A semester in Havana

The opportunity to live in Havana for 4 months is quite honestly the most unique study abroad opportunity most U.S. American universities offer. Havana is a beautiful city teeming with spirit and positive energy and the Arcadia program specifically helped me experience that. Compared to other U.S. study abroad programs at the U of H, the Arcadia program administration and staff formed the closest ties to the University of Havana and allowed for me and my fellow students to feel like a family. Our housing situation, with all the program students living together in the same casa particular, felt like the ideal combination of a dorm/home stay, with the perfect amount of independence and privacy coupled with support and care from Arcadia staff and the house staff. Arcadia's resident director arranged for our dance classes, our beach trips, some of our nights out, etc. and truly cared for us while abroad. The Arcadia program's semester break, cross-island trip via van was also the opportunity of a lifetime, one that students on other study abroad programs envied, and with good reason. We got to visit every province in the country save for Guantanamo and experienced everything from the country side to the coast to el Oriente. While classes at the University of Havana were not that challenging compared to the courseload I've been used to, I learned a lot and my professors were all eager to engage with me outside of class and talk about things from an entirely different sociopolitical perspective than the dominant one in the U.S.