Oh, hi.

It's 1 a.m. and I'm climbing into bed with my boyfriend Ben.

Before we fall asleep, we both look at our phones.

Live breaking news.

And that breaking news is from Cuba.

Fidel Castro is dead.

The man who led a communist uprising on the island nation.

Normally, I wouldn't be wide-eyed sitting up in bed scanning news outlets about

Fidel Castro. No offense Fidel. But I was in Cuba a month ago and in a short time I saw what life could look like in a world defined by his leadership.

Cuba has always been a forbidden romanticized island to us in the US. But the reality is growing up there is

stranger and far more complicated than anything I could have expected. You're listening to millennial, a podcast about coming of age. I'm not a journalist

about coming of age. I'm not a journalist and I'm not going to Cuba to pretend like I'm a

journalist. Instead I'm going to parties sitting in people's living rooms talking to

friends talking to friends talking to friends of friends because I'm trying to figure out what it means to grow up in a place like this.

This is the first part of a four-part international series about Cuba. It's October, 2016. I'm in Miami's airport, traveling to Cuba,

it's October 2016.

I'm in Miami's airport traveling to Cuba, something that was probably unheard of three months ago.

But thanks to Obama's visit, new regulations, now flights are direct, cheaper, and getting a visa isn't as intimidating.

I'm going to Cuba because I want to meet and get to know this a strange neighbor of ours,

but I've also become more invested for one big reason.

Ma'amorn, it is 820 and I have not brushed my teeth yet, but that is why this is a voice memo and you can't smell my smelly bread.

That's Anna, one of my best friends.

...