The following was submitted by parents of a student participant who went on a custom faculty-led program to Cuba in March 2024. 

What an amazing, life changing experience it was for our daughter who participated in CGEE’s 10 day Study Abroad trip to Cuba (March, 2024).

CGEE’s detailed powerpoint presentation and handouts included everything our daughter needed to be prepared prior to departure.  In addition to what to pack, lodging, transportation, detailed itinerary, it explained what to expect while navigating through customs in the US and in Cuba, and being placed in the care of the Liaison leaders from CGEE who would guide and support them throughout the entire trip. We felt very safe sending her with West Chester professors and the experienced leaders of CGEE.

And if the wealth of information we received in advance wasn’t reassuring enough, their well-thought out itinerary exposed the students to different regions and Cuban cultures, provided opportunities to meet and make connections to local communities and allowed for engaging activities that without a doubt would gain a deeper understanding of the world and the people in it, convinced us that this Cuba trip would be the best first study abroad experience for our daughter.

We were fortunate enough to be able to communicate with her throughout the week as she shared the many adventures she had and wonderful people she met.  This same sense of calm and comfort continued when we were notified at the end of the trip that our daughter passed out due to intense abdominal pain, rushed to the clinic for medical attention, and later in the day treated for food poisoning. Nichole at CGEE kept us informed, stayed at her side the entire time, and ensured our daughter was in the best care possible.  She translated any examinations/treatments and remained in contact with us every 2 hours.  Nichole treated her as if she were her own daughter.

We would absolutely recommend anyone going on an educational trip that is through CGEE.  It was overall a life changing experience for our daughter. We thank both CGEE and West Chester University for allowing this to happen.  She can’t wait for the next Study Abroad Adventure!

(Names and photos of the participant have been omitted for privacy)

The post Parent Review of CGEE appeared first on Center for Global Education and Experience.

See below for more information on the event:

Gracie Award-winning Cuban journalist Liz Oliva Fernández will visit Augsburg University to present a new documentary film, Cuba in the Crosswinds [working title], produced by the independent media outlet, Belly of the Beast. Filmed this year in New Jersey and Washington D.C., Cuba in the Crosswinds exposes the economic and political interests driving U.S. policy toward Cuba under the Biden administration, which has mainly kept intact Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions on Cuba, fueling an unprecedented wave of migration from the island.

The documentary’s presenter, Liz Oliva Fernández, is a Cuban journalist, feminist and anti-racist activist who received the prestigious Gracie Award in 2021 alongside a host of celebrities, including Kerry Washington and Lena Waithe. In 2021 she was also a co-winner of a One World Media Award, besting BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as a Telly Award for her groundbreaking work presenting, reporting and producing The War on Cuba docuseries. Liz’s courageous and hard-hitting investigative journalism reveals the devastating impact of U.S. sanctions on the Cuban people, offering a rarely-seen nuanced perspective on Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations.

WHEN

Thursday, November 2, 2023

From 2-4 PM

WHERE

�鶹ԭ�� UNIVERSITY

Kennedy Center (Room 303A)

709 23rd Ave S Minneapolis, MN

CO-SPONSORED by The Center for Global Education and Experience (CGEE), Languages and Cross-Cultural Studies, Latinx Student Services, and Theater Arts.

This event is free and open to the public. To request a reasonable accommodation for this event, please email Nichole at rohlfsen@augsburg.edu. While we will make every effort to provide accommodations, please allow one week advance notice in order to ensure accommodations are set up in time for the event.

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I was in Cuba with a group of Oberlin College students in January. After we returned home, we had a special Cuban dinner that I cooked using the recipes from the fabulous cooks from the MLK center.

I had to drive for an hour to buy yuca, malanga and plantain because these things can be difficult to find in the United States.

Thanks to everyone at the MLK Jr. Center for all that you did during our trip.

The post Cooking Cuban Food in Ohio! appeared first on Center for Global Education and Experience.

Are you a devoted vegan thinking of traveling to Cuba on a trip with the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College? Never fear! I was in your shoes once, and I’m here to give you ten tips on how it can be done.

1. Stock up on vegan encouragement before you leave. Talk with supportive friends and family while you’re still on U.S. soil, because once you’re in Cuba, there will be no calling or emailing them. I was the only vegan on my trip, so it helped to know that I had supporters back in the States to whom I could triumphantly declare upon my return, “I did it! I was a vegan in Cuba for two weeks!”

Don’t have any vegan friends to boost your pre-departure morale? No problem! I find that just browsing the vegan side of the Internet can work wonders. Read some like-minded bloggers to remind yourself why you became a vegan in the first place.

2. Know your essential vocabulary. Just as every traveler to Cuba needs to know how to ask where the bathroom is in Spanish, so every vegan traveler needs to be able to ask whether their food contains meat, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, or lard. Your trip leaders can help with communication, but in a pinch when they’re not around, you will want to be self-sufficient.

3. Take snacks, especially protein-filled snacks. Once you get to the island, snacks, especially of the vegan variety, will be harder to acquire. Many of the stores are government-run with most of the food behind the counter, so you will not be able to simply grab a package off the shelf to check the ingredients without asking. I recommend taking granola or energy bars to keep in your backpack for trips away from the MLK Center. Protein sources like nuts are also good to have on hand, since protein helps keep you full. The good news: You will likely have plenty of opportunities to eat beans that haven’t been cooked in lard, and you will be able to restock your protein reserves with the white paper cones of peanuts that vendors sell in the streets. Nevertheless, it is better to bring more than enough snacks and be full rather than not enough and be hungry. You can always take the extra snacks back home with you and eat them later.

4. Take dessert. This one only really applies if you have an insatiable sweet tooth like me. Cubans like really sweet and really delicious-looking desserts, so if that will tempt you, be prepared. Sometimes, you’ll get lucky and the dessert will be vegan—the fruit pieces candied in sugary syrup and the mermelada, a smooth fruit syrup, are generally acceptable (unless you avoid bone-char-filtered sugar, in which case I’m not sure).

5. Ask your trip leaders to help. They will make arrangements in advance with the chef and communicate your dietary needs, but there will still probably be times that you will want to check on ingredients in particular dishes. Especially if you are not fluent in Spanish, your trip leaders can help you ask questions and explain your diet so that communication goes smoothly.

6. Don’t be shy asking your chef about ingredients. Mistakes happen, so if you are in doubt about whether a particular dish is vegan, you may not be imagining things. Not only will you feel better knowing what is in your food, but you will also help future vegans in your position. The more the kitchen staff are politely reminded that vegans don’t eat eggs, the less likely they will be to give an egg-containing meal to the next vegan.

7. Ask if the place uses lard or vegetable oil in their cooking. In spite of what you may hear about “all” Cuban food being cooked in lard, you will find that many places use exclusively vegetable oil. Since many Cuban dishes are comprised of only a few, easily discernible ingredients, the fat used for cooking is at times the only additional piece of information you will need to determine whether several of the dishes on the table are vegan.

8. Be ready to skip a meal here or there. Mistakes will happen, but that’s why you brought snacks!

9. Don’t believe the myth that a vegan diet “just doesn’t work with the Cuban brain.” Not only is this an insult to the intelligence of the Cuban people as a whole, but it also is an incorrect distribution of responsibility, suggesting that you are somehow at fault for trying to make Cubans do something they are incapable of doing. Cubans are unused to veganism, but they can understand it, and it is reasonable to expect them to try. (That said, be understanding if mistakes happen.)

10. Be prepared for pressure to break your diet, even implicit pressure. Other people on your trip are going to wonder why you can’t just go with the flow and accept a non-vegan diet for few weeks. But stay strong! You know why, and that’s what matters. With a little extra work and willpower on your end, you can maintain a diet that matches your convictions, even in Cuba.

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