|study abroad is personal growth
ub's cuban odyssey
write handed player
the message of art
UB's Cuban Odyssey
They went to learn about a land that fascinated Hemingway and drew John F. Kennedy into the greatest crisis of his presidency. Culturally diverse, several of them bilingual, they had in common an interest in Cuba, an exotic and forbidden destination for most Americans since the imposition of the U.S. embargo nearly 40 years ago. Their individual perceptions and experiences varied widely, but they nevertheless achieved what one student called "a great chemistry" together.
For one month this summer, five UB students and their instructor, José Buscaglia-Salgado, took part in the university's first-ever study-abroad program in Havana. Under terms of the American embargo, the program and each student had to be cleared by the U.S. Treasury Department before the group could go. Once there, they began their studies with a two-week seminar on Havana taught by Daniel Taboada, Cuba's foremost architect and an international authority on historic preservation. Despite its economic struggles, this city of two million is still "the key to the new world," says Buscaglia-Salgado. Later, the group undertook an interdisciplinary project examining Casablanca, a small waterfront enclave facing the Havana skyline.