During an Oxnard College study abroad program in June, students, staff, and members of the community visited Cuba for a nine-day trip. The trip was planned and organized by Connie Owens of the Oxnard College Foundation and Rainer Mack, Professor of Art History in the Visual and Performing Arts Department. The trip was part of a 6-week Oxnard College Art History course (Art R171), of which Professor Mack was the instructor. In addition to managing the financial aspects of the trip, the foundation played a critical role in providing $1000 scholarships to enrolled students. This lowered the overall cost for students to approximately $1900, including all air travel.
Originally, the trip had been organized as a cruise but late-breaking changes in federal policies governing travel to Cuba forced the group to change the trip from a cruise to a more traditional study abroad format. This change provided an opportunity for the excursionists to stay in casas particularres, a bed and breakfast like arrangement, or a nearby hotel.
The six daylong educational excursions in and around Havana were led by Yoandry Perez, of the Cuban state tourism agency, and also by the U.S. tour coordinator, Chris Cloonan of CubaFAME. Guest speakers and guides joined the tours at various stops to discuss architecture, art, history and politics.
In the final wrap up meeting, Professor Mack discussed the overall effect this trip had on his students.
“For many students, the most vivid experiences were those that involved meeting Cubans, sharing food and stories, discovering connections with their own lives in the U.S., and successfully navigating what was unfamiliar. This expresses the real value of study abroad –it is not just what you learn academically, but what you discover about yourself, your capabilities, and the ways in which you engage the wider world,” Mack said.
In addition, students kept a reflective journal and presented on topics ranging from Cuban Baroque architecture and colonial forts to U.S. vintage cars, daily life in Cuba, Tropicana showgirls and the town of Hershey, Cuba.
Below are comments drawn from the students’ final entries in their reflective journals:
“This trip to Cuba changed my life and I would love to do it again.”
“Overall it was a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn’t trade it for the world and I am very happy and grateful that Oxnard College, the foundation and the professors made that possible for us the students.”
“…[for] the culture, life, education Cuba gave me I am eternally in debt to them.”
“I can now say that I have friends in Cuba.”