CET Cuba -- One of the Best Experiences of my Life so Far

Hi! I'm Luke and when I participated in this program. I was a rising Junior in a public high school.
Our group was the first ever CET program to go to Cuba over the summer, and even though we were the pioneers, I loved it. The program focused almost exclusively on the healthcare system of Cuba and how this system interacted with the Cuban government and the everyday lives of Cuban people, while also stressing Cuba's importance internationally through its various medical outreach programs.
For me, the most interesting part of the program was learning about Cuba's history and the lives of it's people. While most of our classes did revolve around healthcare, our tour guide, Bianca, was wonderful about answering any question I had, as well telling our entire group everything we might need to know. I feel like a lot of Cuban history was never mentioned in any of my classes, and being able to learn it without reading a textbook was super awesome.
As for food, I will admit it did get slightly repetitive. We had beans and rice with almost every single meal, but that wasn't for lack of trying. Both the CET counselors and our tour guide tried to make sure there was as much variety as possible. In addition to this, we were able to choose what we wanted for lunch and order it ourselves many days, which was really useful for practicing Spanish.
Speaking of Spanish, the teacher for our Spanish classes was amazing. She spoke slowly, but also tested everything we knew in conversations, and tried to help us when she could. In a lot of ways, it felt more like a friendly conversation rather than a class, and honestly, it helped me so much. I genuinely believe that I'm a better Spanish speaker because of this trip.
Overall, I cannot recommend this experience enough, because it helped widen my world view and also gave me access to information I doubt I otherwise would have ever had. This program was amazing, and I firmly believe that anything like this is a great way to grow as a person.