Location
  • Cuba
Length
4 - 12 weeks
Financial Support
Need-based funding, General grants/scholarships, Payment plans
Health & Safety

Program Details

Housing
Guesthouse Host Family
Primary Language
English
Age Min.
17

Pricing

Starting Price
13900
Price Details
Program tuition includes all food, accommodations, scheduled program activities, and international travel insurance for the duration of the program. International airfare, VISA costs, and spending money are extra. International airfare estimated at $700-$900.

Earn up to $5000 per year in scholarship funding from Carpe Diem Education. Through our partnership with Portland State University, students are eligible to complete up to 18 quarter credits during their semester program.
Apr 06, 2021
May 15, 2017
4 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Travel back in time and tap into the vibrant charm of a previously “forbidden country.” Dance in the music-filled streets of Santiago. Practice your Spanish at the University of Havana. Learn about sustainable agriculture and farming in vibrant western Cuba. Embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey through Cuba and make up your own mind about this complex and dynamic country that’s on the verge of transformation.

Experiential Education: Take drumming and dance classes in Santiago de Cuba; one of the premier locations to learn about Afro-Cuban culture and religions.

Community: Get your hands dirty while you work side-by-side with Cuban farmers and learn about sustainable agriculture.

Intercultural Exchange: Study Spanish at the University of Havana and volunteer with a language exchange program mentoring Cuban students.

Note: This is a 3-month long semester program.

This program is no longer offered. View more programs from Carpe Diem Education.

Video and Photos

Diversity & Inclusion

BIPOC Support

We recognize that we are a long way from the diversity we aim for within our students, staff, and partners. We want and need more diversity to truly become the organization we would like to be. We recognize that this will not happen overnight or without dedicating time, attention, and resources. To that end, we have created a strategic plan to address our current shortfalls and to make significant improvements, which you can see on our Diversity & Inclusion page.

LGBTQIA+ Support

Neurodivergent Support

At Carpe Diem, each applicant reads through our extensive Essential Eligibility Criteria prior to enrollment. This criteria allows applicants to determine if the organization is an appropriate fit for their gap semester/year goals and their individual needs. During the interview and application process, we have honest and direct conversations with students and families about the support that our staff is able to provide throughout the program experience. We are committed to creating a culture of acceptance and support. To that end, our Overseas Educators and local leaders are selected for their skill in group facilitation and promoting inclusive group dynamics.

Accessibility Support

At Carpe Diem, each applicant reads through our extensive Essential Eligibility Criteria prior to enrollment. This criteria allows applicants to determine if the organization is an appropriate fit for their gap semester/year goals and their individual needs. We have honest and open conversations with applicants about our ability to support individual needs on each program, with the ultimate goal of a healthy and successful experience for all students. In the past, we have worked with students with severe allergies, diabetes, chronic injuries, and mental health diagnoses. We know each student's journey is individual and we work with families to support these individual needs where possible to help determine if the program is a good fit for their gap semester goals.

Impact

Sustainability

We are committed to maximizing the net positive impact while minimizing the carbon footprint of every program. In our office, on our programs, and through our carbon offset match, our programs are geared toward environmental education to empower future leaders to move their communities to take action. During our programs, students learn more about their impact as individuals and a travel community - then take a solution-oriented lens to tackling key issues. We also contribute to and amplify the voices of organizations and partners who focus on permaculture, natural building, and sustainable solutions.

Ethical Impact

Our programs are designed to connect to our local communities and provide reciprocal exchange and engagement. Through engaging in experiential education, community engagement, and intercultural exchange, our students develop enhanced perspectives, deeper cultural understanding, and a profound sense of self-discovery and personal growth. We work with vetted local providers to build their businesses as they provide value to our students and programming. With our homestay families, we ensure we minimize our footprint by regularly rotating the communities we work with and evaluating our social impact alongside their community leaders.

Scholarships

Carpe Diem Education Scholarships

Carpe Diem Education awards $30,000 annually to support diversity and inclusion in its programs. The Access Scholarship provides up to $5,000 for a gap year semester or full-year experience. The Inclusion Scholarship offers up to $2,000 for a gap year semester. The Carpe Mundi Scholarship is for Portland-based students. Grants are mostly need-based, and applications open in January.

Program Reviews

5.00 Rating
based on 2 reviews
  • 5 rating 100%
  • 4 rating 0%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Housing 4
  • Support 5
  • Fun 5
  • Value 4
  • Safety 4.5
Showing 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Default avatar
Jon
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Carpe Diem Cuba

My daughter went on the Carpe Diem Cuba trip in the Spring of 2017. It was clearly a wonderful experience for her. There were 10 students on the trip with two overseas educators. The educators were very supportive and struck a good balance betweeen giving the students independence, responsibility and structure. The range of experiences they had was amazing - trekking, Spanish classes, dancing and music lessons, caving, snorkeling, service learning on farms and in classrooms. They met a huge variety of interesting people, from the Cuban families who ran the "casas" they stayed in to students at the dance school they studied at to a Santeria priest who made a prediction about each of their futures. My daughter told me that the trip was as much about personal development as it was about traveling and experiencing another culture, and that the personal development was facilitated by both the educators and the other students on the trip. The students and educators became very close over the course of the three month trip. I was surprised by how little friction there seems to have been among them given how much time they spent together, often in close quarters, and I suspect the skill of the educators in building a positive group dynamic played a significant role. The staff at Carpe Diem are great and I never felt as if the group didn't have the support it needed, despite the fact that it is still not trivial to communicate and organize travel in Cuba.

My daughter says she is extremely glad she did the trip and that she would strongly recommend Carpe Diem - and the Cuba Chango trip in particular - to anyone even remotely considering doing a gap program. (She plans to write her own review as well.) From a parent's perspective, I would definitely second her strongly positive recommendation. This was clearly an important learning and growing experience for her and something she will be able to draw on for the rest of her life. You will get to follow your child's adventures on the Carpe Diem blog - and by occasional email or chat messages - but as there is limited wifi access your child will also be unplugged for three months, something that my daughter confessed was another good part of the experience.

Carpe Diem is a wonderful organization!

37 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Wylie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

First of Chango

I had no idea what to expect from this program. I didn't have any specifics that I needed to get out of this trip, or was trying to answer any questions of myself that I wasn't capable of answering. I just wanted to do something totally new that other kids my age were missing out on. And what is more new and have more Americans missing out on it than Cuba? This program put me in a group of 13 other strangers and made me live and travel the beautiful island of Cuba, and with each new adventure and each new day I became closer and closer to my group members and within 3 weeks was certain that I was in for a heart retching goodbye after 3 months.
With 14 different people all in Cuba for different reasons, you will hear a lot of conflicting beliefs of what this program does for an individual. And all I can share with you is my view of what Carpe Diem has done for me. If you are interested in taking a gap year because you are nervous for college and have no idea what you want to do with your life, and you hope that this will answer all your doubtful questions of your life, it won't. This program didn't slap me in the face with an answer of what I need to go study in college, that's not what this program does and I feel like that is a commonly seen misconception. What this program does is give you all the answers to questions you don't even have yet. Carpe Diem doesn't help prepare you for college, it helps you prepare for life. And I challenge all of you to question what is more important to you.
Carpe Diem has made me a more capable human being that is cultured and caring and now struggles with being in the same place for extended periods of time because all I want to do is travel. My best advise is that if you do not know what you want to do at this stage in your life, pick Carpe Diem and answer all of the questions that you never knew you had.

What would you improve about this program?
The 0 tolerance of drinking is very inhibiting for individuals trying to dive into the culture and socialize, especially in countries like Cuba where drinking is part of their culture. I found that more times than not that that rule was withholding us from joining in cultural experiences with friends rather than keeping us safe. I believe if this program is truly about educating young people into becoming experienced work travelers, that we should be treated as world travelers and partake in all forms socializing and celebrating.
42 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers