Graham Sowa’s Diary

The professor opened the door. A video news crew and a couple of Cuban workers from the school’s Office of International Relations peered into the classroom.

Recently I passed the one year mark of living in Cuba as a medical student. This anniversary, of sorts, was cause of more frustration and angst than celebration. I’m disappointed of how little I have learned about Cuba.

I’ve been an American living abroad for the better part of three years. One fact that comes with being an American abroad is that we are probably financially better off than the people we live around. Sure, we may claim poverty, and that may be true at home, but that is probably just denial in the face of the obvious.

In the same amount of floor space that a United States University would have trouble fitting 2,000 students the Cubans fit 4,000. (18 photos)

Gala season has started at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba. Every year each country, or region, of the world represented at ELAM puts together a cultural variety show that usually includes a few lines on history, a few more on contemporary society and plenty of dancing.

One of the biggest struggles I’ve had to deal with in my day to day life living in Cuba is the absolute dearth of dynamic commentary on our contemporary world.

Finding Americana in Cuba is not easy. Sometimes I see Coca Cola in some stores, but then I read the can and it says “Bottled in Mexico.”

I have given some thought to the five items I use every day that many people might not suspect to be part of the life of a 25 year old guy from the United States.

When the Obama administration repealed some of the restrictions of the US travel ban I was surprised, and, a bit hopeful. I then thought that perhaps the subject of the longstanding blockade of Cuba by the US might make its way into Obama’s state of the union address.

Cubans now have a huge new pool of private capital to solicit for startup investment. It remains to be seen if this idea will materialize into overseas wire transfers and person to person micro-lending.