CAS CONNECT 2015

4 Whether piling into a 1952 Chevy for a cab ride or peering out the hotel window to see a convertible straight out of an Elvis movie, group members found 1950s American automobiles plentiful. “It was weird to wake up in the morn- ing and see these cars that the only other times I’d seen them were in auto auctions or the back of my grandfather’s garage,” Gliedt says. The group also had to adjust to Cuba’s dual-currency system. Workers are paid in the national currency, the Cuban peso, but all foreign money must be exchanged for a separate tourist currency, the Cuban Convertible Peso, better known as CUC (pronounced “kook”). Because certain goods and services can only be purchased in CUCs, the foreign currency is in high demand. Locals often work a second job in the tourism industry to secure this currency. “It’s partly 1959 time capsule and partly morphing into pseudo-capitalism,” Lightfoot explains. Cuban doctors or lawyers make the equivalent of $350-$400 a month, with approximately 90 percent going toward Even with the prescribed reading and personal preparation, none of the travel- ers knew quite what to expect. The most common concern was how the Americans would be received by the Cuban people. “My perception was I would be going into Cuba as the enemy, but it turned out to be very far from the truth,” Wilson says. “It felt very open, and the people were very warm and welcoming.” Jordan McAlister, a geography doctoral student at OSU, best summarized one piece of unanimous advice as: “Keep an open mind, and be ready to learn new things.” Not only were the Cubans eager to speak, often in English, with the American tourists, but pieces of Americana were scattered through- out the country. For instance, at a base- ball game they spotted a man wearing an Alpha Chi Omega sorority t-shirt and a woman wearing U.S. flag pants. The most common piece of American culture was seen on the road. Some were not even aware it was possi- ble to visit the country. “I was walking through Morrill Hall and saw a flyer with ‘Cuba’ in big letters and I thought, ‘No way, you can’t go to Cuba,’” says Tyler Wilson, a Spanish and history major from Frisco, Texas. Traditional tourist travel to Cuba is still prohibited, but the OSU visit fell under an exemption for educational activities. The “study” in “study abroad” consisted of a considerable amount of reading material, over which the travel- ers were tested. They were also required to keep detailed journals and deliver final papers after the experience. Alexis Gliedt, a strategic communica- tions major from San Antonio, eagerly devoured the provided material — then went further. “I watched a lot of old Cuban films and read Ernest Hemingway novels,” she says. “Also The New York Times had just come out with a list of the top Cuban books, and I read all of those. I wanted to see how artists portrayed Cuba.” “My percept ion was I would be going into Cuba as the enemy, but i t turned out to be very far from the truth.” — Tyler Wi lson, Spanish and history major A group of OSU students got to visi t Cuba over spring break for a study-abroad course.