What I Learned...

My first learning from the course would be about customer experience. I learned about the methods to evaluate customer experience, including marketing/UX audit, customer journey mapping, importance-performance analysis, participant observation and social media monitoring. The course teaches me not only about what these methods were, but also about how to appropriately utilize them to substantiate an insight or a recommendation. I learned about how to evaluate a restaurant, lodging or attraction by using a multi-method approach. Each method was unique in its performance and sourcing. The methods can be used together to support each recommendation that we proposed. I found the whole process is really interesting yet also quite challenging that we needed to give rankings and collect all data. I think the methods are truly useful for future usage or learning.

My second learning from the course is about culture, which would be a non-academic takeaway. As a Chinese, this was the first time I travel with American people spending about ten days. Initially, I was a bit nervous to go on this trip. However, I had a great time with all my classmates and appreciated culture differences between us. It was a great trip and I was able to meet many new friends. Moreover, I also learned Cuban culture during that trip. Before that trip, I almost knew nothing about Cuba except knowing that it’s a socialist country. I got deeper information about Cuba culture by getting great connections with local people. I felt Cuba people were really friendly and nice to us, and the hosts of casas that I stayed in were so friendly and made us feel comfortable to stay in.

The third thing I learned from that course is group work. We had tough days after went back from Cuba. A lot of work needed to be done by us to work as a team. I was so stressed out to prepare for the presentation, but working together did strengthen my confidence. Thanks to all my classmates that we did a great job finally!

My Major Insights...

Lodgings during that tour were great for me that I could get lots of interactions with local people there. As a people to people tour, getting connections with local people was important. However, all the hosts could not speak English, and neither could I say Spanish. Therefore, I didn’t have so much conversation with hosts. Although it would be better to have a host that can say English, I did have a great time to stay in all casas, the hosts were absolutely friendly and hospitable. Besides hosts, some other factors are needed to be considered. Firstly, there weren’t hot water for shower for 2 casas I stayed in. That was annoying since I highly need hot water when shower. But the water was not so cold that I could still take shower at that moment. Moreover, the casas didn’t have obvious signage that I often couldn’t find where my home was, plus, it’s always difficult for me to remember the way and even to look up the map.  So it’s important for people like me to follow somebody know the direction. Thirdly, Safety always is important for people to stay in a foreign country. I think safety can be guaranteed there, all towns and casas I stay were super safe that I even didn’t worry about that. Last but not the least, I loved the breakfast that hosts made for us. The host would ask us what time we preferred to have breakfast using body languages, Lol. The juices there were really great and they provided lots of food for us. However, I think it will be better if they can make more warm food. There was two casas we stayed in even did not provide hot food.

Overall, the casas we stayed were great and I truly enjoyed my time there!

TAKEAWAYS FROM CUBA COURSE

The top takeaway from this course is having a basic understanding of the research method – participant observation. Different from the structured observation, the participant observation requires observers to get involved in the process and make judgement and evaluation as objective as possible. In my perspective, it is truly difficult to be fair and objective when I am trying to make a personal judgement. The solution to this problem is to design the mystery shopping form in an objective way. Most questions in the shopping form should be ‘yes or no’ questions and nothing about the feelings of the observers.

On top of that, I grew my communication skill and the teamwork ability during the whole trip and the teamwork after the trip. I used to be shy to speak with native speakers. However, totally immersed in an environment that was full of the language of English, I found myself gradually getting comfortable with the trip going on. I dared to speak and have mutual interactions with other travel mates. In addition, I learned to conquer the challenge together with my teammates and simultaneously finish my task independently.

Since this course was something about studying abroad, I also picked up things that I could not get from regular classes. For example, I developed my ability to adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment. The life in Cuba was totally different from that in China and even that in the United States. The cultural shock the country brought to me was huge but do help me challenge myself and have a better understanding of the world, which is priceless treasure to my growth.

POLITICS IS EVERYWHERE!

During the dinner in Cienfuegos, two of our travel mates asked me and Diana about the feeling and insights of Cuba. Both of us considered the country as a normal Caribbean island country that was economically restricted by the United States for many years and at most a destination that had not been developed much. However, this was only from two Chinese students. For the rest of the Americans in our group, Cuba was a different story.

I still remember the first day we were led by our tour guide to visit the Revolution Museum in Havana. Four previous presidents of the United States were painted on the wall in a funny way. I looked at it, took a picture and left nothing in my mind. However, this picture raised a heated discussion at that night when we were doing the mystery shopping evaluation. Some of my American mates viewed this as offensive. Also, the tour guide was always careful talking about the relationship between the States and Cuba on the bus. He constantly mentioned that what he said was nothing about politics.

At first, I felt kind of strange why my American mates are so politically sensitive. However, once I connected it with the relationship between China and Taiwan, everything made sense.

I was born in a country where almost everything is tightly connected with politics, so people are more intended and interested to talk about politics on the table instead of sports and entertainment. I innocently thought other democratic countries in the world care little about politics when I was a teenager. But the reality proved me wrong. People there are still politically sensitive.

La realidad en Cuba

As a result to the Cuba – United States relations,  for a while many Cubans found themselves not being able to advance and sustain themselves, family, and communities. Recently, many Cubans and foreigners have invested in the tourism sector of the Beautiful Island of Cuba. The amount of investment in tourism was visible through the high number of restaurants, stores, tour guides, English speaking Cubans, and Casa Particulares. Throughout the trip one of the most essential factors that influenced my thought and feelings of the day was my Casa.

            During the trip, throughout the different cities, I was able to stay at some of the best Casa Particulares. In Havana, we stayed in Casa Obrapia, which was very aesthetically pleasing, modern, and comfortable. In Viñales, I stayed in Casa Maritza, a Casa which allowed me to enjoy and appreciate Viñales even more. In Cienfuegos, I stayed in Casa Lily, one of the best experiences of Cuba that led me to appreciate the community of Cienfuegos. In Trinidad, I stayed in Casa Wilfrego, which continued to satisfy my expectations for Casa particulares.

The city of Cienfuegos will forever hold my heart and be the cause of my satisfaction with my experience in Cuba. After being sick a few days and not being able to enjoy Viñales as much, I was worried about my experience in the trip. As soon as I arrived in Cienfuegos, and was received by the humblest, nice, and accepting host that my thoughts of the trip changed. As soon as I saw the Casa, I was impressed, It was modern and it seemed like they put a lot of time and planning to the aesthetic of the house. Once my groupmate, Allison, and I were shown our rooms we were in awe. The room was all set up for two girls, everything from the bed cover to the curtains were pink. The towels were beautifully set up as two swans. And, one of the first things she asked us was not whether we could give her our passport, It was weather we would accept her ice cream offer. Lily took her time making sure that the ice cream looked as good as it tasted. While we enjoyed our ice cream, Lily asked us about our expectations and experiences thus far. She shared her background and shared a little about the history of the city. In the morning, we were greeted and enjoyed breakfast in the patio of the house. Casa Lily was one of the Casa’s I did not want to leave at all due to the amazing service, host, breakfast, comfort, and hot water.

            The amazing service and hosts in Casa Particulares made my experiences in Cuba more memorable. Being able to speak Spanish improved my experiences in Cuba. Compared to my non-Spanish speaking groupmates, I was able to connect and create a bond with the hosts of the Casa Particulares. Many of them which shared more of their lives in Cuba, their knowledge of their home cities, and their amazing Cuban Culture.