take the
smallest things for granted ever again. I can truly say that Cuba changed me
and I came back with more of an open mind on things and a little piece that I
was missing for a while until now. I definitely believe that if someone ever
had the opportunity to go to Cuba, they should because you WILL see things
differently. Also, you will probably come back with something you never
expected to, but it’s a good something to experience. It’s like a saying I once
heard, “It’s the unexpected things that change our lives for the better.”
No comments:
Post a Comment