Earlier this month, 11 Eastlake High School students traveled to Cuba to expand their Spanish skills and gain some global cultural insight.

“Going to Cuba was a lot like time traveling, everything there has history,” said Carmen Callahan, an Eastlake junior. “Learning more about Cuban history was really fascinating, especially because I didn’t know much about Cuba before the trip.”

Sophomore Morgan Pearl said she went on the school-sponsored trip to the Dominican Republic last year, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go to Cuba.

“I knew it was really safe,” Morgan said. “But I wasn’t sure if it was the right trip for me. My parents put a lot of pressure on me to go because they thought it was a great opportunity. They said, ‘When will you ever be able to go to Cuba again?’”

Morgan’s sister, Madison, a senior, also took the trip.

“I went to the Dominican Republic last spring break with Ms. Egashira and had an amazing time. So when I heard about Cuba, I knew I had to go,” Madison said. “Not many people get this opportunity, so I thought I should take it.”

Alicia Egashira has been at Eastlake for 13 years, teaching both Spanish and French. Cuba was her eighth trip with Eastlake students, having been to Costa Rica, Peru, Europe, Guatemala and Belize, Argentina and Uruguay, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands and the Dominican Republic before.

“Being on an educational visa was difficult because of the restrictions we had in terms of where we could go and who we could interact with, but not in a bad way. Just different,” Egashira said. “I went to Cuba about 10 years ago, but it was a different experience because I was able to travel freely.”

Egashira said that they stayed at Hotel Comodoro in Havana, where they spent the majority of their time. However they also traveled to Las Terrazas and Vinales. Some of their major activities included visiting Jose Fuster’s house, one of Cuba’s most famous artists, visiting historical Cuban caves and spelunking, going to Las Terrazas, a small community and nature reserve in the mountains, and visiting the first privately owned bookstore.

For junior Rebekah Horne, the trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“You can’t go to Cuba without an educational license, so when the opportunity to go where so few Americans have been before came up, I took it,” she said.

Morgan and Madison said that many people had concerns about them going to Cuba, asking how they were able to travel there with the U.S. embargo. What many don’t know, is that people can in fact travel to Cuba if it is for academic, cultural or athletic reasons.

“People think it’s more dangerous than it really is,” Madison said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize how much the Cubans want to know what the United States is like. They’re honestly some of the friendliest people I have ever met, so I think it’s sad that so many people have such skewed views of Cuba. I think Cuba is actually as safe as the U.S. I never felt like I was in any kind of danger when I was there.”

Horne said it’s hard to pinpoint one part of the trip that stood out as her favorite, but she loved learning about the Cuban culture.

“Art and music are so important to the Cuban people, and we saw that everywhere we went – the beautiful mosaic tiles at Casa Fuster, the creative street art all over Havana, the musicians playing ‘Guantanamera’ at every restaurant we ate at…I think what surprised all of us the most was that we all had this idea that everyone in Cuba was going to be really Communist and brainwashed to love Castro, but some of the people that we talked to actually disagreed with some of the government actions and were not afraid to be vocal about it,” Horne said.

Colin MacRae, an Eastlake senior, also noted Cuba’s passion for art and music, explaining how it’s so much more prevalent compared to the U.S. MacRae also said that it was much harder to speak Spanish then he had expected because of Cuban’s thick accents.

“It was just so completely different from what we’ve learned,” MacRae said. “But it definitely helped us to learn. It was hard.”

Callahan said she has studied Spanish for five years, and was surprised at how well the locals spoke English.

“Their English was much, much better than my Spanish,” she said.

Horne said the Cuba trip was the first time she was able to meet and talk directly with Spanish-speaking locals, using the language skills she has learned in school.

“I think that was a really great experience for all of us,” she said.

Morgan said the trip opened her eyes to stereotypes, and how you never know the truth about something until you try it or see it for yourself.

“I really miss Cuba, and if the embargo is ever lifted, I will definitely go back and see how things change with the U.S. influence,” she said.

Egashira said that she hopes her students learned the value of travel and gained an appreciation of other cultures. And most of the students said that they plan to study Spanish in college, with the hopes of studying abroad or traveling.

“After taking this trip, I know that I definitely want to study abroad in the future, hopefully in a Spanish-speaking country so that I can really immerse myself in the language and learn to speak fluently,” Horne said. “I would tell anybody who has the opportunity to travel to another country for any kind of educational purpose to take the chance and do it. It might just turn out to be one of the best experiences of your life.”