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.