Study abroad in Cuba isn’t all sunshine and clear, Caribbean water, although there is certainly plenty of each. Just like any study abroad experience, especially in a developing, non-English speaking country, there are challenges. Whether it be navigating unfamiliar local customs, battling with the language barrier, or just finding a bathroom, it’s not easy. Your mind is under constant stress from the influx of the new, the strange, and the uncomfortable. I more or less anticipated that there would be hard moments in the face of culture shock, especially considering where I chose to study for the semester. What I failed to account for, however, is what I’ve begun referring to as the Cuba Factor.
Cuba Factor (n): the way in which Cuba unfailingly finds the most unimagined, inconvenient, and frustrating ways to make life harder for those living there.
The Cuba Factor is what makes you mumble under your breath exasperatedly, “classic Cuba” when carefully laid plans go drastically wrong or when the most unexpected thing occurs at the drop of a hat to throw things into chaos. Irritatingly, it always manages to manifest itself as the thing that will aggravate you the most and appears in the moments where you have just begun to think that you finally have life in Cuba figured out. Somehow, Cuba has the magic ability to find just the right buttons to push to force you into a state of discomfort, frustration, and stress. Certainly, the general lack of efficiency and organization in Cuban society contributes to the difficulty of life here, but there is also something else about Cuba that goes beyond inefficiency and disorganization, something uniquely Cuba, that can only be summed up by the concept of the Cuba Factor.
Take, for example, an instance a couple weeks ago. While abroad, it’s not unheard of or even uncommon to get sick or at least feel a little physically off. After all, we are being thrust into brand new environments with new germs, bacteria, hygiene practices, etc. However, because Cuba is oh so original, it added its own twist and I managed to end up with head lice of all things. As a result, all of a sudden, my days went from exploring all that Havana had to offer to considering the style and color of wig I was going to get due to the cocktail of very-harmful anti-lice shampoos I was using and the unbelievable amounts of hair that I was combing out while trying to rid myself of the bugs and their eggs. Classic Cuba.
Another illustrative example of the Cuba Factor at work just occurred in the last week as my program and I were attempting to return from a lengthy (well, certainly lengthier than we’d intended) trip to the Oriente, or the Eastern part of the island. Unfortunately, it was a trip that required airplane tickets, a fact that never fails to create problems here, and upon arriving at the airport in Santiago de Cuba (Cuba’s second largest city and the birthplace of the Revolution) to return home to Havana, we learned that our flight had been canceled. Why? Because there were no planes. If that doesn’t sum up my Cuba experience, I don’t know what does. Anyways, cue an extended period of time stranded in the East missing classes and without access to Wi-Fi. Finally, exhausted and desperate to get back to our homestays, we were able to arrive back in Havana on a flight that left hours later than it was supposed to (because ‘On Time’ never actually means ‘On Time’ in Cuba), get our bags (which miraculously did not get lost), and get on the bus to deliver us from the airport only to find that a train stuck on its tracks across the main road in and out of the city meant that we would not be going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Classic Cuba.
It’s instances like these that exemplify the infuriating and exasperating experience that is studying abroad in Cuba. I’ve always prided myself on being a go-with-the-flow, roll with the punches kind of person but here, I often get so frustrated by my lack of control that calming myself down takes longer than I’d like to admit. However, at the end of the day, I know the Cuba Factor is what’s challenging me to grow. The obstacles that it throws my way are tough but by navigating them I am learning countless important and valuable lessons about the world, life, and, most of all, myself. I’m learning to laugh at those “classic Cuba” moments and much like the way that all the hair that came out when I was combing for lice has made room for new, stronger, and healthier hair to grow, the difficulty and pain of living in Cuba is setting the stage for me to emerge as an all-around improved person. And I can’t wait to meet her.
