A Student’s Life in Cuba
Have you ever wanted to have a fresh start in school, your social life or even personality? Well, I’ve had a lot of those. Ever since I’ve arrived at Sage as a transfer student, people have asked me what living in Cuba was like. It’s hard to sum my experience up in just a few words, so I decided to write this article instead. My daily life consisted of dealing with the intense heat, going to school, interacting with the friendly Cubans and hearing of the latest celebrity visiting Cuba.
For any student, the school environment has the greatest impact on their life. In my case, the International School of Havana was predominant to my experience in Cuba. Because I lived right around the block, I walked to the minuscule school every day. In fact, its size could be compared to a capacious house. It was the only school that didn’t promote the communist regime, unlike all the others where kids were taught to be ideal communists.
I didn’t have the opportunity to attend dances, homecoming games, or have school spirit; there wasn’t even a football, soccer, or swimming team! Because Americans weren’t allowed to teach, all my teachers were Canadian, British, or Cuban. My classmates were children of diplomats from the various embassies in Cuba, like the Nigerian, South African, German, Italian, French, and Russian ones. The rest of the kids were half Cuban because technically, Cubans weren’t allowed to attend my school.
One of the hardest adjustments I had to make in my daily life was not being able to use the Internet. Gone were the days when I could seamlessly scroll through my Instagram feed and watch a couple of YouTube videos! Wi-fi was exclusively available to hotels and embassies but the International School was an exception. We had a single satellite dish for the use of the entire school and the Wi-fi was so slow that I rarely used it. Naturally, there was no such thing as Canvas so I couldn’t see my grades until the report cards came out.
Compared to Sage, the students weren’t very concerned about their grades, and I was one of the only people who never fell asleep in class, which was very easy to do since we were given extensive lectures. I sometimes wonder if that is the reason the air conditioning was turned up so high in all of the classrooms, to the point where the kids brought blankets. Prior to my arrival in Cuba, I was looking forward to wearing summer clothes, but found myself wearing jeans and sweaters to school! People’s glasses would fog up from the extreme heat and humidity outside as they walked out of the classrooms.
What I know for sure is that the air conditioning was the only way to prevent mosquitoes from infesting our school. I remember several people got diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as potentially deadly dengue — but they didn’t think it was a big deal. I was very lucky to never catch a disease even though mosquitoes absolutely love my blood; my legs were constantly covered in humungous bites!
Mosquitoes adore living in damp conditions, and boy did it rain in Cuba! Because of its tropical climate, my school often had to close from frequent flooding. My friend who has lived in Cuba for some time once told me that she received a ride to school from a man on a canoe because the roads were completely flooded and it was the only way to get to school!
Towards the end of my stay, Cuba began to “open up” to the USA. What this meant was that Obama and his family came to visit Cuba for the first time, giving me a day off from school. My friend whose dad worked at the U.S. Embassy managed to provide us with VIP tickets to attend a baseball game where the Tampa Bay Rays played against the Cuban national team. The Obama family attended this game alongside Secretary of State John Kerry and Raúl Castro, President of Cuba. Most Cubans love Americans, and the entire stadium was ecstatic.
A few days later, I attended a free Rolling Stones concert — the band brought their immense sound system to Cuba on their plane! Mick Jagger was so charmed by the country that he even bought a typical turquoise car as a souvenir. Obama’s visit led to many others, including the Kardashians, Chanel, Major Lazer, Katy Perry, and the filming of Fast and Furious 8.
There is so much more to say, but I think I’ll leave the rest for another time. One of the best things about living in Cuba was being able to speak Spanish with the people and widen my perspective of the world. The people are not materialistic whatsoever; they enjoy socializing, spending time with their family, and listening to Cuban music. Even after withstanding harsh living conditions, this experience has made me grateful for the big things, like having the opportunity to attend Sage and the small things, like having a mosquito-bite-free body.
