While most UCLA students spent last December cramming for finals
and getting ready for Christmas break, a few seafaring students
were wrapping up a global journey in a nearby country known for its
longtime hostility with the United States ““ Cuba.
The Semester at Sea program, run by the Institute for Shipboard
Education and the University of Pittsburgh, introduces students,
largely from the United States, to countries far different from
their native lands. Last fall, the program toured nations in Asia,
Africa and Latin America.
While in Cuba, Fidel Castro addressed the program’s
students in a speech lasting about three hours. Fifth-year art
history student Helen Lee characterized the cigar-smoking
dictator’s speech as “long-winded,” but was quick
to add it was an impressive experience to see the Cuban leader.
“It didn’t matter if you agree with his philosophy
… he’s an icon … and the only head of state that met with
us,” she said.
For Lee, the most interesting part of her trip was not seeing
Castro but her experiences in India, where she volunteered in a
village populated by “dalits” ““ people deemed
total outcasts from society under the caste system.
“(The poverty) … is in your face,” Lee said.
Fourth-year sociology student Jessica Jung was impressed by
Cambodia’s efforts to reconstruct national life after Pol
Pot’s Khmer Rouge committed genocide in the country during
the 1970’s.
“They’re trying to rebuild from such a dark
period,” Jung said.
Cuba and Cambodia were not the only countries in the tour that
have had troubled relations with the United States. The tour
stopped in two communist countries, China and Vietnam, and South
Africa, which was subject to sanctions during the 1980s for its
racial segregation polices under apartheid.
The United States recognized the Chinese government in 1972,
ended sanctions against South Africa in 1992, and announced
normalization of relations with Vietnam in 1995. However, a trade
embargo has been enforced against Cuba since 1960.
Former President Jimmy Carter has called for an end to the
embargo, but tensions between the United States and Cuba remain
high.
For example, the State Department’s “Patterns of
Global Terrorism 2001″ report, released last May, lists Cuba
as a state sponsor of terrorism.
While planning trips into countries like Cuba, Semester at Sea
administrators face a series of diplomatic procedures on both sides
of the ocean.
To enter Cuba, the program needed to obtain permission from the
Treasury Department, and to make arrangements in Cuba to work with
the University of Havana, said Semester at Sea Director of
Enrollment Management Paul Watson.
“It can be a complicated logistical effort,” he
continued.
But international rivalries do not necessarily translate into
difficulties between American students and citizens of other
countries.
“Just because (a country) doesn’t like America
doesn’t mean they don’t like Americans … they
separate American citizens from the American government,”
Jung said.
On the ship, classes are smaller than at UCLA, numbering around
20 to 30 students, and the ship’s environment can foster
close contacts between students and professors.
“It’s kind of hard to miss class when you know
you’ll see your professor at lunch,” Jung said.
For students, returning to home can be a revealing
experience.
“I had culture shock coming back to America … little
things like traffic, pop culture and commercials ““Â you
see them in a different way,” Lee said.