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She illegally rented an apartment in Havana, breaking not only Cuban law, but also school rules, and started a life separate from the American ELAM students.

It paid off.

She was the first ELAM student to pass the first step of the American medical board exams - and at press time only three others have done the same.

On my last night in Havana we hitchhike to a hip-hop show at a small outdoor amphitheater, along the slow river that cuts through the city.

On stage, a young DJ nods his head to the set up music, but he's not pumping the Orishas or Mac Dre.

It's a Spanish cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Bonnie Tyler's pop hit from 1983.

He grabs the unplugged mic stand and belts out the chorus.

I dance with a guy who shows me his ID card to prove his name is Usnavis.

His mother named him after the U.S.

Navy ship she saw out her window in Havana Bay, invoking an image in my head of the whole island surrounded by a futile blockade of bloated U.S.

naval ships reinforcing the American presence in everyday Cuban life.

Carmen and I hear two young women speaking in English, and it turns out they are also ELAM students.

Sarah Igbokwe, from Texas, and her friend Nikita Thomas, from New York, are in their second year and have had a radically different experience than Carmen.

Their brigade is very close, and they've only heard rumo...

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